Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-04-23
a QUEER OLD MAN.

Judge Lawrence, Late First Comptroller
of the Treasury, and His EccentrcIties.
Old Lawrence is gone, the queer old
man. We never shall see his like
again. He was the First Comptroller
of the Treasury. Within certain limits
the limits of the Treasury jurisdic-
tion-he was the supreme judicial au-
thority. His will was law respecting
all questions involved in the settlement
of the greater portion of accounts and
claims brought to the Treasury Depart
ment for adjudication. Lawrence mag
nified his office as no other First Comp
troller ever did. He was fond of talk
ing about its all but absolute power,
and fonder of preparing opinions which
tended to enlarge its jurisdiction and
increase it's Importance. These 'opin-
ions' in the case of his predecessors
were simply memoranda for the guild
ance of other accounting officers of the
Treasury. Usually they were in the
fewest possible words, and often they
were in very informal form. But
Lawrence had had long practice in pro-
lixity. As a lawyer his briefs
and arguments, and as a Judge
his syllabi and decisions, were
noted for their extraordinary
length. He was an exhaustive and ex-
hausting man. He always got all the
law he could find, even when, as was
usual, it was a mere cumulative pro-
cess, and then stretched it out over an
interminable space with all the words
he could dig out of the dictionary.
They tell a story out in Ohio of young
LAWYER who wanted clients case post
poned, and went to Lawrence for adj
vice. Lawrence suggested that he put
into his application all the causes for
postponement to be found in the State
code and the book of practice. IF
YOU don't get it for one," he sagely
said, .you will for another" Law
renee was in court when the applca-
ton was presented. The presiding
Judge did not like Lawrence's long
speeches and briefs. He glanced over
the application. and then read it
through carefully. After enumerating
the causes which Lawrence had in
dicted to the young man, the latter had
wound up the application thus: And
for all the causes usually presented by
William Lawrence in such a case"
The Court smiled, and remarked: Il
grant the postponemento on the last state
ment in the application. When Law
renee became first Comptroller he re-
solved to revolutionize the practice of his
office with respect to opinions he de-
termined to render them as frequently
as possible, and to make each as long
as he could without breaking it. In
his mind eye he saw the shelves of all
law libraries loaded with Opinions of
the First Comptroller. He promised
himself one hundred volumes of these
rnrnrtc aIita5 apI Yannrta1 by- birpSa1f
He saw First Lawrence, "Forty-tirst
Lawrence, ..Ninety-first Lawrence,
cited by lawyers and quoted by courts.
He had nothing to do but grind out
opinions. This he did at extraordinary
length and with extraordinary rapidity.
He used all the means known to the
professional ''padder.' He filled his
opinions with facts and law and max
inns and poetry. His syllabi were as
long as ordinary opinions. He had all
his opinions printed in full at Govern
ment expense, and bound in law-sheep
in the same form as the opinions of
the Attorney-General. He got them
out about twice as rapidly as either the
Acknowledgement or the reporter of the
United States Supreme Court could
publish their compilations. L need not
say that the opinions of the First
Comptroller had never been reported
before. The series began with First
Lawrence. When old Lawrence
quoted from First Lawrence in ar
suing a case in which he was counsel
(tor he kept up his private practice
right along) Chief Justice Waite in
ouired with an amused expression:
..What authority did you say?' First
Lawrence, said the author of that
large work. ..Ah," said the Chief JUS
tice, "and what is that? L do not rec.
(,onize it Its the first volume of
nv opinions, your honor" said the
First Comptroller, not bit abashed,
for is he not an Ohio man? He is very
proud of his opinions. He likes their
length and he likes the rapid way in
which they appeared. Well, he is
gone, and fancy we shall have short
er opinions from the First Comptroller
in The future