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"Reminiscences After Sixty-Four Years at the Bar" |
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"Our office rent for our second-floor office across from the court house was only $5.00 a year back in the 1880's. Now you can just about get an office down town that would hold two lawyers at that monthly rent. We had to sweep out our own offices because the building provided no cleaning women to do that work. We didn't have a central heating plant either, but we used to haul the coal for our own little office stove. However, we managed to get along and do our part in helping the city grow. "It is one of my beliefs that sensible and reasonable men can generally adjust matters if they sit down and are willing to look at the facts in the case. I was mostly a business-man's lawyer. I wasn't much of a trial lawyer myself. However, we did have a young man in our office who subsequently became one of the best-known trial lawyers in upstate New York. He served in our State Senate and ran for Governor. But personally, I never spent too much time in trying cases. "Of course, I had my ups and downs, all of which played a part in shaping my life. Just when I'd reached a point in professional life when everything seemed to be going nicely, one of the young men in the office got involved in the stock market and embezzled not only the firm's funds, but our client's as well. He practically floored us, but eventually my partner and I were able to make good his losses and I'm rather proud of the fact that we never lost a client as a result of it. "What do I think makes for success at the Bar? Good character and good judgment are the qualities that stand out. In the law, success cannot be measured in dollars and cents. If a young man wants to make money, he should look elsewhere. However, if he wants the satisfaction of having been able to serve his community and of contributing something to mankind, the law affords him that opportunity. My life has not been exceptional and my accomplishments have not been unusual but I do feel that my life has not been wasted. Looking back over the years, the things that give me the most satisfaction are not of a strictly legal nature at all. I helped to found the Boys Club, the Y.M.C.A. and the Farm Bureau. Did you know that the Farm Bureau, now national in scope, had its beginning right here in Broome County? Well, it did, and I am glad to have had a hand in it. I was also instrumental in getting Andrew Carnegie to give our city $75,000 for the establishment of the library that you see down town every day. When you reach my age, it is things like this that give you far more satisfaction than the money you may have been able to accumulate.
"Politics? Most lawyers have a flair for politics and should actively participate in politics as another method of rendering services to their community. The contacts that are made, too, are worth a lot. As a member of the State Legislature and the Constitutional Convention of 1915, I was privileged to know such men as Jim Wadsworth, the father of the present congressmen; Elihu Root, Seth Lowe, Henry Stimson and General Wickersham. My association with them was a liberal education in itself and the friendships I founded were well worth the time and effort. "Yes, we're having a lot of labor troubles today. Just after the Civil War we used ti pay a man $1.50 per day for laying up the stone walls you see in the country. The rate was 50› a rod, that is, 16½ feet, and a good man could lay up three rods a day. Wages have certainly skyrocketed since those days. "No, I don't think there is any universal solvent for the ills of the world. Men will probably continue to fight unless they decide to follow the teachings of the Master. I don't believe you can force men to be free and I don't believe you can build yourself up by tearing the other fellow down. That may sound like a sermon but I don't mean it to be 'churchy.' I just believe it is a fact. I've gotten to be sort of a fundamentalist, I guess. I have reached the point where, like Thomas Jefferson, I give more weight to what the Master said Himself than what is said about Him. I think we ought to learn to respect the views of each other. If a man or a woman can acquire the true spirit of the Master, well and good. "I once suggested a motto for our church and here it is: 'In essentials — unity; in non-essentials — liberality; in all things — charity.' "Tennyson has said it far better than I can in his verse, 'In Memoriam' that goes like this: 'O thou that after toil and storm"Well, son, that's the way life looks to a lawyer after sixty-four years at the Bar. Old age may be a distinction, but in itself it is not an honor. My life covers a period from the bow and arrow to the atomic bomb, from the pony express to television, from the horse and wagon to jet planes. It took in four major wars, but I have reached the time where I can view the foibles of the world with some detachment-a part of it, but apart from it. As Justice Holmes said, 'A man may live greatly in the law as well as elsewhere.' I believe that after my sixty-four years at the American Bar. Now, I am waiting calmly for the 'Ferryman' to come and ferry me across." "The most beautiful and the rarest thing in the world is a complete human life . . . ." — Charles Evans Hughes. Editor's Note: The Bulletin is grateful to Eugene C. Gerhart of Binghamton for the above article covering Mr. Deyo. The Bulletin plans to include articles of this nature on the older members of the Bench and Bar of the State. Members are requested to communicate with the Editor in connection with such articles covering biographies and experiences of the Deans of the profession. Such articles make interesting reading and the experiences and philosophy of the seasoned and matured members of the profession should serve a good purpose for the law students, our lawyers of tomorrow.
[Reprinted with permission from the New York State Bar Association Bulletin, December 1947, Vol. 19, no. 5, published by the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany, New York 12207.]
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 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York |
