Tribute to Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes on the One Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth.

It is the quality of great men that they continue to live long after they are gone. We celebrate the birthday anniversaries of those who in the past have wrought enduringly for the Republic, in order to refresh our spirit and strengthen our will for the tasks of our own day. In reverence of his memory and regard for our own needs, it is appropriate that we should pause on Saturday, March eighth, to draw strength and encouragement from the life of the late Mr. Justice Holmes, who was born one hundred years ago.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., was born within a few days of the inauguration of William Henry Harrison as President. Merely to recall that fact suggests the transformations in our national life in the century between March 8, 1841, and March 8, 1941, that make William Henry Harrison remote to our thoughts today.

But Mr. Justice Holmes's wisdom and services to his country kept abreast of these changes. Whether as hero on battlefields or in the less dramatic struggles within a judge's private conscience, Mr. Justice Holmes's life was devoted to those ultimate purposes of civilization to which the Founders dedicated this Nation. He believed passionately in the moral worth of the individual regardless of race or religion or the accident of antecedents. He therefore believed in the unfettered spirit without which man cannot live a civilized life.

This is the faith by which Mr. Justice Holmes was moved to the high endeavor of his life. This is the faith in which he lived and died. This faith he commemorated by leaving his modest fortune to the Government as the representative and the agent of the people of the United States. We do well to cherish the life and memory of this great man as part of our national heritage.