Evening star., 1946-04-23

and Brandeis in notable dissents and
lived to see several of his minority
stands become majority decisions.
In his last few years he was foune
again increasingly in the minority
IN an often-divided court. His views
however, seldom veered from a lib.
eral philosophy and they generally
were regarded as stabilizing force
in deliberations and opinions of the
tribunal
From the start of his judicia.
service Justice Stone showed a ca
pacity for long, hard work and q
fondness for tackling intricate
problems, technical as we'll as con-
stitutional questions. These char
acteristics account for the large
and varied list of opinions he wrote
His liberal opinions and dis
sents rested in the main on two basic
attitudes toward the law and con-
stitution. Mr. Stone believed that
the court should interpret and de-
fine the statutes, but should not
enact" them. He felt that the con-
stltution should not stand in the
way of Federal and State expert
ments in economic and social legis-
lation, and that the law, as a
human institution, should be in
line with human needs.
Played Football at Amherst.
A New England Republican who
played rugged football at Amherst
College when Calvin Coolidge was
there, Mr.. Stone owed his appoint
ment as Chief Justice in June. l94l
to President Roosevelt. That was
the second historic instance in which
President elevated to the highest
judicial office an associate justice
who had been aligned with another
political party. The first was Presi-
dent Taft's appointment of Chief
Justice White in 1910.
Justice Stone had been Attorney
General of the United States for about
eight months when President Cool
ldge selected him for the Supreme
Court. Early in 1924 he reluctantly
agreed to take the cabinet post and
promptly set about reorganizing the
Justice Department and restoring
public confidence, shaken by revela-
tions involving his predecessor
Harry Daugherty.
Although named to the Supreme
Court in January. 1925, Mr.. Stone
had to wait until March 2 to be
confirmed and sworn in as an as
soclate justice. In the Senate he
was attacked not only for having
been law partner of a son-in- law
of John Pierpont Morgan, but also,
as Attorney General, for having
presented to a grand jury a case
brought by Mr.. Daugherty against
Senator Burton K. Wheeler.
Confirmed Quickly in 1941.
But when his name went before
the Senate in 1941 for Chief JUS
tice he was confirmed in IL min
utes. Senator George W., Norris of
Nebraska arose to declare that in
1925 he had been entirely wrong"
In opposing the Stone nomination
and that "one of the greatest salts
factions of my public life is to
rectify that now"
Justice Stone was born Oc-
tober II, 1872, on a farm in New
Hampshire, and took the oath as
Chief Justice in log cabin in a
national park, high in the Rocky
Mountains. Between those two
events was a wide range of activity,
which included 13 years as dean
Of the law school of Columbia Uni
versity and other years of prac-
ticing law in New York City and
teaching school in Massachusetts,
and Brooklyn.
From his farm near Chesterfield
N. H., Mr.. Stone went first to Mas
sachusetts Agricultural College at
Amherst to study scientific agri-
culture. AS result of a misunder-
standing, which repeatedly hit a
climax when he punched a professor
who called him a liar, Mr.. Stone
transferred to Amherst College. His
ambition then was to become a ply
slcian and in 1894 he obtained his
bachelor of science degree.
In the class behind him was CAL
win Coolidge, whom he did not know
well at the time, but recalled later
as "pu1poseful" lad. What seemed
to have a more immediate effect or
the course of his life was a pro-
flciency he developed in college de-
batting and an athletic proves
which made him center rush" or
one OF Amherst's legendary football
teams-the one that beat Dartmouth
80 to 0. He stood among the first
OF his class candidates for Phi Beta
Kappa keys, and he was voted as the
1894 class member most likely tt
succeed
Law Graduate of Columbia.
Though his thoughts had beer
turning to the law, he taught chem.
lstry and physics at Putnam High
School, Newburyport, Mass, for two
years. Returning to Amherst he
took his master of arts degree ir
1897 and then went to Columbia
Law School, where he won his
bachelor of law degree in 1898
Even while at Columbia, he likeo
teaching so well that he was his
tory Instructor at Adelphi Academy
in Brooklyn. For almost seven
years while practicing law he lee
tured at Columbia. He entered the
New York law Office of Wilmer and
Garfield which, in 1913, became the
firm of Satterlee, Garfield and
Stone, Yet he never wholly aban-
doned teaching, even while prac-
ticing law
In 1910 he became Kent professor
of law and dean of the law school
at Columbia and remained there for
l3 years. Besides adding to his re-
noWn AS a scholar and legal expert.
he attracted attention as an edu-
Gator who opposed "nostrums" and
short He advocated strict en-
trance requirements and searching
bar eXamina tions to weed out in
competents.
Justice Stones first official contact
with Federal Government service
came in 1918 when Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker selected him as a
member of committee to review
cases of conscientious objectors to
the World War draft. Justice Stone
later wrote a book on the subject.