The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-11-21
LAWYERS AND LAWYERS.

Civilization is great institution among
is presumably upward and onward. 1t is
useless to question the fact that without it
we would amount to no more as entities in
the grand sphere of creation than do the
brutes, that being a circumstance that
makes itself manifest as we go along. And
yet with all the advantages and opportuni-
ties which an improved social condition
gives US, we are long way from that ideal
condition which one would think should be
ours because of our advanced circumstan-
ces. 1t is a fact that every day that we
live, something occurs to show US beyond
question how true it is that we are not all
that we ought to be, that in fact our
boosted civilization is comparatively q
failure.
OF what use is it to be cultivated and
cultured if the points gGined thereby only
tend to enable US to take advantage of
those less fortunate-if, in plain terms, we
are to use them to Cypress and harass our
fellow beings and be not only upheld but
applauded in doing it! Every day, or
nearly so, we see instances of men who
have been aided and themselves studied
continuously and hard that they might be-
come informed regarding the philosophy
and skilled in the practice of the law,
and when they become well advanced
in these respects, instead Of using
their acquired ability in the direc-
ton of the amelioration of the affairs
Of mankind, as all the lawgivers and
authorities teach them to do, they seem to
regard their prominence and peculiar ad-
vantages in such respect as merely an ex
emption from the rules te which others
must yield and, IN short, as a kind of
special permission to do unto others as
they would not have others do unto them.
There can be no more useful citizen in
any community than an honest, able, up
right lawyer-one who is thoroughly IA
miliar with all the principles and precepts
of his profession and WHO when employed
attends properly and fairly to the welfare
of those who employ him. To be placed
in such position means in advance
that one has great requirements
and is deserving of the confidence
reposed in him, as well as the re
wards pertaining to his professional
services. 1t also means, as in other cases,
that an engine or agency for the accom-
plishment of good can become just as great
or greater factor in the accomplishment
of harm if his tendencies be in that direc-
ton. 1t has been SAID, and truth hedges
the statement around and about, that
poor lawyer is worse than none and an
one is worse than a poor one
Lawyers, like other people, should not
presume upon their opportunities and priv
ileges AS rule, they are very we'll
paid class of people and are generally
looked up to in the community
where they reside because of
their presumably superior att inments
This is all proper enough until the sub
jects get the "big- head" or through some
popularity eff disposition fly away from
the restraints to which others willingly
subject themselves and assume the role of
autocrats. Then the legal gen
try become at once intolerable and unpar-
donable, and in such cases we generally
feel as if we could get along very well
without them.
1t is all the worse when a man who en-
cages in the practice of law in particular
where he has become familiar
with the customs and methods of the peo-
pie, and from whose ranks he has sprung
into prominence, uses his knowledge and
acquired by reason of such
10 foist himself into
prominence and acquire
profits because of the value to those peo-
pies enemies of his purchasable disclo-
sures and superserviceable characteristics
The field is big enough for any
of the fraternity to get along without thus
hiring himself out or making himself thus
prominent.
THE HERALD takes no stock in the sense
less raid which those who are among the
most poorly informed in every community
keep up and agitate against
lawyers; but we must confess that some of
the exhibitions to which the public have
lately been treated are enough to justify
them in the greater part of what they say
and do regarding the legal brotherhood.