The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-07
ALAWYER'S YAGARIES.

One of the brightest lights of the bar in
this or any other country, DAVID DUDLEY
FIELD. recently addressed the annual meet
ing of the American Bar Association. and
he told some things which while not alto
gether new in principle, were decidedly 80
in exemplifcation relating to the law of the
country. he takes heproposition that backof
the great things we have accomplished and
the immense welfare the lawyers have
been to the cause of government. there is
a spectre of hating justice such as is to be
seen in no other part of Christendom." 1t
is truly said that there is no other country
calling itself civilized so entitled to that
distinction among the nations of the earth,
as Mr. Field states it, where it takes so
much time to punish a criminal or to
have final decision in a civil
matter. While this is an unequivocal state
ment and one that on the face of it must be
construed as something Of n blow at the
legal profession, is nevertheless made BY a
man of such ripe experience and thorough
Judgment that it would seem to be useless
to contradict it.
Mr.. FIELD metaphorically states that jus
tice passes through the land on leaden san
dals and the facts often bear him out. The
practice, as a rule, as he states, is TO delay
rather than hasten the consummation of
Justice, and sometimes such an issue is en-
tirely prevented. This latter conclusion is
not because men are .depraved or be-
cause they seek to overcome estab-
lished customs as a class, but because
we have drifted into the custom of accept
ing almost everything coming from a Grim
inal, his attorneys or friends,
as so many fixed facts, which
must be duly weighed before
he can be properly condemned, and this is
altogether right where there appears be
You'd question a reasonable doubt as to
guilt, the status having been determined by
a careful investigation of the facts. But it
is no reason why, all chance for doubt hay
ing been removed by careful investiga-
ton of the circumstances, guilty party
should, upon mere technicality, have the
benefit of a prolonged surcease of RESPONSE
bility because of that and nothing else. Mr..
FIELD attributes this condition of things to
having too many lawyers.
It Is too often the case within the his
tory of those who now live, that we are
confronted with improper issues and i'm
proper remedies. While DAVID DUDLEY
FIELD is entitled to all the consideration we
have ascribed to him, the situation in its
entirety goes to show that he is not
always sound in his conclusions, and that
he, like many actors whose day of bril-
liancy is passed but who are still recOg
nized as having been grand in their time,
keeps on playing on a good reputation.
The passionate idea that there are too
many people in any particular calling, does
not stand the test of time and metaphysical
analysis. Nature is its own great regu-
lator whether the problem presented for
solution be one relating to things immedi-
ately surrounding US or those occulted and
more intricate conditions which we cannot
see or realize save by their effect upon US.
Mr.. FIELD would have us believe that
the legal profession is so overcrowded that
it can only prosper by keeping cases in
court as long as possible, rather than en-
deavor to dispose of them in an expeditions
manner By such means, he concludes,
the resources of legal ingenuity have
been drawn upon in continuous
effort TO contrive all sorts OF hindrances for
legal trials and speedy results, and he goes
so far as to make the courts i1rticeps
crininis to the scheme by standing III with
the lawyers to help them out in their at
teupts to prolong agony and inferen TALLY
to extort fees by doing il, state of things
which, the writer declares, aids in making
business for the attorneys at the expense
of helpless litigants
Mr.. FIELD goes on to show that there are
10000 lawyers in the United States against
S,OO0in France and only 1000 in Germany.
THE,,HERALD sincerely trusts that, oIdIas he
is, the gentleman does not present that as
an argument He has certainly realized
and experienced enough in his long lifetime
to know that the litigious spirit is born in
man, and that if there were no break
ers and no disposition to contend.
lawyers would, by the very
force of self preservation, if
nothing else, have to resort to some
other calling, and furthermore, that other
things being equal, the. supply in any case
does not greatly overdo or underdo the de-
mand Let lawyer lind out that he is "a