The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-12
LAWSUITS FOR EVERYBODY.
lPeck's sun.l

"Lawing it !" IS one of the most ridicu- lous parts of the experience of Americans. It seems to be considered cheap luxury to have lawsuit, and yet it is very ex- pensive. It has got so half of the people seem to have chip on their shoulder all the time, ready for somebody to knock il off, and the first thing they do when they think they have been injured is to go for lawyer or justice of tke peace, and lawsuit is the result, men who are not iH- terested are taken from their business to act as jurors, and i'll feeling is created that lasts forever. The fact that the poor est person in the world can indulge in a lawsuit, and be encouraged by lawyers, and pointed at as the one who had the lawsuit" causes many cases in courts. Instead of using every other device for a settlement of differences before resorting to the courts, lawsuit is the first thing thought of. If a man slips down on the sidewalk, he looks up to see who owns the building in front of which he fell, with view of suing him for damages. even before he feels of himself to find if he is hur. He does not stop to think that perhaps his boots are to blame, being run ONCt dt tnS uCNt, dia " QoCo HUI CtlkCI ufS head that he is liable to be beaten in the lawsuit and have a bill of costs saddled onto him. Two men are driving in op- posite directions and run into each other, and without stoppingsto reason together to see If the damage cannot be amicably settled, they shake their fists at each other, call names, and one drives of after policeman, and the other goes to jus tice of the peace to complain, and law suit is the result, in which both are dam aged more than by the accident, but each always believes that the other is q pirate, and their children quit speaking to each other. If men who have differences would go to some neighbor and state their case and abide by his decision, shake hands and be friends afterwards, the country would be better of. Not many months ago man felt aggrieved at something that appeared in the SNa, and after blow ing around for day or two he came to the office to interview the editor He ex- plained his grievance, and wound up by saying that his lawyer had told him that the article was libelous, and tha, he could recover damages. The editor never had lawsuit, and never wanted one, and he said to the man, ' Partner. lawsui, is a foolish way to enjoy religion. Now, I'll tell you what to do. You go to the pres ident of the Merchants Association, of which you are member and am not. Have the president appoint a committee of five men from the association to hear your statement You take the paper containing the obnoxious article to them, anu state your case just as strong as you can. will not make any defense. Whatever amount they say you have been damaged will give you a check for. and we will shake hands and be friends, and go to the same church as usual, and listen to the same minister preach the gospel. lf have damaged you, you must have your money, but we don't want to spend the balance of our lives in a lawsuit The man stopped and thought minute, and then said, " That is the fairest proposition ever heard and you don't owe me cent. and the matter shall drop from this moment" :" If people would never go into lawsuit until they couldn't go into anything else, there would be fewer men with enemies all around. and while lawyers might get tired sitting around i, would do them good in the end.