Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1843-09-02
Lawyers AND ARMERs

Dt1
We perceive by the news journals tina
there we're about one hundred attorneys an,
counsellors licensed or graduated at the Ma,
term of the Supreme Court. Assuming thi
to be the number graduated at each term, tn,
TERMS being four id a year, and counting onl
the number Of attorneys, the annual acces.
sion to the crops must BIZ two hundreds! ant
these two hundred lawyers are TO live and
grow %fich--howl BY any branch Of produc.
:. tive Industry I BY adding to the wealt b, the
quiet, and the Substantial enjoyment OF soci-
ETY.! We fear not. They must live by their
profession, honestly If they can-but they
must 1--we and with the law making, law dis
~pensing, and free regulating power virtually
in their hands, it 10 nbt TO be wondered that
li~tioatinn increases. that the delays of the law
are multiplied, and the expenses of Justice
augmentedt If one lawyer drains from the
earnings of labor two or three thousand dol
lars a year. what amount Of these earnings
o. will il require to support in legal style ten|
thousand lawyersi The answer, by the rule|
of three, would be twenty or thirty million
dollars. Verify we have too much of a good
thing. George Stevens, in his ingenIus lee.
ture upon heads, compsred the law to a lire
or water q very good servant, but q very
hard master ; very useful and pleasant mi
WO0CTdlG QudlllitiGBs Jul Cdt1NHiCiy hSobFC-
nient and miscellaneous when In excess. Wei
have seen In the print shops and character
very illustrative Of George Stevens compar-
ison--a portly, we'll dressed gentleman going
to- law-and a meagre, ragged skeleton of a
mai who had been to law.
We are by no means ready to find fault
with the young gentlemen who are thus
crowding to the temple Of the law, for fame
and fortune, however we may lament the fa-
tuity which impels them on. Law is the
great avenue TO office, to wealths to distinc.
ton, to fashion--by coHlnio cofsent--and
the fond, mistaken parents are generally as
sanguine in their anticipations of honor and
distinction as their sons. There are many
distinguished and eminent lawyers, useful
and worthy members Of society, and there
are a great many who are quite otherwise,
whose wants rather than wishes lead very
much to the increase of litigation-but who
might have been useful members of the COIN
monwealth had they chosen a different and
and more suitable sphere of action.
Now, if agriculture was held In the rank which
legitimately belongs to it in the social scale;
if Il had schools of instruction combining the
useful with the agreeable, 1t ID not improbable,
that one half of those who are annually crowd
ing and burthsnihg the legal profession.
would become useful cultivators of the soil.
What a vast improvement would this ~effectin
a few years, in the condition Of our state-in
it's agricultural, the basis of its wealth, in the
intellectual condition Of the inhabitants and
in their moral and economical habits. Such
schools, should they ever be established among
lie, either by the wisdom of the legislature,
or the well directed efforts Of individual pat
riotism. would soon scatter over the state hun
dreds of voting men, distinguished alike for
strength Of nibd, vigor Of constitution, and
exemplary habits, These would carry with
them a practical knowledge of, the modes of
farming; tho best implements, the best seeds,
the best fruits, and the breed of animals--and
each in its future sphere of action, would
become d living proof, to those around him.,
of the practicability of improving our agricul-
turg, and an example TO them of good habits
and good management. Wherever we find
a good farmer, we see the benefits Of his ex-
ample In most Of those around him, which d.
minishes as we recede. Were the good
farmers multiplied at the rate Of four or eight
hundred a year; as might be through the in
fuence of schools of practical and scientific
agriculture, the advantages would BIZ incalcula-
by great--Judge Beak