The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-31
DAv1s-MAN OF PRINCIPLE

ascribe much of their success to the in- fluence and training on the part of their mothers. Although unfortunate is the man who cannot believe that hls mother ] is a superior woman, yet there is diff ference in mothers, some of them being far more fit by native endowment and by educational or other advantages to guide their children wisely ard well. Such a woman was the mother of John w. Davis. She was college bred and led. a degree from Baltimore College for Women, having been graduated in 1858. In those days college education meant culture, if it meant anything at all. It meant familiarity with history, litera- ture, the classics and the philosophies. It meant the ability to read and enjoy French writers of note. It meant a mas tery of the English language, such as col llege graduates of today often do not pos sess. It meant character and profound belief in America and all things Amer ican. -e-
 I It was a woman of such superior en- dowment whom John w. Davis had the good fortune to have both as mother and as mentor. She was painstaking with his very language and use of Eng fish in writing and in public speaking. According to an article in September's Worlds Dork: "His. instinct was to pat tern his style upon the somewhat florfd Southern eloquence of his father. His mother would have none of it. Her cen serious pencil mercilessly weeded out the sounding phrases, leaving only the meat of the matter. T want to make him pos tive and direct said she. How well her lesson was learned may be gathered from two facts: that during the six years he practiced as solicitor-general before the Supreme Court of the United States, Mir. Davis never once consumed the full time allotted him for oral argument, and that his pointed briefs before the court are almost unique in being what the name implies-two facts that may have bear ing on the remark of the late Chief Justice White, that MT. Davis was the best lawyer who had appeared before the supreme bench while he had sat upon it. "
 Thus it happens that MT. Davis, though having sought no reputation for taciturnity, is as appreciative of the value of words as Mir. Coolidge. MT. Davis Is no sphinx, to keep world anxiously awaiting the solution of riddle, only at length to speak something ridiculOusly simple and inadequate. On the contrary, he is prompt in giving his opinion, and terse in its phrasing. There is a direct ness and simplicity in his language that leaves no doubt in the minds of the peo- pie as to the thought he seeks to convey. And the ability to use language properly is strong indication of the ability to think properly. Voltaire held that man was as many times his original self as the number of languages of which he was master. Certainly to become a master of even one language is for man to add greatly to his mental stature. Mir. Davis is a master of several.
 The editor of the Worlds Work also pays to Mir. Davis this significant tribute "Mr. Davis is not of the now too com mon. type of shrewd manipulator of legal technicalities. Quite to the contrary, he is lawyer of the older school, versed in the historical evolution of the law as an instrument for preserving the bene- fits of human society by equalizing the s..s,- Irra AA NNHo growth and for insuripg to every indi- vidual the rights incident to the peaceful pursuit of his lawful occasions. Lawyers of this type regard their duty to be not chiefly the winning of cases for importu- nate clients, but by their every appear ance in a cause to illuminate the tradi- tion of fundamental rights and to carry on the perpetual process of adjusting the particular instance equitably to the im- mutable general principles"
 In view of that statement it is all the more easy to understand how MT. Davis might say with all sincerity: "I have been at the bar nearly thirty years |. |. and have been called upon to serve a great many kinds of men. No one in this list of clients has ever controlled or even fancied he could control my per sonal or my political conscience. am vain enough to imagine that no one ever will" It is reasonable to suppose that none of Mir. Davis's clients ever "even fancied he could controP MT. Davis's personal or political convictions, because Mir. Davis made it very clear at the out set of any such effort that only his pro- fessional talent and not his conscience was for hire. When his conscience for , bade, his professional talent could not be hired. It is a man of that type whom the American people can safely entrust with their most Nimportant affairs.
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