The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-04

Few Members of the Profession Win
Prizes; the Rest Starye.
Springfield Republican.

Prizes; the Rest Starve.
Springfield Republican.
1t is common TO say regarding the over
crowding of the legal profession That the
lawyers all seem to get living. 1t is TINS
that encourages so many young men to
enter 1t. OF course it is oVercroWded
everything IS oVercrowded, and II IS the
business of the strong, ambitious and bright
youth to fight his way from the ruck TO a
position of security and competence. ms
effort is a terrible battle for one without
influence, friends and money, and the Sc
verify OF 1t fully accounts for the fact that
the leading lawyers in the land are, per-
haps, the acutest, abiest men the country
possesses. Their incomes probably surpass
those OF any other profession. Sir William
Harcourt, according to Mr.. O'Connor's ar
tlcIe in the June HarperS, made $I5UO
year at legal practice before he entered
the House of Commons, but that sum is
considerably exceeded by the foremost cor
poration attorneys in America. These great
prizes are the goal of all lawyers, yet their
attainment involves qualities and opportu-
mites such as very few can hope to pos
sess.
The suicide of a middle-aged lawyer in
New York last week under shocking cir
Cumstances revealed in an instantaneous
nash the Welter of disappointment, sorrow
and tragedy in which great numbers of the
members of this profession are submerged.
This man had reached the age of ffty-four.
lie was graduate of a law school and was
proficient in the theory and practice of his
profession But clients never came to him
in sufficient numbers and probably he
lacked the personal qualities that attract
them. He wrote before his death:
cannot earn a living. My life is a
dreadful failure. l have studied law for
many years, but can make nothing out of
1t. / cannot do anything. L cannot teach,
[ cannot practice law can only live on,
as am doing in dreary fashion, without
the slightest hope. / may have had some
power as a student or theoretical lawyer;
but l never had money TO take an office,
and had no influence whatever which
might procure clients. The horrible idle
ness is the cause of my condition. This
hopeless longing-this shamming employ
ment this unholy waste of time, this hu-
initiating lack of money, when l ought to
be earning an abundance! l cannot meet
the responsibilities of life. l have never
taken my place in the great army of bread
winners l have never been a useful man.
Probably the worst pace in the world
Tor such a man in the law was New York.
In the LIMITS Of the greater city there are
over 5000 lawyers or at least one to every
315 of the Inhabitants, including children,
women and the nearly destitute When one
considers the immense amount of business
that goes to the leading 100 law firms of
the city, the struggle for existence among
the remaining 1000 and odd can dimly be
imagined. The competition and strife for
clerkships in the established law firms is
something terrific, and the pay these law
yer clerks receive IS often ridiculous to con-
template. Not long ago talented young
man; a college graduate who had been
EyqgIo Ed co,,Y,+y1 500 ~ - - ooo,e,'
that wider field" which all young lawyers
so ardently desire, accepted place as clerk
stay of some months he met on the street
one day an acquaintance who was also a
college graduate, and who at one time had
been the private secretary of a Cabinet
minister in Washington. He also had be-
come employed in a certain law firm in
New York. How much do you get?' asked
the former private secretary of a Cabinet
minister. Seven dollars a week." an
swered the talented young man from the
other in surprise, 81 get only five" New
York Is full of lawyers of university train
ing and more experience than either of
those two young men, who skimp along on
The evidence is found in such advertise
ments, taken from the New York Law
A bright middle-aged lawyer notary),
thorough in practice and procedure, desires
managing clerkship; salary moderate.
ence, good references, desires position; sal
airy SO.
Naturalization as law clerk or stem
ographer by lawyer eight years at bar:
highest references salary SIS per week.
Clerkship Wanted - Managing or assist
ant; competent attorney; college and law
school (Coiumbia); highest references; mod
crate salary
Wanted-Bright young attorney admit
ted; familiar with city practice; in law
department mercantile agency; salary to
begin with, S..
Wanted-By attorney fifteen years prac-
tice, position in law firm as managing clerk
per week.
Where competition for legal practice is
so intense as in New York the profession
naturally develops methods that are curl
Gus and novel to persons acquainted only
with the practice in the small towns and
cities. In the smaller field the successful
lawyer must not only attract the clients
but do his own law and office work. Popu-
lar social qualities, ease and facility in
making friends, together with knowledge
of the law and shrewdness in practice
make a combination that gives it's pos
SCISSOR, as a general thing, considerable to
hope for. In New York, however the
necessity for making an incessant hunt for
clients has caused a marked differentiation
of talents. We now see a specialization of
social qualities distinct from knowledge
of the law ability to practice it, A New
York lawyer CT middle age and good stand
ing socially not long ago sought to make
a partnership with a younger man who had
no acquaintance whatever in New York
but was well equipped for the burden of
office work or preparing cases. The older
man felt the necessity of deyoting himself
very largely to society, going and coming
on all sorts of social occasion day and
might in order that he might extend his ac-
quaintanCe and thus draw in ellen 8 whose
business the Office man would attend to
Many partnerships are made NOWADAYS on
this principle, one member of the firm be-
ing the drudge or the slave while the other
turns himself into a touter for the office
New York is the worst place in America
for struggling lawyers, doubtless, yet the
conditions prevailing there prevail in other
OF lawyers everywhere there is simply no
end. That the country needs so many is
absurd to say, but still they come every
sprlngtime in an amazingly steady and copi-
Gus stream from a hundred law schools 1t
is a terrible glut. But it is of no use to
advise young men not to enter this profess
sion. Where there are great prizes in any
line there will always be fierce striving ana
savage. relentless competition. So sweat
and strain, shout and moan; the race is to
the strong. tbs the worlds way.