The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-05-16
Press Comment


Grand Forks Times: In the death
Of Judge Morgan. late Of the supreme
court this state loses a citizen who
both in his private life and his public
service has ;aeasured fully up to the
most exacting demands. His private
life has been as pure as the nyrning
dew. He was a gentleman o. the old
school. Scholarly, refined n cul-
tured, he radiated a sunshine upon all
who were so fortunate as to come
within his friendship. Gentle as a
woman and pure rs q child, he was
withal possessed Of those sterner quail
tiles that made him the counselor and
leader OF men.
He possessed in a marked degree
that peculiar personality that drew
out the best in those with whom he
associated. He had friends innumer-
able, and these friends counted Moth
ing too difficult to accomplish IL it
would benefit Judge Morgan, and yet
they did this not because they hoped
for any emolument, but simply be-
cause they loved him. His friend
ship was a s~uff1cient reward for the
greatest effort his supporters could
put forth. In all his years on the
supreme bench; no matter how tur-
bulent the political sea might be, ev-
erybody wanted to work and vote for
Judge Morgan. We doubt If the Judic-
larry of the entire country has a par
allel case. And he never disappointed
that great army of supporters. He
was on the bench to the people what
Lincoln was in the executive chair.
AS a jurist, Judge Morgan will hold
in history the same relationship to
the state Of North Dakota that John
Marshall does to the nation. He was
thoroughly grounded in the funda-
mental principles of the law, and he
possessed that ~clearness OF logic and
strength Of reasoning that enabled him
to apply those principles with unerring
sagacity to modern conditions without
either destroying the one or fanaticis-
ing the other. He established the new
order of things on the imperishable
foundation Of English Jurisprudence
and linked the conditions Of today
with the sources of the rights of per-
sons and the rights of things by his
legal acumen which brushed aside
technicalities and exceptions and vet
forsook the controlling principle
involved.
He vas a judge wnom the layman
could understands rare thing, in
deed. How often has it been said,
when decisions on cases of public pol
ity were sought, IF Judge Morgan
decides the case we'll know what is
right" This is especially true of the
cases which required construction of
the new system of legalized party poll
itics. Judge Morgan. in such cases,
taught the public a deeper reverence
for the constitution by showing that it
was not an instrument of mystery with
latent and concealed powers, but rath-
er n of unequivocable terms, distinct
powers and living uses. These things
made him as potent a factor with the
public a he was a constitutional n
with the lawyers.
He left no children, that the nation
might call him father" declared the
great orator in his eulogy on Wash
ington. How applicable OF North DA-
kota and Judge Morganl Thousands
will mourn him as a friend; thousands
well shed the tear of sorrow beside his
bier because they loved him; bench
and bar will spread their eulogies on
their records and proclaim them In a
silence which their loss betokens; but
the whole state will mourn the loss Of
a man. a citizen. and an official who
was all that could be desired in each.
When he shall appear at the bar Of
the Judge of the Universe there to be
heard concerning the deeds done in
the body. 1t viii be said OF him as of
another before an earthly tribunal. II
find no fault in this man."