Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-01-16
The Lawyer Element In Our Politics
and Congressional Legislation

and Congressional Legislation
From the Colorado Greenbacker.
Below We publish most interesting
clipping from the New York Graphic
which will be read by all and pronounced
most instructive. 1t would not be saying
greatly too much to say that we believe
and have long been Of the opinion that Of
all the evils that have been, and are. ruin
ing the United States not even excepting
the hated and yoracious locust. graSshop-
per plague, the greatest is the fearful load
of legal mortality that has fastened Itself
upon oursocial system with gripof t,na-
city equal TO # not greater than that Of
Sindbad's "Old man OF the Sea" Our
coun y of OF c is t most ,u"Scd by
this fra. ernity. 1t will be seen by the FL
lowing table that over three fourthS OF the
members of congress are lawyers and these
men constitute one of the most Unsuitable
class Of legali2cd pariah and aristocratic
rustn' that the earth affords. Here in
| America the lawyer, il but five minutes
ont Ofthr leading strings ut his seminary
on the law office Of his instructor, is ram
pant self constituted leader OF the people.
/ lllN NINllll tl'll'' ~ N'llF l'lNl'Il w llll-
self natural consequence, his intrigue is
insuiltrlble and nearly always successful.
| There are of course honorable exceptions
even here but they are like angels visits,
'f'w and far between In the most part
their accepted and legitimate work seems
to be ''how not to say or "hOw not 10 do
it to "darken counsel and perplex and
prOlOmg litigation; extOrt excessive teeS,
and. in many cases cmbcz2le funds of
trust and charity.
We do implore the people to have some
regard to common sense and their own
best interests, by sitting down on the law
yer as political leader or even Il decentIy
safe legal counselor, but especially eschcw
him as law maker. Onr present trOub-
les are greatly blameabln to the banetul
presence Of the lawyer in our legislation,
for, being deeply Interested parties, they
are naturally inclined to frame laws so rs
| TO give the greatest scope and necessity
| for Interpretation 10y reason Of ambiguity
and knotty entangIcmcnts OF phrascology.
Let us copy the common sense cvinccl
bv all other nations in their exclusion of
the lawyers from controlling influence
| in Legislation. The German parliament
! has not one lawyer in dozen Of its mem
hers. The British are extremely chary of
the lawyer in tine legislative halls. In
France the law is tolerated in common
with literature and art but all over the
continent the landlord. the farmer the
manufacturer the banker and soldier take
/ the lead and the people are not, therefore
/ in an everlasting turmoil of new and con-
Trajectory legislation, confusing the social
relations and defeating the true intent of
government and raising up among Us Il
set of men more influential for evil than
even the holy ministry of the gospel have
/ been for good. Let US have rest by in
| vlting the lawyer to a back seat.
| The above remarks are not written in
any spirit Of fault.inding or prejudice or
personality. but because We believe them
, to br true, and their expression duty.
We will never be happy, peaceful and
contentcd people until we value honor
and honesty though clothed in homespun,
as preferable 10 the gildrd splrndor Of an
eloquent tongue bclying the true inward
ness of Il corrupt and rotten heart.
I'm no other country Is any
such prominence conceded to lawyers rs
in this. II would be thought a wildly ex-
travagInt assertion if we were to say that
more than half the important offices in
the l litcd States are held by lawyers;
yet the statement would be far within the
marx. We have taken the trouble to as
certain tn, proportion OF lawyers in the
present congress. According to the pro-
portion in thu legislative bodies of other
countries tine number sh)h)d be compara-
lively small-n0t more than Onc.slxth of
the whole; blt it Is so much more than
this rs to stIrtc Us with the possibility
which c)ntronts us, that the day is not
distant when noblly but lawyer will be
deemed fit for an elective office.
"In the intel States senate, for in
stance, are itty-cight lawyers and only
twenty Of all other professions and Occu.
pltOns. From the states Of Alabama,
California, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana,
Illinois, Iowa. Kansas, Kentucky, Louisi-
ana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
New York, North Carolina, OHIO Oregon,
Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, the sem
atorS are all lawycrs-nO other profession
or occupation is represented at all in all
those great stltrS Only two small states
found both their senators OutsidcOf the le-
gal rO.essicn-Nrw Jersey and Rhode
Island. The states not included in either
Of these class ficatiOnS send to the senate
one lawy II and On2 who not lawyer.
Here we find almost three-iourths of the
members OF the United States senate law
yers, IN a country where lawyers form an
insignificant proportion OF the population,
and in snitn nf thn ( ipt that livin,r Lv- tbn