459
John William Davis stitutions and statutes are empty forms, execu tives, legislators, and judges the creatures of an ephemeral day. In forms of government only that which is best administered, in fact and in appearance as well, is best. A public man, it is true, may be as chaste as ice and as pure as snow and not escape suspicion. Try as he may, he cannot always avoid the ready tongue of slander; but what he can do, and must do is to avoid putting himself in any position to which sus picion can rightfully or reasonably or naturally attach. More cannot be expected of him, but nothing less should be permitted. If it be possible to discriminate in such matters, does it not seem that these obligations rest with peculiar force upon the Judge? His life is to be spent as a peacemaker in adjusting the quarrels and difficulties of his fellows and in vindicating the right of society to peace and order. The appointing power or the electorate, as the case may be, his solemn oath, the state, society itself, all stand sponsor for his absolute honesty and strict impartiality. To preserve these vir tues, therefore, both in essence and in seeming, should be his first and most especial care. He must realize that he has entered upon a career monastic in its requirements, not only of labor, but of abstinence and self-denial as well. Many
things which he may have been accustomed to do, many things which in other men may be per mitted, or approved, or, if not approved, for given, are cut off for him from the moment when he dons his official robe, and many avenues of life are closed to him forever. The pursuit of fortune, the chase for wealth he must put behind him; and though he need not strip himself of all his worldly goods, nor cease to give a decent degree of care and thought to the preservation of such property as he may own, he must recog nize that his period of accumulation, his active participation in commercial pursuits is over for the time. He has undertaken to content him self for this loss with the honors and emoluments springing from his position and the opportuni ties for service that it brings. His ideal must be that expressed by John Randolph, who said, in speaking of the great chancellor of Virginia, George Wythe, that "he was in the world, yet not of the world, but was the mere incarnation of justice." Following is a list of Mr. Davis' predecessors in office, stating their terms of service and other interesting infor mation : —
SOLICITORS-GENERAL {Created by Act of June 22, 1870) Name Benjamin H. Bristow Samuel F. Phillips John Goode George A. Jenks Orlow W. Chapman William H. Taft Charles H. Aldrich Lawrence Maxwell, Jr. Holmes Conrad John K. Richards Henry M. Hoyt 1 Lloyd Wheaton Bowers Fredk. W. Lehmann Wm. Marshall Bullitt John W. Davis *
Appointed Oct. Nov. May July May Feb. Mar. Apr. Feb. July Feb. Apr. Dec. July July
11, 1870 15, 1872 1, 1885 30, 1886 29, 1889 4, 1890 21, 1892 6, 1893 6, 1895 1, 1897 25, 1903 1, 1909 12, 1910 16, 1912 28, 1913
Retired Nov. May Aug. May Jan. Mar. May Jan. July Mar. Mar. Sept. July Mar.
15, 3, 5, 29, 19, 20, 28, 30, 8, 16, 31, 9, 15, 11,
1872 1885 1886 1889 1890 1892 1893 1895 1897 1903 1909 1910 1912 1913
Whence Appointed Ky. N. C. Va. Pa. N. Y. Ohio 11I. Ohio Va. Ohio Pa. Il1. Mo. Ky. W. Va.
1 Mr. Hoyt took the oath of office and entered on duty March 16. 1903. 'Mr. Davia took the oath of office and entered on duty August 30, 1913.
President Grant Grant Cleveland Cleveland Harrison Harrison Harrison Cleveland Cleveland McKinley Roosevelt Taft Taft Taft Wilson
