The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-07-24
THE REFoRMER: eRATTLEBoRo. VT. FRIDAY JULY a. 1885,

~ ins'sts tnal lnere can b
no uithculty in restraining or prevent
ing trusts by law.
lie is fond of referring to larp
paper mill near Lincoln which used +
buy all the straw raised in Lancaste
county at S3 ton. The paper trus
bought the mill and closed it. To
Gay you may see great racks O
straw rotting in the fields. But tn
paper trust has stihed competition ant
accomplished his purpose OF RAISING
the price of paper
In court Mr.. Bryan is strong a,
pieader before juries He deals iairl,
with witnesses and gains their con
hdence. He knows nothing of hal
splitting technicalities or trickeriesane
usually selects one or two points upo,
which he will argue, ignoring o.
spurning ths rest.
HIS partner is strategist, aud i,
not averse to the use of chose subtl,
and fine-spun methods by which tho
ordinary successful advocate attack.
his opponents. The two men could
never agree on plea in any case.
When Mr. Talbot would suggest :
Willy proposition IN a case, Mr.. BRYAN
would always make the same reply,
quoting Backstone's definition of the
law: "a rule of civil conduct pre-.
scribed Dy the supreme power of the
land, commanding what is right, and
prohibiting what is wrong"
Now, there, Talbot he would saw.
there is the law What is right is
right and what is wrong is wrong"
1t can hardly be said that Mr..
Bryan has been a successful LAWYER
He has never in his life tried a case
in which more than $50, 600 was in {.
volved In Jacksonville he was
little more that collector of small
debts. In Lincoln his cases have not
been important, save in the few in
stances where public policy was in
volved.
One day poor man. who had been
arrested for violating city ordinance
prohibiting the distribution of cir
culars in the street, went to Mr..
Bryan's Office and declared he was
unable to get fair trial because he
had no money, and the constable re-
fused to serve subpoenas on the wit
nesses for the defense unless he re-
ceived his fees in advance.
Mr.. Bryan at once applied for a
mandanus to compel the constable to
act. He made ringing speech. in
which he declared that it was a denial
of justice to insist that defendant
in a criminal case should be deprived
of the right of subpoena service be-
cause he could not pay the cost IN adj
vance. "A constable may summon by
ISLANDERS to assist in an arrest and they
cannot demand fees in advance before
assisting him, ''he cried ;'how can he,
when elected by them demand fees of
them before serving papers in criminal
cases?' Mr.. Bryan won the case and
established precedent in the Ne
braska courts.
One of his most notable and charac-
terstic arguments was made in the
suit of John Getchell against the
Auditor Of Public Accounts, of Ne
brassa. to prevent the issue OF public
bonds to aid beet sugar factory near
Neigh. Mr.. Bryan fought the bounty
idea furiousy.
Then he quoted decision of for
mer court and said; 1T will long stand
as bulwark against those abuses OF
the taxing power which everywhere
plentiful enough, are nowhere more
abundant than in the great west,
where every means of booming a town
is anxiously sought after and eagerly
accepted.
If this is public enterrise' or an
internal improvement then any one
who employs labor or owns capital, and
whose business is used to bring in
creased population to a community,
and higher value to land-as every new
however small, tends to do
can burden the people with mis-
support.
Governments are not organized for
purposes OF speculation, but to pro-
tect every citizen in the enjoyment of
life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
piness unaided by public contribution
and unburdeued by oppressive exac-
tion.
Last year the city of Lincoln author.
lied an issue of bonds, and Mr.. Bryan
himself brought action to restrain the
Common Council from inserting pro
vision providing for payment in gold
He won the case.
His principal argument was that
the city government had no authority
to say what kind of money would be
accepted until the matter had been
passed upon by the people,
Mr.. Bryan will never become rich
BY practising law. He is not good
Judge of men. He has a firm will,
out assumes everybody to be honest.
An UnwordIy Lawyer.
His weak point is his unworldliness.
During the trial of certain case Mr.. |
Talbot suggested that the jury should |
De watched, because the two lawyers /
IN the other side were not over nice |
about their methods and might APP |
,roach the jurors privately.
Mr. Bryan laughed at the idea. 1T
is impossible, he said; II don't
believe such things are done here.
His partner pressed the point.
. You had better have those men
he said. You are too con-
iding, altogether.
Mr. Bryan shook his head and re-
preached Mr.. Talbot for having an
vii mind.
Just then they looked out of
window and saw the two suspected
awyers going into saloon across
he street arm in arm with two OF the
jurors. Presently the lawyers and
urors came out again still arm in arm.
Heavens !" exclaimed Mr.. Bryan;
L didn't think such a thing was
,ossible in a civilized country!'
The fact is that in many respects
dr.. Bryan is very very young man,
nut he is stainless.
FEMININE FANCIES POLITICALLY