Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-07-28

10 the poslllOn WHICH Lc snouiu nave
held all the time and should never have
left. I believe that there are others in
this State deserve Congratulations more
than they believe that the Governor
should be congratulated: that the fellow
members Of the bar with whom they
have practiced, and that the people of
Kenfebec county should be congratulate
ed believe that they should be proud
Of the Kennebec Bar Association and
Of its members. They have been tried
in all walks Of life and have not been
found wanting-lawyers. statesmen and
soldiers"
Then came the greeting from the SUI
preme judicial court. Senior Associate
Justice Arno W. King speaking for it.
In introducing him President Carleton
said:
Lord Coke wrote many immortal lines,
among them was this sentence:
Reason is the lift Of the law:
Nay. the common law itself is nothing
else but reason
1--WE have all read and studied the
learned and Illuminating opinions Of a
member of the supreme judicial court
an associate justice of that court-with
great pleasure and profit.
"I have seldom studied one Of those
opinions without having come into my
mind the sentence Of Lord Coke above
quoted
"Mr. Associate Justice Arno W. King.
who will bring to US and our distin-
guished guests the greetings Of their as
sociates on the bench"
Justice King responded as follows:
Associate Justice King
The people of Kennebec county and
especially the members of the Kenne.
bee bar certainly have sufficient rea-
son to be proud of the part Kennebec
county has had in the councils of the
nation, the affairs of the State, and
the work of the judiciary. From 1920
down to the present time kennehec
county has had a continuous repre-
sentation in the judiciary except in the
brief period from 1s41 to 1852.
During that period Kennebec county
had for a considerable time either two
or three members of that court. Mr.
President, permit me to say that in
no time in the history of Maine has
the influence of kennebec county been
greater than today, with Cornish
Philbrook and Spear on the bench.
Judge Cornish will make a worthy
successor to the eminent men who
have held the chief justiceship of the
Supreme court.
President Carleton next turned to a
distinguished jurst and member of the
Cumberland bar. Hon. Joseph w Sy-
monds OF Portland, who was associate
from Oct. l6, 1878. to March 81, 1854. Judge
Symonds always brings to every occasion
fitting and graceful eloquence. In intro
ducng him President Carleton said;
1T is recorded Of Cicero that he was
the greatest lawyer among orators and
the greatest orator among lawyers We
have with us tonight one 10 whom this
written of Cicero applies exactl". a for
mer associate justice of the supreme lu-
dicial court of whom it may we'll he said,
as of A Judge of the olden time: He was
wise. sklful, rational, sagacious, we'll
advised. eloquent. Hon. Joseph w. Sy-
mends."
Judge Symonds responded as follows:
Hon. Joseph w. symonds
In our State the appointment of A
new chief justice forms at once another
link in the golden chain of a great sue
cession. With the exception of three
Prentiss Mellen, Nathan Weston and
Ezekiel Whitman, there has been no
chief justice of Maine whom l do not
remember. And now the long line
ends. Nearly a hundred years have
passed by. The door closes upon the
threshold--and- still familiar form
With unanimty of approval the well
come sounds as he takes the vacant
place,
FIX Governor Cobb and the chief justice
first met as young men in Boston on the
eve of entering the Harvard Law school
They became roommates Then began
the friendship which has grown deep and
strong with the intervening years. Judge
Cornish declined three times an appoint
ment to the supreme judicial court and
T., was a happy coincidence that his for
mer roommate at the law school, as gov
ernor. should finally place the judicial
mantle upon him by appointing him asso-
ciate Justice on March 81 1907. President
Carleton had this in mind in introducing
Ex-Governor Cobb and said:
II was once greatly honored by having
the then governor Of the State of Maine
for my guest over night. An elderly lady
from the country happened to be stopping
with me at the same time. We had a
splendid time and enjoyed the visit Of the
governor exceedingly. and this elderly
lady, after the governor had gone. asked
II this gentleman was a real governor.
Being assured that he was a real govern
or she said Why. he seemed like one
of our own folks To US here ne has not
only always seemed to he like one of our
own folks hut he came very near to act
ually being one of them. While he stands
at the very head of the leaders of bust
ness in Maine we all feel a regret that
he did not continue the way he began
and enter the bar If he had II might
perhaps be question who would now be
chief Justice At the law school, however
Damon and Pythias met. one became gov
ernor of the State. one became chief jus
tice-whether Damon or Pythas I leave
them TO decide. 1t gives me great pleas
ure to introduce as the next speaker the
Honorable William T. Cobb, ex-governor
Of our State"
Ex-Governor Cobb responded as follows
Governor Cobb