and the joys of a happy home, unclouded except by the loss of a beautiful daughter a few years before the death of his wife, in 1904. The last five years and more of Judge Magruder's life were lived in the shadows, for long habit had unfitted him for the rough contest of city practice; but the loneliness of the last years was much alleviated by the companionship of a niece, Miss Lizzie Magruder, who occupied the place of a daughter in his heart and home.

"The long public career of this faithful servant makes us appreciate more keenly these words of Lowell:

"The longer on this earth we live

And weigh the various qualities of men, * * *
The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty
Of plain devotedness to duty.'

"In his conduct of the office of attorney and counselor at law, in the position of master in chancery of the superior court of Cook county, and in his long years of service as a judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois, one controlling principle pervaded and dominated his character-devotion to duty. The thoroughness and care displayed in his opinions indicate his unremitting industry. The extent to which rest and vacations were refused passes beyond the line of reason in the performance of duty, and yet there is in his work no sign of fatigue.

"The opinions of this departed judge breathe the pure spirit of love for his fellow-men, of sympathy for the unfortunate, and of righteous indignation at the schemes of fraud and indirection by which some of the great enterprises of modern business life have been accomplished. These sympathies were a vital part of his nature. The times have demanded such men, and especially judges with clearness of vision to look beyond the strifes of the mart and the forum to the broader and more ultimate fundamental principles affecting the well-being and life of our country. One of the greatest tributes that can be paid to the Supreme Court of Illinois is, that during the swift evolution of the commercial life of this State, and amid all the tortuous schemes of our modern mad struggle for wealth, this court has stood unflinchingly for the rights of the individual. And to this result this jurist, in spite of the fact that he came from the great, throbbing, metropolitan center of business activity, in no small degree contributed.

"We lay upon his grave a few flowers in recognition of a sturdy character and a spotless integrity; in remembrance of one who cultivated and maintained a model American home; in admiration for a scholar whose work endures in the structure of this State, and in gratitude for the simple manner in which, through calm and storm, we have been taught the

'stern-featured beauty

Of plain devotedness to duty.'"

On behalf of the committee of the State Bar Association I move that this memorial be spread upon the records of this court.

CHIEF JUSTICE VICKERS: The court will now be pleased to hear Mr. Alschuler, also of the committee.

BY MR. SAMUEL ALSCHULER:

May it please the court-By request of the committee designated by the Illinois State Bar Association to prepare and present to this honorable court a memorial commemorating the life and services of the late Judge Magruder, I beg leave to submit a few remarks in connection with the memorial presented.

To have been for nearly a quarter-century a judge of the highest court of a great State; to have sat in final judgment upon thousands of causes, involving great principles, vast properties, human liberty,—yea, life itself; and to pass from the living, leaving none to point to a single judgment given through conscious bias or prejudice, to a single decree pronounced through fear or favor, to a single judicial act procured or influenced through unworthy motives, this, alone, is glory enough for one man, fame enough for one name, service enough for one brief span of human existence. Commenting editorially upon his judicial character, it was said after his death: "There have been greater judges, but none of more positive intellectual integrity than Judge Magruder; none who was a greater lover of justice as he saw it, and none more fearless in maintaining a position once deliberately taken."

He did not reach conclusions with the celerity of many others. He was slower, perhaps, in his mental processes, but to the conclusions thus deliberately reached he clung with unusual tenacity. If, as must be with all men, there may be laid to his charge the inevitable human tendency to err, side by it should have place the divine attribute of good intent.

When men of prominence come to die, too often public interest centers on the inquiry, "How large an estate was left?" Judge Magruder's life was too much filled with public service to give time for monetary acquisition and accumulation, and when, near seventy, he left the bench it was with small provision for his remaining years and with but small knowledge of or adaptability for prevailing business-getting methods not in vogue when he left the practice.

The work-horse, aged and broken-down with long service, is turned out to pasture for his remaining days, but a judge, patiently and ungrudgingly giving his years, his strength and his talents to the service of his country, may at last find himself, not in pastures green, but thrust into the busy activities of life for which he has become quite unfitted, there to struggle for existence as best he may. Surely this great State,-not in charity, not in kindness, not in pity, but in simple justice,-should make reasonable provision for those who, long and faithful in its service, at last through mutations of time and chance find their occupations gone.

The reported adjudications in which Judge Magruder actively participated comprise those found in the Illinois Reports from volume 115 to 221, inclusive; and whether himself formulating the opinion of the court, or dissenting therefrom, or concurring in the one or the other, he was ever a virile factor in the decision.

A hundred volumes of judicial opinions! A hundred volumes of recorded hopes and fears, of woes and heart-aches! A hundred volumes of life's tragedies!—for does not most every lawsuit hold its tragedy? For where there is victory there also is defeat; where victors there also the vanquished. And, indeed, is it not too often true that in the end the victor finds himself as well a victim?

Since legal remedies cannot be meted out by the peck or pound or yard, justice is at best an approximation. The responsibilities of the judicial office are the more exacting as the measure or rule for administering justice is the less exact. While in theory the judicial act is the law speaking through the man, it is in practice more nearly the man speaking through the law. And thus, the kind and quality of justice administered is dependent largely upon the kind and quality of those who administer it.

All government ultimately centers in the means for the orderly and peaceable adjustment of differences between contending per

sons. The courts are a sort of compulsory board of arbitration, without which each man would be unto himself a law and would in each case redress his own grievances; and there could be no government or social order, unless, indeed, men were so constituted that instinctively they knew always just what was the right thing to be done and inevitably would always do it. But man, alas! has not been cast in such an ideal mould.

The character of the judiciary is of necessity reflected in the people, who will tend towards uprightness and respect for the rights of others, or the reverse, as the judiciary appears to be wise, just, upright and potent, or the opposite. Wisdom, patience, firmness, tact, tolerance, honor, integrity, dignity, self-respect, respect for others, fairness, common sense, industry,—all these, and more, are qualities of head and heart which should be present in the judge. To the honor and glory of this high court be it said, that in all its history few, if any, have sat upon this bench who have been conspicuously wanting many of such qualities. To no man is it given to possess them all in marked degree. Men are only human, and their deficiencies distinguish them from the infinite. To say of the departed judge and lawyer whom to-day we honor that he did not embody every attribute of perfection, is but to say he was "of the earth, earthy." But we may truly and justly say that it has been given to comparatively few men to possess in so large degree so many of those high qualities as did Judge Magruder.

On behalf of the bar of which he was an honorable member for half a century, I commend to the high court in which he held conspicuous place for over two decades, the fitness and propriety of the memorial in commemoration of the upright lawyer, the conscientious judge, the useful citizen.

CHIEF JUSTICE VICKERS: The court will now hear Mr. Thomas M. Hoyne, of the Chicago Bar Association.

BY MR. THOMAS M. HOYNE:

May it please the court-At the annual meeting of the Chicago Bar Association, held in Chicago on the 29th of June last, the association adopted resolutions in regard to the death and memory of the late Justice Benjamin D. Magruder, formerly a justice of this court, and at that meeting and by those resolutions a commit

tee was authorized to be appointed by the president of the association to present those resolutions to this court. I have, therefore, the honor, on behalf of the committee, which is composed of Edward F. Dunne, Nathaniel M. Jones, Joseph B. Leake, Gwynn Garnett and myself, of presenting these resolutions to the court:

"WHEREAS, Benjamin Drake Magruder was admitted to the bar of Illinois in the early sixties and continued to be a member thereof until his death, on the 21st day of April, 1910,―a period of about fifty years; and whereas, Judge Magruder was one of the charter members of this bar association and from the time of its organization until the termination of his life was one of its most distinguished and highly respected members; and whereas, for sixteen years he filled with ability and fidelity the office of master in chancery of the superior court of Cook county, and for a period of twenty-one years, from 1885 to 1906, was one of the justices of the Supreme Court of this State, having served three terms as chief justice, his opinions appearing in 107 volumes of the Illinois Reports, numbered from 115 to 221; and whereas, for fifty years he was a citizen of Chicago, and both in private and public life contributed largely to the city's honor and good name and created for himself a high reputation as a man, a lawyer and a jurist; therefore

"Be it resolved, That the Chicago Bar Association in this formal manner testifies to its high appreciation of Judge Magruder as an honorable and exemplary citizen in the private walks of life, as a conscientious and able lawyer, and as an upright, fearless and distinguished judge.

"Resolved further, That his decisions, as they appear in over one-third of the published volumes of the Illinois Reports, evidence much legal ability, profound research, keen, analytical judgment and the courage of his convictions, and that they will long reflect luster upon his name and fame.

"Resolved further, That his independence, integrity and uprightness have brought honor to his adopted city and State and to his chosen profession, and that in his death they suffer serious loss.

"Resolved also, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this association, and that a committee of five be appointed to present them to the Supreme Court at its next October term."