James E. Homans, editor

“ Impatient at what was commonly regarded as delay on the part of the Administration, he became a severe critic of President Wilson, and his demand, “For God's sake, hurry up!” echoed throughout the country. But relations with Germany had just been severed, and Mr. Choate remarked: “But now we see what the President was waiting for and how wisely he waited.” Mr. Choate was a lover of peace and of justice secured by peaceful means. At the Second Hague Peace Conference, where he headed the American delegation, he was the champion of every method of abolishing war. ”

“ He was also president of the New York Association for the Blind and of the Board of Managers of the State Charities' Association. On 24 April, 1917, he delivered a notable address at the annual meeting of the members of the Associated Press, in which he said: “If Lincoln were here today, his prayer would be verified and glorified into the prayer that all civilized nations shall now have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from any portion of the earth. ”

“ As a mark of honor all the official flags and those on many office buildings, clubs and private residences in New York were lowered to half-mast. Mr. Choate was interested in numerous charities, especially those devoted to the blind, in appreciation of which the school and workshop in Paris for soldiers blinded in battle was named in his honor — the Phare de France-Choate War Memorial, of which he had become president of the committee at its organization soon after the war started. ”

“ Choate rapidly attained high rank in his profession and was known as one of the ablest and best-equipped lawyers of the New York bar. It was said that he was “a specialist in every branch of the law.” This was due to the fact that when he entered upon a case he carefully studied everything connected with it, so that in some instances he might be said to have mastered a science in order to apply his knowledge of it to the case in hand. ”

“ Choate argued for the supremacy of the government, and Naegle was acquitted. The Pribilof Islands in Behring Sea, which belong to the United States, are the breeding-grounds of the very valuable Alaska seal herd; and serious complaints were made when Canadian boats from Victoria persisted in pursuing the seals on their way to and from the breeding-ground and killing them indiscriminately in the deep sea, which threatened destruction of the entire herd. The American contention involved the assumption that Behring was a closed sea and the seals belonged to the United States. ”

“ It is a war for the preservation of free government throughout the civilized world. And I believe that I may include in that not only free governments of the allied nations and the neutral nations, but of Germany itself. ”

“ Bartholomew's Church, New York, at the funeral service, thousands, with bared heads, kept silent vigil outside, while the school children in New York in special assembly were learning the life of their country's first citizen — the highest type of American culture. ”

“ He held that an advocate may properly maintain either side of any cause that a court may hear.” Mr. Choate appeared probably in more trials of note than any of his contemporaries; in fact, his services were sought in all the celebrated cases of his time. Among his memorable cases was the income tax case, probably the one of widest interest, involving the constitutionality of the Income Tax Law of 1894. ”