The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-06


tive members of the Bench and Bar
of the state are present, is duty re-
curing grave consideration.
Believing that at our annual meet
ing it is we'll at times to review the
history of some of the distinguished
lawyers of the past, and that the an
nails of the Iowa State Bar Associa-
ton should bear testimony to the re-
spect and reverence we feel for the
subjet of this paper (although such
sentiments may be conveyed by one
quite inadequate to the task. have
determined to invite your attention
to the life and labors of John Mar
shall, as a fitting subject for this adj
dress.
II is hardly necessary for me to
observe, that no stilted eulogy or
fulsome praise is needed, and indeed
such treatment of such subject
would be entirely misplaced.
John Marshalrs name and fame
rests secure upon great labors con-
scientiously performed for humanity
and the then young republic, whose
future lay as il were, while he was
chief justice of the supreme court, III
the hollow of his hand.
No great man, whether ruler or
law-giyer, has in the history of the
world been given greater tribute,
than was given the subject of this
address, on the Tooth anniversary OF
his taking the oath of office when
thirty-seven states and territories of
the Union, by united and concerted
action at appropriate places within
their borders, in meeting of the Bar
and Judiciary, gave voice to the trlb'
utes of praise for the conscientious
and imperishable service John Mar
shall had performed as Chief Justice
of the supreme court.
In this labor of love Iowa and this
State Bar Association, through its
officers and appointed speakers, bore
its fair share and now after ten years
have elapsed, it is fitting to recall
some of the most impressive lessons
to be learned of life that called
forth such a magnificent memorial
from a free people.
George Washington, John Marshall,
and Abraham Lincoln, are in my
judgment the three great names IN
American history, and while it is i'm
possible to justly compare the value
of their services to the Republic, it,
may at least be said without fear of
successful contradiction, that while
Washington the soldier. established
the independence of the United
States, without the thirty-four years
of invaluable service the lawyer and
Judge rendered to his country, there
would not have been united country
for the South to have sought to sever
or for Lincoln, the statesman, to have
saved.
It was the bond of the Union, the
constitution, which needed strength
ening when Marshall came upon the
scene of action, and in the providence
of God, this broad minded, sane and
incorruptible patriot appeared to ac-
complish the needed work. He was
not born to the purple or in one
the high places OF the earth. Spring
ing as he did, from an ancestry faith
full to the new aspirations for free.
dom and independence, his father
being an officer in the French and
Revolutionary wars, born as he was in
1855. he early imbibed the martial
spirit and at the age of is, left the
study of the law, to become a soldier
of the Revolution.
John Marshall had comparatively
little of the knowledge impaired by
the schools. His father gave him
his earliest instructions, which aided
by two years with tutor and one
year in an academy of the neighbor
hood, with no college training what
ever, comprised all the educational
advantages which this teacher of
teachers, this leader of the Bar, this
Chief Judge of Judges ever had.
Accustomed as we are to believe
land rightly sol that the learning OF
the schools is a bulwark of power, we
are led to reflect upon the strength OF
character, the almost unaided power
of intellect which made this man
during his day and generation, the
unerring arbitrator of the greatest
questions affecting the we'll being of
millions yet unborn. the Judge whose
judgments gather strength with the
revolving years.
Reflect, if you please, upon the con
dition Of our government in that
childhood of the Republic when John
Marshall accepted from the hands of
President Adams in the early days
OF 1901, the position of Chief Justice
OF the supreme court. We are accus'
toned in imagination, to surround
that court and its chief presiding
Judge with sort of halo, the direct
result of the generation we feel for
the great position that court has held
for 122 years in connection with the
destinies of our country.
AT the time Of John Marshalrs ap.
pointment. the court was but eleven
years old, having been established in
1889. II had had but two chief jus
tees. John Jay for six years and
Oliver Ellsworth for three years, both
OF whom had resigned One appoint.