Attorney General Albert Ottinger, guest of honor at a testimonial dinner given on his fiftieth birthday at the Hotel Astor Monday night by 1,500 of his Republican and Democratic friends, is virtually assured of the Republican nominition for Governor. in the opinion of up-state and city Republican leaders who attended the dinner.
James R. Sheffield, former Ambassador to Mexico, was toastmaster. Besides the guest of honor the speakers were Mr. Sheffield and Charles Wesley Flint, Chancellor of Syracuse University.
The guests at the speakers’ table included Charles D. Hilles, Republican national committeeman; H. Edmund Machold, Republican state chairman; Samuel S. Koenig, chairman of the New York County Republican organization; Senator John Knight, Republican leader of the State Senate; Miss Helen Varlick Boswell; F. Trubee Davison. Alfred E. Marling, Mrs. Charles H. Sabin, Miss Sarah Schuyler Butler, Roy G. Finch, Benjamin H. Damm, Ralph Jonas, Judge Harry Lewis, Senator George I. Fearon. Louis Marshall, Felix Warburg, Judge Otto A. Rosalsky, former Gov. Charles S. Whitman, former Senator William M. Calder, Justice Edward J. McGoldrick, Manny Strauss, G. Carleton Brown and Thomas B. Desmond, vice-chairman of the dinner committee; Adolph Zukor, chairman of the reception committee; Thomas H. Silver, treasurer of the dinner committee, and Howard C. Forbes, secretary.
Dr. Flint spoke of Mr.. Ottinger as “clean. able and honest” and praised his campaign against loan sharks and fraudulent stock salesmen.
“There are still a great many peopel in the United States who vote for a candidate for office because he is of the same religion as their own. Unfortunately also there are some who will vote against a candidate because he is not of their religion. However, this class is growing smaller and smaller each year and people are more and more beginning to appraise a man for what he is and what he stands for,” Dr. Flint said.
Mr. Sheffield also extolled the record of Mr. Ottinger as a man and as an official.
Mr. Ottinger made no reference to politics in his speech.
“I desire here to pay my tribute to the courts of the State of New York,” Mr. Ottinger said. “I am not one of those who believes that statemanship resides exclusively ingislative halls or executive mansions. I have always with me the cherished memory of Marshall and Taney, of Hoimes and Brandeis, of Cardoza. Hiscock and Pound. These great judges are alive to the spirit of the times. Insofar as the law can be made to conform to the manifold changes of the industrial needs of the moment and the voluminous intricacies of increasing litigation, these great men have met the emergency. I thank them for their kindly consideration, without which nothing which we have attempted could have been accomplished.
“As President Coolidge has said, ‘In a sense, all men are great-in the sense that they are God’s creatures.’ In another sense, there are very few who can attain the heights of true greatness. For myself, I have divided the world into two groups-the great and the ingrate-and I have met them both. My purpose in public life has been to study others by studying myself. I believe that a very little thought and the play of one’s imagination added to forth-right courage can accomplish much. One should attempt to prove as nearly as possible that old laws are adequate. One should attempt to apply old tools to new purposes. The world is waiting for the expressions of a thought, the world is eager for the creation of an idea,” he said.
“The Attorney General of the State of New York is the people’s lawyer. He is the counsel for the Governor and the State officers. If we expect lawyers at the bar to adhere to a high ethical standard, it should be true that the legal officers of the State should be meticulous in their conduct before the court, among lawyers and in their dealings with the people. The Attorney General must not be a smart lawyer. He generally isn’t. He must not be a sharp practitioner. He must have before him the highest ideals of ethical conduct.
“I prefer justice to law. I prefer to have our department regarded as a Department of Justice. I believe it is the duty of the Attorney General to respect all just claims against the State and to help wherever it is possible within the law. To help one who has suffered an injustice wherever this is possible within his chartered duties.” Mr. Ottinger declared.
In quiry among the leaders including Republican National Committeeman Charles D. Hilles and H. Edmund Machold, State Chairman, disclosed the almost unanimous opinion that Mr. Ottinger would be nominated.
Among the guests were: Henry M. Goldfogle. Norbert H. Heinsheimer. Nathan Hirsch. Samuel H. Hofstadter, Julius Illch. Rear Admiral Louis M. Josephthal. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Lamport. Samuel C. Lamport, I. Montefiore Levy, Sophie Irene Loeb, B. K. Marcus. Maxwell S. Mattuck, Major Benjamin H. Namm, Edgar J. Nathan, Jr., Jacob Ottinger, Mrs. Lawrence Ottinger, Leon Ottinger, Nathan L. Ottinger, Simon Ottinger, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Rosalsky. Otto A. Rosalsky. Reuben Sadowsky, Henry F. Samstag. David Sarnoff, Frederick Spiegelberg. Meier Stein–brink, Manny Strauss, Sol M. Stroock, Israel Unterberg, Ludwig Vogelstein, Isidor Wasservogel, Maurice Wertheim. Dr. Jonah B. Wise.
Jonah J. Goldstein. Louis Gold, Samuel Levy, Martin C. Ansorge, Jefferson Seligman, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Bloom, Samuel J. Bloomingdale. Frederick Brown, Mrs. William Einstein. Col. Michael Friedsam, Bernard F. Gimbel.
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