Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-26
LAWYERS IN CONVENTION
Opening Session Of the American Bar
Association at Cleveland.
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT wooLwORTH
Omaha Man Talks TO His brethren OF
the Legal Profession - some
Conditions which Con-
front Society.

sion Of the twentieth annual convention OF
the American Bar association was called to
order at Association hail this morning, about
$50 delegates being present. President
James wooworth OF Omaha was in the chair
and first introduced Judge Samuel F. Hunt,
the chairman OF the committee on entertain
ment appointed by the Ohio State Bar asso-
ciation Judge Hunt greeted the delegates
es co-workers in the cause OF good govern
ment and the maintenance Of public order.
President woolworth responded briefly,
thanking the Ohio State Bar association and
introduced Hon James T. Hoyt, who well
coined the delegates on behalf of the mem
bers of the bar of Cleveland.
woOLwORTH SPEAKS.
President woolworth again thanked the
members Of the Ohio bar in general and the
members of the Cleveland bar in particular
for their cordial welcome, and at once began
the reading OF the annual address.
Among other things the president said:
"A review of the legislation OF the past
wear reveals that a very large proportion OF
the statutes enacted relate to the police
power and while an increase in this di-
rection is inevitable as society becomes
more highly organized it has seemed to
outrun necessity The disposition has been
manifest to aid one class OF citizsns or one
class of interests at the expense OF others
and to intrude into the affairs OF individuals.
This Is a grave question which should not
be eXaggera ted, nor yet overlooked. New
dogmas of government are being enunciated
which in a measure abridge the Declara-
tion Of Independence that All men are
created equal" While we should not blind
our eyes to the situation l have full faith
that the American people will solve this
problem as they have others before it.
Equality before the law is a tremendous
truth. But there is another equality; it is
the equality of all men in the competitions
and rivalries OF life. Under our system, the
gates and avenues to the arena of industrial
enterprise and adventure are open to all
who will run the course-the start in the
race is equal for all; there is no favor for
any and the best wins. That is the end
and contamination and fruition of the
equality unto which Americans are born.
There never were here classes favored by
law; that inequality our fathers never could
bear. The highest education was, perhaps,
at one time within reach Of the few, but that
| advantage long since became common. Any
| deserving boy may by his own hands earn
| the best instruction in the great universi-
| ties Our social as well as political system
| is illustrated by comparison with that of
| England. the foremost of all European ma
| tions in the institutions OF freedom. The
| history of the English people during this
century is a strange story of the political
cLII dutLlsNlltLl Ol lUe ptOplS-UTSI one class
| and then another being admitted to a share
of political power, until today, but a rem
| nant OF inequality remains. Where our
| forefathers were at the .bs ginning, there
| Englishmen have come. And now another
| process is Just being entered upon. re
cent writer Of singular insight says his
| countrymen are definitely entering on a
| stage when the advancing party is coming to
| set clearly before 1t, as the object of en-
deavor, the ideal OF a state of society in
| which there shall be at least no law-pro-
| tected, power-holding class on the one side,
and no excluded and disinherited class on
| the other-a stage in which, for a long
period to come legislation will aim at Sc
! curing to all the members of the community
| the right to be admitted to the rivalry of
| life, as far as possible, on a footing of
| equality Of opportunity kidd on Social
| Evolution, p. 141.)
WEALTH AND POVERTY.
Against institutions justified by the self
| evident truths of the declaration and q socis
order whose development has proceeded OF
them, other forces are being set in array
| Ihcse who have given energy and direction
| 10 these alien and hostile forces and seek IL
| drive them farther and farther. think the,
| discover in modern industrial society and II
! me development and operation OF its funda
mental principle. evils that greatly TRANSCEND
| I'll that man has achieved To them, thu
| 'lval:ies and competitions of life are yirulen
| stlmulents; they make the strong drunk witt
| oitliess desire. and snatch from the un
| fortunate, however worthy. the rewards o
| shelr agony of toll. II cannot be denied that
| In the end, the equalitles of rights am
| opportunity work out in some instances tht
| WIDEST Inequalities and the rankest Injustice
ana that good men are sick at the sight q
| mem Great accumulations OF wealth in tn
| hands OF some, and equal accumulations q
| want. ignorance, brutality and mental AM
| moral degradation upon the heads OF others
Nm
| with the other. In a measure they are re
| lated' Some assume that one is the cause q
! the other, they say that there is a law whIr'
| rVets the laborer to capital more irml-
nan wedges OF Vulcan did Prometheus to tn
| rock. This eXaggerates the relation of on
| TO the other. One is certainly not the onIr
1ause OF the other. But 1t cannot be depie
mat great accumulations of wealth in tn
| hands OF the few go along with the process
Dy Whlch the poor are crowded down il
-eepef aepths OF poverty; and, more an
more the multitude on the brink
precipltated into the abyss of homeless
mise y while their places are in turn file
oS the industrious who beg for work and no
| for brad
Such dissatisfaction with social concit ons
arising largely from the excessive actiyit,
OF the natural right of every man to do tn
pest for himself in the rivalry and compe
tluons OF life, have found expression il
| wayp more emphatic than words The lepis
largely directed to strengthen the lower AM
| weaker classes against the higher an,
stronger, and to equip the former agains
the latter for the struggles of life; and tn
lnstlnct running through all classes approve
thIs policy. The trend of opinion is show
IN the character of measures which are no
only matured in statutes, but are introduced
advocated and received with applause al
though they fail of passage Wild and ex
traVagant propositions fer the exercise O
the powers OF the state are sure of an in
temperate advocacy in popular assemble
and certain public prints. So great is tn
lmpattence to end all social evils at a strok
that the rights, consecrated in the Declara
tion of Independence ana the constitution
are ruthleaaly set at naught and remedie
devised with some respect for orderly meth
DDS are contemptuously spnrgfed The ney
doctrine has its sect and It's propaganda
is not possible TO set forth in detail IL
creed but II may perhaps be stated wei
enough for our purpose thus: the ethica
| principles OF the immortal ltate the unit
OF nation with its generations experienced
and accumulations, in which stheir citizen
find their highest satisfactions and Of prop
erty that is, my rightiAtol what is min
and your right to what is yours, which
incapable of surrender and Hin not tolerat
usurpaton, are fgments of a diseased civ
| il'Zation and rags OF worn-out and cast-oi
garments. The explanation Of society aC
eording to the new lights, is a question O
economies; and, in this narrow field tn
theory and postulate is that manual labo
Is alone deserving; that value is what labo