The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1911-04-23
Personality, Character, and Work of the
Brilliant Lawyer Who Wrote the Re-
cent Decision of Commerce Com
mission Against Railroads.
By JAMES b. MORROW.

= wagon or plow. Inc puonc-
be-damned attitude of the railroads,
as Charles AFRO Prouty terms 1t, has
been reversed by law. No man in the
country has done more TO change the
attitude than Judge Prouty himself In
manner and habit. he is as plain and
strong as his words.
\ mind that can grapple with ter
rife snarl OF contradictory testimony,
abstruse technicalities, and disputed prin-
ciples, and straighten 1t out into simple
language easily understood by every
body is analytic. expressive. coherent.
and direct. Naturally. II is honest.
Judge 7routy. :he oldest member Of the
Interstate Commerce Commission but
enc. hrG such a mind. His conversation
Is an intellectual delight. Ills public ad-
dresses possess tie artistry OF gcniUs.
His work for the people so far has
neither been apprehended nor appreci-
ated.
The railroad rate" Judge Prouty said
a Yale, tanning an essay into A SEN
tence. which is his style determines
who shall do business and where il shall
ne done: where coal shall be mined;
where flour shall be ground: where cities
shall be built Railway discrimination
for or against regions was never more
lucidly stated
What the traffic will bear" he ex-
claimed, is an obnoxious phrase. There
is about it an odor OF extortion. for one
who can charge anything he pleases. to
take all that he can get, strikes the ordi-
nary mind as outrageous" Thus he COM
pressed into two sentences the underly-
ing doctrines of the railroad question:
adding that whoever controls the high
ways of a nation controls that nation
Concealed most of the time from view.
silently and diligently burrowing his way
through mountain of work Judge
Prouty is one IF the really great char
acters OF the country. He never says
anything about the people. but he is the
peoples reliable. consistent. and forcible
friend. Coming TO Washington when the
law concerning railroads was a long
parade of futile words. with wherefores,
%heTeases, and aforesaids marching along
in gloomy and harmless syntax, he began
to talk about regulation that actually
regulated. and a power that was not
bound hand and foot and muzzled to
boot. He wrote and he spoke and he
worked. hacking up Roosevelt and sup
plying him with facts. Moreover. he was
so wise, logical, capable. and astute that
railroad men had to treat him and think
of him with respect. The mustang was
lsssoed and thrown. and Judge Prouty
sat on its head when the branding iron.
hot from the fire. was applied to its
TANKS. Only recently he wrote the very !
important decision. interesting both as
law and literature. that halted the big
railroads of the East from increasing
their rates for carrying freight.
Typical Vermont Yankee.
Slender and gray-eyed. smooth of face
n nj ~ HI
in private conference. or on the bench |
at public hearings. the embodiment of |
alert intelligence. Yankee shrewdness, |
and common sense. Dogmatic about |
nothing. he is constantly searching for
the light In Vermont he has an acre !
Of land. and there he goes each spring |
to plant his garden and to transplant |
and trim his shrubbery and his trees. !
He puts every seed in the ground and |
gathers the harvest VIXEN it is ripe |
Plain living and accurate thinking are |
the traditional qualities of the people of |
New England. Judge Prouty is a fine |
type of those Americans wherever found |
who have given the country its character |
and strength. An evolutionist he keeps |
step with the great social movements of /
the time. Consistent with his duties, he |
knows the human nature of railroad men. |
At college he never tried for a prize that |
he did not win.
The Proutys settled Newport, which is |
n Vermont, very near TO the Canadian |
inc. Judge Prouty was born there Il |
i've at Newport yet and shall stay there |
after I am dead he said II attended |
A district school. because we lived on q |
farm. My mother had taught in the |
CChnNl 1v1f eVIr1
he village, right at hand, when l was
six years old. My father had gone into |
he lumber business meanwhile. At tho
age of twelve, l left school because my
health was bad, working in and around |
ny fathers mill Daniel Willard. presi-
lent of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
lived at Newport then. He was fire.
nan on a locomotive. 1 knew him we'll
He IS thinker and a worker and a
;ery able man.
But I returned to school when I was
fifteen years old. preparing for Dart
mouth at academies in the neighborhood
Ny father had six sons. He said that
&c would educate one of them 20 that
he five brothers between them could
lee that, he didn't starve. / have nan.
ged TO take care of myself. so far Ny
'rothers, however. followed my father
nto lumber and the mill. They now ride
II dulOInoDlleS. Walk.
During the last year at college, 1
'ecamo greatly interested in astronomy
,harles A Young, one of the professors
md afterward an author of textbooks
nd member OF the Princeton faculty,
dvtsed me 10 take up astronomy as ny
york. Through his influence, I went TO
'tttsburg as an assistant to s. P. Lang
ey, then director of Allegheny Observa-
ory MY duties were indoors ana in
ense, and my health broke down IN con-
equence. On my return to Vermont, a
awyer friend gave me a book. I read
Their books while / was getting back
ny health, and one day was licensed
s a lawyer, going into partnership with
~ friend.
IT made about $500 the first year of my
ractice. The second year. being alone,
earned some 500 less. About that time
got married. The third year showed I
o growth of revenues. Indeed. there
'as a falling of. So also became a
patching out the income
{ one profession with the other. I think |
taught three years altogether. In the ]
avs Mrs. Prouty and I kept an account .
{ our domestic expenses. We lived in a I
God house that cost us $50 year Our
bod, rent, clothing, and everything else |
anne within $50 a month, and we
we'd well for that community. entertain
lg our friends and doing our part in all ]
Their respects" Il
Could Not stand Dakota.
But you emigrated TO North Dakota"
said.
IT had friend out there who was get
ng rich, and thought might make
ONE money! In that rerton myself n