New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-23
JuriStS and Counsellors
of All Parties Attend
Dinner at Waldorf
HAS NO REGRETS,
HE TELLS HOSTS
Now Back to OnerOus Du-
ties of Prominent Chi.
zen, Says Root

Charles T.. Hughes came back TO his
old job last night. Since he left off the
practice Of law in New York City, ten
years ago, he has been twice Governor
of New York State, justice of the
highest tribunal of the land and can
didste for the nations Chief Executive
ship.
But at the dinner given in his honor
at the Waldorf-Astoria last night by
the Association of the Bar Of the City
of New York he was plain Mr.. Hughes
once more, starting out to pick up the
ravelled threads of his legal practice
where he left them a decade ago.
Few New Workers have had such a
Homecoming as that accorded last night
TO Mr.. Hughes by the fellow members
Ct his profession. Five hundred men,
of every political party, most OF whom
are known in every corner OF the
greater city for their work as jurists or
coCnsellors, gathered to pay him trib-
ute and to thunder their applause when
his praise was sung by such speakers
as Senator Elihu Root, former Justice
George L. Ingraham, Presiding Justice
John Proctor Clarke of the Appellate
Division and Francis Lynde Stetson.
+ Has No Regrets for Past
Mr. Hughes returns TO New York City
with no regrets for what has happened
in the past, he told his audience last
night.
81 have no mood to exhibit. no de
sire 10 evoke sympathy" he declared
81 did not wish TO resign from the Su.
preme Court, but | did so because
believed such a step to be my duty. |
have no regret that thus followed the
call of duty, and | have returned to
you without pessimism.
"The American citizen has many SER
vants-but he has no master. | stand
before you tonight Invested of some
of my former responsibility, perhaps,
but | still maintain the dignity that
every American citizen has the right
to call his own.
"The great governmental problem OF
the future, believe, is to maintain
state power where state power is es-
sential and national power where it is
best. In the last analysis, the future
of the Republic depends upon the Wig
orous sentiment of an enlightened bar.
And the proudest ornaments Of the
American bar have always been those
men unpurchassble by a fee no mat
ter how large, who were always
actuated by an empowering sense Of
public duty"
Roots Jest Brings Smile
Senator Root, who was the first
speaker of the evening, won a broad
smile from Mr.. Hughes when he an
nounced:
"Mr. Hughes, am glad to see you
here. but ! wish you were somewhere
else"
The Senator continued:
"Mr. Hughes has come back to US
after abandoning a position which he
held for life, at what seemed to him
a call from his country to the per-
Torrance Of hard duty. After per-
forming that duty with courage and
gallantry he has come back to the
performance of two functions. One Of
these is most onerous, the most ex-
acting that a man could undertake
that of being a prominent citizen. And
he has come back to the bar of New
York"
Welcomed Back to Bar
Justice Clarke welcomed Mr.. Hughes
back to the New York bar on behalf
of the courts. Mr.. Stetson, in his ad-
dress, expressed his regret that Mr..
Hughes had withdrawn from the Su-
preme Court, and added:
81 hope the sacrifice he made may
never again in this country be re-
quired of any other justice of the
Supreme Court"