New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-21
JUDGES NEED GUILE OF
MEPH|STO, SAYS HOLMES
Member of Supreme Court
Fears Sympathies Have
Been Read Into Law.
LESSON EVEN IN HATRED
May Be Germ of Inarticulate
Truth in Criticism-Ra-
cial Rivalry the Com
ing Problem.

Washington, April 20-"Judges are like
~ TO be naive, simple minded men, and
they need something Of Mephistopheles,'
says Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in a
speech made public to-day in the form Of
a Senate document. In explanation he
had said that popular discomfort had led
some judges to write their sympathies
into the Law.
Justice Holiness speech was made re-
Gently at private dinner in New York,
and il reveals in a measure how the
United States Supreme Court views pres
ent day criticism
Science had Taught the world skepti-
cism, Justice Holmes said by way Of
preface, and made it legitimate to put
everything TO the test of proof
"Of course, We are not excepted he
said referring to the Supreme Court.
Not only are we told that when Mar
'ldiA pronounced dll at ~ ,piir Us N''
constitutional he usurped q power that
the Constitution did not give but we are
told that We are the representatives Of a
class-a tool of the money power. | get
letters--not always anOnymOus-intimat-
ing that we are corrupt. Well. gentle
men. ! admit that it makes my heart
ache 1t is very painful, when one spends
all the energies Of ones soul i'm trying 10
do good work. with no thought but that
Of solving a problem according to the
rules By which one is bound. 10 know
that many see sinister motives and would
be glad of evidence that one was CON
sciously bad. But we must take such
things philosophlcally. and try TO see
what we can learn from hatred and dis
trust and whether behind them there
may not be some germ OF inarticulate
truth"
The attacks upon the court, the JUS
,ice added are merely an expression OF
the unrest that seems TO wonder vaguely
whether law ard order pay"
A very important truth to be extracted
from the popular discomfort. according TO
Justice Holmes. IS that judges, particu-
larry in state courts. have read their con-
scious or unconscious sympathies prema-
turely into the law
1T cannot be helped-it i as it should
be-that the law is behind the times" de-
clared Justice Holmes. AS law embodies
beliefs that have triumphed in the battle
OF ideas and then have translated them
selves into action. while there still is
doubt. while opposite convictions still
keep a battle front against each other.
the time for law has not come; the no
ton destined to prevail is not Yet en-
titled to tine field"
In this discussion OF premature law
Justice Holmes expressed the belief that
twenty years ago. when a vague terror
went over the earth and the word social
ism began To be heard. fear was trans
lated by Judges into doctrines that had no
proper place IN ;he Constitution or the
common law.
Justice Holmes closed by saying that
as he grew old he grew calm. He pre-
dicted that competition from new races
would cut deeper in the future than work
ngmens disputes ana would ties;
whether we can hang together and
fight"
81 dc not pin my dreams for the future
TO my country. or even to my race" De
said Il think it probable that cviliza-
ton somehow will last as long as | care
TO look ahead. | think il not improbable
that man. like the grub that prepares a
chamber for the winged thing it never
has seen. but IS To be. may have cosmic
destinies that he does not understand
And so beyond the vision Of battling
races and an impoverished earth catch
a dreaming glimpse Of peace