The National tribune., 1883-11-08

themselves. There are to be found hanging
around every court in the country pet
tifoggers and shysters who are willing to
act as counsel for nominal fee, but of
what earthly service can they be to client? ?
The chances are that they will only damage
his case by their connection with it. 1t Is
this class of attorneys that was so ready to
prosecute pension claims for ten dollar
fee, and it is fact, as the records of the
Pension Office itself will show, that the
clients of these imposters are much worse
off now than they would have been
had they never had any attorney at
all. An attorneys services can be of no
value TO client unless they facilitate the
collection and arrangement of the evidence
called for by the Pension Office in his case.
So long as the $25 law was in force, the
compensation though very moderate con-
sidering the amount of labor involved in
many cases, and especially the steadily in-
creasing difficulties of obtaining essential
| evidence, owing to the frailty of human
memory and the death of important wit
nesses during the twenty years that have
| elapsed since the war--was sufficient TO in
duce attorneys of the highest character and
ability to engage in the prosecution of
claims but the moment the fee was reduced,
the business, properly conducted, ceased to
afford just margin of profit, and such rep
utable attorneys as continued to prosecute
pension claims after the passage of the $40
fee law, did so only in the hope and expeeta-
tion that Congress would soon discover the
correct it by re-enacting the old law, for
nothing is more certain than that otherwise
claim agents who have undertaken to hon
estly and faithfully prosecute their clients
cases for fee of $40 will find it difficult to
realize even moderate return from their
labors. Even Commissioner Bentley appears
to have been sensible Of the hardships i'm
posed by the $40 bill on reputable attor-
neys, as indicated by the following:
DEPARTMENT OF THE IsTERroR,
Pension OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, D. c., July 13, 1873.
Hon. G. ScHuRz Secretary of the Interior.
SIR: Under the act Of June 49, 1873, he
[meaning the attorney may collect his fee in adj
vance, in whole in part, without regard to
whether he viii be finally successful in the case
and if the claimant has confidence in the merits OF
his claim, he viii not object to making small ad-
vance TO cover actual disbursements and a portion
of the services of his attorney if required to do so.
| Very respectfully, your obedient servant
tSignedl j. A. BENTLEY,
Commissioner.
But the effect Of the ten dollar fee law
was not only to discourage many repu-
table attorneys from seeking the prac-
tice, but to open the door to hundreds
perhaps thousands-of ignorant, inexper-
fenced and incompetent persons, who found
it easier to rob their clients of their fees
than to prosecute their claims. We do not
mean to say that they were all venal; On
the contrary, we believe that the majority,
though careless, mean to be and are honest,
but it is a fact, which we are sure Commits
sioner Dudley viii himself admit, that as a
rule the attorneys who practice before him
do not possess the character and experience
which so responsible profession requires.
What, then, is the remedy? How can
this growing evil be permanently eradi-
Gated? Evidently by cutting it out by the
roots-not simply by disbarring attorneys
who are proved to be dishonest, and retain
ing those who are honest though incompe-
tent, but by repeating the present inconsist-
ent and absurd law and restoring to the
pension claimant the right, of which the
Government should never have deprived
: him any more than any other suitor, of pay
ing, if he so choose such fee as may be
necessary TO secure the services of the best
counsel to be had, within such reasonable
J no fee to be paid, however, unless the claim
, is allowed.
| Dudley himself has frequently expressed
the opinion that some such legislation i:
necessary, and we are satisfied that without
, it, his well-meant efforts to purify the lis
of attorneys will never wholly accomplish
; their object AS for those of our ex-soldierg
) whose claims are in the hands of trihers anG
imposters, heaven help them if new fe.
J law is not enacted by the next Congress
} To them it would almost be equivalent TO
T rejection of their claims but, perhaps, tina
! is just what that class of persons who, dur
: ing the war, shouted Son to Richmond,
but took precious good care not to take tha
road themselves, would like to see happen!
THE account of the battle of Mill Springs
in THE TRIBUNE of the 18th ult., has brough
out two letters from prominent participant
in that engagement. Major General Specs
s. Fry, then in command of the Fourth Ken
lucky infantry, tells his story with charac
teristic earnestness and simplicity. TIL
killing of Zollicoffer by General Fry at