The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-12
in His Party


 from his own State but from the le- gal profession of the country, which marked his retirement last February from the office of chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, in accordance with the constitutional provision that no judge should hold three score and ten.
 The second took place more than a fortnight ago, when. as he faced the Democratic convention ins New Haven the six hundred-odd delegates arose and greeted him with a spontaneity and enthusiasm which spoke for more than mere partisan ardor. It was easy to see that in Baldwin these Democrats recognized a leader who was worthy not only of their cheers but of their best efforts in the cam
 It was worth while watching this gray-haired man, with his scholarly face and Judicial bearing, he stood for the first time as his party's choice for high elective office, watching a convention which his appearance alone in nearly eighteen years that he had been in a position to speak his mind in a public gathering, and he said that the opportunity gave him a world of satisfaction. There were things, he felt, that any man who had followed present political trends with any degree of thought should discuss as loudly and as publicly as possible, and then and there he pro- ceeded to do so in uncertain terms. While he did not refer directly to welt, he might just we'll have done so, since the thought he had in mind was clear to all who heard him.
 WARNING TO DEMOCRATS
 Connecticut, he said, was, in point Of population, comparatively small State, and it's five representa- tives in Congress were not qualified numer- ica1ly to make much of impression a a c h 1cpfn fn11 <Nf 0 showing in the future, considering the development of a great West and a great South. Democrats, he warned, should align, themselves against Fed eral usurpat tion. and care should be taken that the State retained what it now possessed under the Constitu- tion.
 Ex-Justfoe BaIdwfn's years upon the bench have taken no toll of his men tai brilliancy or physical endurance. So strik1ngly was this the case that when he retired there was general complaint that, so far as he was con- cerned, the automatic working of the constitutional age limit had operated substantially against the best inter ests of the State.
 No sooner had he retired than his name was mentioned for all sorts of honers. There was talk of sending him to Congress. and of nomina ting, him for Governor, which last was more than mere talk, as events have proved. As for MT. Baldwin, he felt he had served his commonwealth and was not anxious or even in a recep- tive mood, for further honors. as evil dence of which note his statement few weeks after his return to private life
 .sThe next campaign is long way ahead,'' he said, .s and follow Syd- ney smiths philosophy and take short views of life. I don't cross bridges until I come to them. My present view ahead, is to write a book and not to hurry myself in do- ing it.''
 The culminating honor of his retire n1ent was the dinner given to him by the State Bar Association in New Haven February '. He told the lawyers and judges gathered before him that he considered he had spent the best years of his life upon the bench, for while he had not gone to the Supreme Court, until he was fifty two years old, man in the legal pro- fession, he believed, did not do his best work until he was past fifty. Someone among the diners called forth a rousing cheer by correcting
 tsYou should say, not until seventy
 t'I lose power in retiring from the bench,'' said MT. Baldwin, Hbut gain nothing, but to choose what would wish to do.'
 Chief Justice Frederick B. Hall. MT. @ Baldwin. said to the diners:
 Justice Baldwin retires Win perfect mental and physical health; His UeaS weskness @saAea inasmueh as the Gonstitu tion says that he is no longer capable of holding the office But the Con stitution is very much mistaken
 CAME, OF A LEGAL FAMILY
 Simeon E. Baldwin was born Febru- ary 5, 184o, at New. Haven, and was educated at the Hopkins Grammar school and Vale College. where he the class of 1861. He was of dfstin guished Connecticut ancestry. His father, Roger Sherman Baldwin, was Governor of the State, and also rep States Senate. His grandfather was a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and his great-grandfather, on his mothers side, Roger Sherman, was signer of the Declaration of Independence.
 After his graduations from Yale, he studied at both Yale and Harvard Law schools. He was made one of the faculty of the Yale Law School in 1869, and still holds that post. He became as a young man one of the best-known citizens of Connecticut, and his reputation in law extended far beyond the limits of his State. He has been president of the Ameri- can Bar Association and in other ways has been prominent in the legal world, notably as president Of the International Law Association of Lon don and Association of American Law Schools and director of the Bureau of Comparative Law of the American freouent contributor to the transac- tions of various societies and to legal and historical periodicals, both in the United states and Europe. he has nublished a Digest of the Connecticut Reports Modern Political Institu- tions,'' '"The American Judiciary" and American Railroad Law, and was co-author of 1.-TWO Centuries Growth of American Law"
 His principal practice as a lawyer was corporation law. The New York and New England Railroad Company and other big corporations had their 1 legal affairs in Connecticut under his direction Until the nomination of | Grover cleveland against James G. l Blaine in 1884. MT. Baldwin was a | Republican, although he had not been conspicuous in politics. Nevertheless, l