Evening star., 1948-08-28


cal situation involving the Supreme
Court, then asked:
Would the court in that case be
gamer"
mo, your honor" the Government
attorney replied, "the court is a
puzzle"
Hughes Joined In Laughter.
That was just after a series of
anti administration decisions. Mr.
Hughes joined in the laughter.
Mr.. Hughes entry into public life
Stefnrned from several Investigations,
the first of which involved gas rates
in New York. The result was a cut
in gas rates and a revision of stat
utes governing the industry. ,>. ....
Then came his ma jor 1nvestigative
success for the Armstrong Commit
tee of the State Legislature in 1905
and 1905. Examining the life insur-
ance business, he delved to the very
bottom, once amazing the president
of one of the companies so that he
exclaimed on the witness stand:
why, Mr.. Hughes. you know more
about the company than I do"
The upshot was redrafting of the
code governing insurance. Eventu-
ally it became the model for similar
revisions in many other States, and
in later years company executives
acknowledged that the souncness of
their concerns could be credited to
Mr.. Hughes.
He rejected the Republican nomi-
nation for the New York mayoralty
in 1905, but the following year he
ran for governor against William
Randolph Hearst and was the only
Republican in the State to be elected.
Warred ON Track Betting.
In his second term, he opened war
on race track betting. His conten-
ton was that the State constitution
forbade gambling, and I'VE must or
must not have a constitution" He
won his battle so completely that the
tracks went out of business for two
years, and it was several years be-
fore they fully recovered.
Eight years after he was born at
Glens Falls, N. Y, April II, 1862, Mr..
Hughes had distinguished himself as
lad who had read all the works Of
Shakespeare.
Although he always denied being
a precocious child, the school rec
ords disclose he was prepared for
college at II. Being too young to
matriculate, he was carefully tutored
at home the next three years by his
father, the Rev. David Charles
Hughes, who was guiding his son
into the ministry.
At IA he began a tWo-year pre-
paratory course at Colgate Univer-
sity, later transferring to Brown
University and graduating at 19
with bachelor Of arts degree.
Despite the love for his father
and a sense of religion that fol-
lowed him throughout his life, Mr..
Hughes decided to enter law school
at Columbia University. The year
he was admitted to the bar, 1884, he
received a bachelor of laws degree
from Columbia and master OF arts
degree from Brown University.
With the aid of scholarships, he
attended Columbia three more years
while starting on a 20-year private
law practice and two years as law
professor at Cornell University.
Married In 1888.
In 1888, he married Antoinette
Carter in New York. One of their
children, Charles Evans Hughes, jr.,
became Solicitor General of the
United States, resigning when his
father became Chief Justice. OF
three daughters, one, Helen, died in
young womanhood; another, Cath
crime, married Chancey L. Waddell,
and the third. Elizabeth, became
Mrs William T. Gossett.
When he became Chief Justice,
Mr.. Hughes put to good use a
startling ability to gather seemingly
at glance alf the salient facts of
technical papers.
Turning printed pages almost as
fast as the hand would move. he
would quickly end his examination,
having absorbed all the material
necessary for his judicial acts.
He was lawyers lawyer" during
his days Of private practice. Often
he received stupendous fees for work
requiring only q few hours. On one
such case, prominent lawyer
handed him papers late one after
noon, desiring advice by the next