DO NOT KNOW VITAL NEEDS.
But the courts in those States have been composed of men who know nothing whatever of the vital needs of the great bulk of their fellow Americans, and who, unlike your courts in Massachusetts, have endeavored to impose their own outworn philosophy of life upon the millions of their fellow citizens.
Now, I want to give you certain examples, concrete cases of just what I mean, because I have always found that a concrete case explains my position better than a general statement.
Almost as soon as I left Harvard I went into the New York Legislature. And my education began. [Laughter.] Now, I did not come to my present position as a result of study in the library, in the closet.
I came to my present position as the result of living in a world of men. It is because I have associated with them, I have worked with them, and I know my fellow Americans in many a different part of this Union and in all grades of life. [Applause.] I have worked with them. [Applause.]