We cannot recognize fittingly this anniversary without recalling the services of the men who have preceded us and whose work has made possible such repute as this institution enjoys. This tribunal works in a highly concrete fashion. The traditions it holds have been wrought out through the years at the conference table and in the earnest study and discussions of men constantly alive to a supreme obligation. We do not write on a blank sheet. The Court has its jurisprudence, the helpful repository of the deliberate and expressed convictions of generations of sincere minds addressing themselves to exposition and decision, not with the freedom of casual critics or even of studious commentators, but under the pressure and within the limits of a definite official responsibility. To one who over twenty-nine years ago first took his seat upon this Bench, this day is full of memories of associations with those no longer with us, who wrought with strength and high purpose according to the light that was given them, in complete absorption in their judicial duty. We pay our tribute to these men of the more recent period as we recognize our indebtedness to their eminent predecessors. We venerate their example. Reflection upon their lives brings emphasis to the thought that even with the tenure of the judicial office, the service of individuals however important in their day soon yields to the service of others who must meet new problems and carry on in their own strength. The generations come and go but the institutions of our Government have survived. This institution survives as essential to the perpetuation of our constitutional form of government, a system responsive to the needs of a people who seek to maintain the advantages of local government over local concerns and at the same time the necessary national authority over national concerns, and to make sure that the fundamental guarantees with respect to life, liberty and property, and of freedom of speech, press, assembly and religion shall be held inviolate. The fathers deemed that system of government well devised to secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity. Whether that system shall continue does not rest with this Court but with the people who have created that system. As Chief Justice Marshall said: "The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will, and lives only by their will." It is our responsibility to see that their will as expressed in their Constitution shall be faithfully executed in the determination of their controversies. And deeply conscious of that responsibility, in the spirit and with the loyalty of those who have preceded us, we now rededicate ourselves to our task. TABLE OF CASES REPORTED Aberdeen Motor Supply Co. v. Trust Co.... Albert Miller & Co., Corte v.. Aldredge, Sanders v.. Aldredge, Williams v. Allen v. Commissioner.. Page 648 674 696 638 70 629 688 695 661 680 Allison & Co. v. Interstate Commerce Comm'n..... 656 American Eagle Fire Ins. Co. v. Gayle. . 686 American Employers' Ins. Co. v. Williams. 682 American Federation of Labor v. Swing. 659 American Manufacturing Co. v. Labor Board... 629 American Society of Engineers, Parker v...... 658, 697 American United Life Ins. Co. v. Avon Park. A. M. Klemm & Son v. Winter Haven. Anaheim First National Bank, Kelly v. Anderson v. Helvering.. American Steamship Owners Assn. v. Export Corp.. 686 Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader.. Appalachian Electric Co., United States v.. 636, 638, 646 Arbetman v. Reconstruction Finance Corp..... 671, 698 Archer - Daniels - Midland Co., Linea Sud - Ameri cana v.. 672 Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft v. United States. . . . . Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., McGoldrick v..... 33 Blakeslee & Sons v. United States.. Board of Public Utility Comm'rs, McGregor v. Board of Zoning Appeals, Green Point Bank v. Bodine, Borough of Edgewater v..... Boesch Mfg. Co. v. Hat Machinery Corp.. |