The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-05
THE AGE or FULLER.

heavily on the Supreme Court uurlhs
the last few months. Peckham went
with many to benloan him: Brewer fol-
lowed, while thousands regretted; ana
now that the revercd Chief Justice.
Melville w. Fuller, has been called
the whole country can but regret
Fate that chose so shining mark,
A great place is vacant in American
justice and a great 5urist has gone.
There were many reasons why the
American people, irrespective of party.
regarded the Chief Justice as one of
the best and highest men in the coun-
try. He had served long on the bench
lever since the first administration OF
Cleveland. and not once had there been
any question of his ability, his homes
~ or his exalted ideal of the law. He
was tried In many tests and his alb
solute Justice was often put in the bal
4 ance. but he was never known to look
away from his high Office to baser po-
I litioal nsiderations--never suspected
of being anything but the represen-
legal acumen and in the soundness of
his opinions. Fuller deserved the place
he held--the chief of the justices,
When he wrote an opinion or handed
down decision. there were few law
yers in America who could pick flaw
in hts reasoning and none who could
show where he had gone astray. Rug
ged, impressive and with marvellous
capacity for work, he gave TO the
Court standing and a prestige It
enjoyed in other days when the great
names of Marshall or fancy headed
the roll of the justices
Our legal historians are wont to di-
vide the annals of American jurispru-
dominated by the genius of a single
man. They tell us that the Age of
Marshall marked a great epoch in our
history during which the theory of a
Nation was evolved by the great Jus
tice. and they say that the Age of
fancy was one in which the idea of a
Democratic People was supreme-an
age when the powers of Congress were
strictly construed and the rights of
the States to work out their own des-
TIMES were fully admitted by the
Court. In the nine years he was on
the bench, Chief Justice Chase marked
another Age, dominated by personal
ity that construed the Constitution TO
ie,, nd, If
luton, and marked by Federal usurpa-
tions that would have made even the
iron handed Marshall tremble
In the same way. II is safe to say
that the death of the Chief Justice
yesterday closed another era in the
history of the court. the Age of Full
er. 1t has been long age. for sc
young nation, and it dates back tt
the later years of Chief Justice Waite
but the spirit ;whieh has ruled it ha:
been the spirit .af Fuller. Just wha
the Court has done during this time
and Just what changes it has made i,
the spirit OF the Constitution, canno
yet be determined; but it is at leas
the Court, with Fuller at their head
have striven long and striven hard t
decide the great problems of to-day il
the light of the Constitution as it wa
in the days of the Fathers. yieldin
only where imperative necessity de
nanded and usurping authority onl
when forced to do so by motives Q
lasting public policy. Sometimes tn
younger justices, those of the type q
Justice Holmes and Justice Mood,
have overridden the Chief Justice, bu
until the last, his opinions showed hi
true TO the Constitution. true to tn
real spirit of American Government.
1t is to be noticed that this age end
ed with the death OF the Chief justice
and that his death came when tn
Court was facing the greatest problel
of recent years. No man knows wha
has happened in the conferences of til
Justices but everyone knows thar III
order from the Court that the Stanf
ard Oil and Tobacco Trust cases be re
heard, meant that struggle had take
place. and that & new page in histor
was TO be turned The death of tire
Justices and the appointment of thre
new men in their places TO pass on tn
great question ends forever the Age
Fuller.
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