The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-02-20

figure.
 He is the center of a contro- versy which he moved heaven and earth to avoid, but which in- exorably drew him into its vortex.
 There is nothing which Mir. Hughes dislikes more than con- .troversy. He used all his per- suasive eloquence, all the weight of his prestige, all the power of his careful legal reasoning to heal the breach between the liberal and conservative wings of the court. But the greater his effort, the greater the conflict appeared to become.
 Reasonable Hughes
 In order to understand the un- happy predicament in which the chief justice now finds himself, it is necessary to know something of his background.
 The keynote of Mir. Hughes character is reas0nableness. He is one of the most reasonable men in the world. He is not at all selfish. There was 8 day when he was - at least he was ambitious for greater renown,
 brighter limelight, bigger and better things for Charles Evans Hughes.
 Those were the days when he resigned from the supreme court to become a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Those were the days also when he was a spectacular and highly successful secretary of state, and when, after resigning from pulp lie office, MT. Hughes appeared to accept any and every case which came his way, no matter what its merit, in order to re- build his private fortune.
 MT. Hughes was at his best during his days as Secretary of of state. He was capable, con- vincing and fairly fortnight. He believed in getting American mar ines out of Latin America, and he planted the seeds of Good Neigh borliness" which Franklin Roose- welt has now nurtured into full bloom.
 But even as secretary of state, MT. Hughes revealed some of the characteristics which have brought criticism upon his head today.
 Naval Conference
 It was MT. Hughes who con- ceived and executed the idea of the Washington Naval Conference which was to limit the chief navies of the world. It was a glorious and praiseworthy idea. But at its very climax Hughes lost his nerve.
 He lost his nerve on a point of British Bluff. The British Ad- miralty was willing to limit bat tleships - in which the United States was superior - but not cruisers and light craft, in which the British were superior and in the end, rather than lose credit with the American public for making the confer ence successful MT. Hughes compromised.
 In the United States the con- ference was hailed as a great step toward peace. But MT. Coolidge and MT. Hoover had to battle for years to retrieve the ground lost by that compromise and bring the British to terms on cruisers and light craft.
 They failed. MT. Hughes had thrown away limitation of battle ships-THE U. s. TRUMP CARD. Too Plausible
 Charles Evans Hughes is very honest, and according to his own reasoning, sincere and plausi- ble person. In fact, plausibil- ity is his chief weakness. He has championed SO many cases on so many difference sides of the fence that he seems able to argue him. self into the firm belief that al- most any side is right.
 He championed a subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad in securing ter minal facilities in New York. New Haven and Hartford Railroad. in securing terminal facilities in New York. And he championed the cause of the people of New York state in securing lower gas rates. He championed a New York electric company in its battle not to put its wires underground, and he championed the people of New York in a campaign to reform insurance companies.
 A secretary of state he cham pioned the American marine-oc- cupied country of Santo Domingo, and he championed the powerful Standard oil company-which la- ter became his client. And in his latter years on the supreme court he has swung back and forth between the liberals and the reactionaries so furiously in his apparent effort to please, that he
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