Evening star., 1935-03-06
A Seeker After Truth.

One Of the great men of the world
has passed away in the death of Mr..
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. A
measure of his greatness is that while
his mortal race is run, noble spirit
remains to guide those who, sharing
his ambition if denied the power of
his accomplishment, would also learn
to live and find the truth. Many
years ago, addressing Harvard law
undergraduates, he prophetically in
scribed a portion of his own epitaph
on the monument of his life when he
spoke of the solace to the lonely
thinker that comes in the knowledge
that, "A hundred years after he is
dead and forgotten, men who never
heard of him will be moving to the
measure of his thought
Able men have written and will
continue to write of Justice Holmes
contributions to the science of juris-
prudence; of the great part he played
In shaping the destinies of his country
men as member of the United States
Supreme Court; of a rich personality
that reached out through the printed
word to warm the hearts of millions
who never saw him. All these things
are parts of his greatness.
But to many will remain the men,
ory of man who seemed close to
the discovery of how to live-and how
to die; man who, one might con-
clude, had approached solution of
these two riddles of the universe.
While he left an indelible mark on the
law of his country in twenty-nine years
active participation in the business
of the Supreme Court, while he was
learned in the law as feW men are
learned, it was the breadth and full
ness of his life and a philosophy of
life with strange power to move mems
souls that may be his greatest leg
acy.
He has been described as a great
feformer, a crusader, liberal, the
Great Dissenter.' But there were
too many facets of his character to !
be covered by single word. His dis
senting opinions at times outshone |
the opinions of the court in depth |
of thought and penetrating clarity of !
expression. But the ratio of his dis
sents to his concurrences in or his ex-
pressions of the opinions of the court !
were as one to ten. Surely he was
never reforming. crusading liberal,
out to make over the world by abraca-
dabra or hot zeal for onward and up
ward movements. He once said:
I believe that the wholesale regen-
Grafton which so many now seem to |
expect, if it can be helped by con-
scious, co-ordinated human effort, !
cannot be effected appreciably by |
tinkering with the institution of prop
erty, but only by taking in hand life, |
The notion that with socialized prop
erty we shall have women free and a
piano for everybody seems to me an !
empty humbug.
His life was search for the truth.
In physical combat he found some of
it on the bloody battlef1elds of the |
Civil War. In after years he was
exploring the frontiers of thought. |
He ceaselessly dug into the hard sub
stance which lies below the loose top
soil For him nothing was to be taken
for granted, least of all such senti-
ments and beliefs as had gathered the
appearance of truth through mere ac-
ceptance by generations of men. His
was the Unsuitable, and reverential,
curiosity of the scientist In the
course of many of those opinions
which in his lifetime became accepted |
as classic there is disclosed a remark
able ability to lift from the entangle-
ment Of words and theory the clear
and shining point, and this was done
with detachment almost unique in
judicial history" as Harold j. Laski
describes It. through which he dis
sociated his own strong convictions |
from the law which it became his
duty to interpret. "' I firmly be-
lieve that my agreement or disagree
ment with the theory concerned) has
nothing to do With the right of q ma
1ority to embody their opinions in |
law" He was firm believer in the |
rights of the majority and In Q Con-
stitution which did not circumscribe !
those rights beyond Fundamental |
principles as they have been under |
stood by the traditions Of our people |
and our law" He did not regard lib
erty merely as tradition handed
down from the forefathers, but as a
very real and personal possession, to
be defended passionately at all times. |
On the evening Of his Goth BIRTH
day-March 8, 193l-he sat in the
study of his home on I street and
heard over the radio words Of praise
and the good wishes of great men OF
the law. Some of them were voiced
by Chief Justice Hughes, who was
babe in swaddnng clothes when the
ice-wounded Capt. Holmes came
home from the wars. And after
the speeches were done there came
in response the deep, resonant words
that dug themselves into the memory
of other nsteners-in:
The canter that brings you to
q standstill (after the race is over)
need not be only coming to rest. II