Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-03-18
Council Bluffs
WOODMEN HONOR new JUDGE
Dohany Theater Crowded with
Friends Of Official.
PUBLIC SERVICE IS PRAISED
Speakers Mention His Record with
Words Of COInmendation-PI
Best Service 60 All in
Return.

An audience that packed the Dohsny
thcater Joined the Modern Woodmen OF
Council Bluffs last night in their hearty
efforts to welcome home Judge Walter ].
smith and signalize his evolution from a
national lawmaker into a law admins
traitor Judge Smith has been feted and
toasted, banqueted and dined almost con-
tinuously from the hour he returned from
Washington. but he has not yet been so
signally honored as he was last night.
II was a representative audience that
bcamed from the more than 1000 seats Of
the theater and smiled from the aisles and
standing spaces in the balconies. There
were representatives OF every nationality
that finds the shelter OF home and the pro
lection OF citizenship in the city. There
were nearly as many women as men, but
nearly every woman was the guardian Of
an attentive youngster, who had plainly
been taught that the visit there was to be
an event TO be remembered.
The theater was packed by o'clock and
the exercises began early. Emmett FINLEY
in simple words, made the welcoming
speech. lie recounted Judge Smiths public
work and his record on the bench and
throughout his years In congress pointing
out that such achievements were the proper
results OF the training he received as q
child. youth and man in Council Bluffs. II
was not flattery. II was a statement or
the case.
EHtOIs smiths Character.
Turning TO the future work OF Judge
Smith no extolled the character of the
third coordinate branch OF the national
government, the judiciary, and declared
that the wisdom Of all the presidents Of
the United States had particularly shown
in the appointment made TO the national
bench. Il was the branch Of the govern
ment that required the highest intelligence
and the best attributes Of citizenship. II
was these qualities long ago recognized
that compelled President Taft to appoint
Smith to the high position he will occupy
henceforth Turning and addressing Judge
Smith directly. and fondk calling him
Walter. Mr.. FINLEY closed with eloquent
aspostrophe to the love and fidelity that
bound the individual and the people
Judge smith Responds.
Judge Smith was deeply touched and in
a brief talk gave the fullest expression to
his feelings. lie declared that II he could
safely get through this week without feel
ing the sense of flattery he would feel
himself for ever secure from the danger of
adulation. He expressed his humblest
thanks for the twenty years trust and con-
fidence the people Of the city and the
country had reposed in him. Three times
he had been nominated for the district
court bench without opposition and six
times for congress in the same hearty man
ner, and he felt that It was singularly fit
ting that he should close this part of his
public career when, for the first time, he
ceased to be the choice OF all of the people
in this manner. He pledged himself that
his one aim in life would be the effort
fully to comprehend the laws and admin
lister them with the impartiality of abso-
lutte justice.
The remainder of the evening was de-
voted TO a varied program of pleasing
nature in charge OF the Woodmen.