In a period when legal formalism dominated American bar deliberations and much of the academic endeavor supporting the practice of law and judicial decision-making, Professor Hayes was an advocate for vigorous administration of statutory laws, legislative appropriations for scientific ascertainment of the facts, and public education on the subject of environmental degradation caused by the Industrial revolution.
Hayes was present as a Tompkins County delegate to the formation of the National Progressive Party of New York State, which began the Bull Moose movement focused on promoting and securing industrial and social justice and political liberty.
the wrong side of the rebellion.”[5] After formation of the Progressive Party, the “Negro Question”[6] threatened to compromise former president Theodore Roosevelt's leadership of the new movement.
Professor Hayes joined with New York City interests to offer Roosevelt a compromise resolution thought to provide a middle path between the former president's position and that of the African-American leaders threatening to bolt for the Woodrow Wilson candidacy.
The following year, Professor Hayes endorsed New York Governor William Sulzer in his campaign for direct election of United States Senators through the primary system.
[7] During the campaigns for the Sixth Judicial District, New York State (1912–1913), Hayes public philosophy exhibited internationalist tendencies.
The Hayeses descended from Scots-Irish settlers of central Pennsylvania emigrating from County Donegal, Ulster Province, British Empire.
His son Alfred Hayes became the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, preceding Paul Volcker in that post.