The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-27

Sd1o ABOUT the Judge, but pass TO the
| lawyer. The lawyer is an incipient
| judge. The pathway of the legal pro-
fesston is strewn with great judges who
perlshed before they were discovered.
There is something pathetic, as we'll as
Joyous, in the career of the average
lawyer whose fate, as was said by a
great member of our profession, is ito
work hard, live well and die poor" All
men make mistakes occasionally, and
the great mistake lawyers make is very
often the mistake of ever trying to be
lawyers. Some of US should have been
doctors, some should have been poets,
some clergymen, and some, though few,
should have been business men. How
shall a young man without experience,
knowing little of the world or of the
ways Of the world, determine his true
vocation? 1t must largely be a guess, a
mere venture in the lottery of life.
How sweet an Ovid was in Murray
lost" is true of many besides the great
Lord Mansfield. One of our hallucina-
good lawyer. Our experience demon
states that it does not. 1t is undoubted-
ly true that professional success re-
quires a logical mind, good Judgment,
common sense and reasonable amount
OF learning. But a very ordinary man
may have all these. Combine Matthew
Hale and Lord Eldon and they are
nothing when weighed against Shakes
nyson. All our famous American law
yerS Will be forgotten while men con-
tinue to quote the sweet wise sayings OF
Emerson. 1t may be hereSy on such an
occasion, but it is my deliberate opinion
that it takes more ability to be sue
cessful merchant or manufacturer, than
it does to be successful lawyer. So
far as money goes, the rewards of q
business career are, of course, far
greater than of success at the law. But
happiness comes to as it cannot come
to any other class of men. We are SOL
diers, and have the joy of battle. True,
business men fight after a fashion in
the fierce struggles of competition, but
we have it hand to hand in the pres
ence of the arbiter, and in the presence
of interested spectators. 1t is sometimes
said of US that we are mere mercenar-
les, waging war for the side that re-
tafns US. Well, that is to a certain ex-
tent true, but justice is not a one-sided
affair. Heaven forbid that we should
ever see the day when only the admit
tedIy right side may be defended. The
prisoner at the bar is legally, yes, and
morally entitled to a fair hearing. What
we call the welfare of society is I'M
doubtedly a high interest to be con-
served, but the welfare of society can
not be attained by taking from any man
the safeguards of life and liberty that
every other man enjoys. Any system of
Justice which does not insure that, is
simply the system of a mob. 1t is not
good taste for lawyers or for other peo-
pie to boast over-much, but it is my
opinion that we may safely compare
our ethical code with that of any other
class of men. We make some mistakes,
but so do all. On the stage and in works
of fiction, lawyers are generally repre-
scented as cunning, vulgar fellows, think
ing of nothing but their own interests.
'Dodson and Fogg'' is a well known
firm and "Ouick Cannon and Snap
are famous wherever a good novel is
enjoyed. But 1 appeal to the lawyers
here present did you ever do anything
so INSCRIPTIONS as to be reprimanded
by your client? Did he ever chide you
for sharp practices, or refuse to accept
the verdict you secured for him? The
truth is, lawyers are not half so sharp,
not half so cunning, not half SO I'M
scrupulous as their clients would some
times be glad to have them. L believe
I may truthfully say of every lawyer
in this association, that he has often
had occasion to rebuke his client and
has often refused to take a course of
action which his client professed to con-
slider entirely proper. This is not saying
that clients are habitually dishonest,
because we all know there are no dis
honest clients. 1t is simply speaking
the truth, which is that lawyers by their
training, by their experience, by their
oath of office, and by all the traditions
of the profession are bound to be hon
orable men. The legal profession has
here and there a member who does not
adorn it, but are all bankers honest?
Do merchants never deceive? Do doc
tors always take what they would give
Literature is filled with jokes at our ex-
pense. When the grave digger throws
up a skull, Hamlet cries out: There's
anotheri Why might not that he the
skull of a lawyer? Where be his quid-
dts now, his outlets, his cases, his ten
ures and his trickS?" / wonder if there
are tricks in our trade? There is
broad hint to that effect in Chaucer,
when he assemblies the Canterbury pill
grims al the Tabard Inn, the merchant,
the haberdasher the dyer and the rest,
including the lawyer, of whom he says:
mo where so busy a man as he there
mas
And yet, he seemed buster than he was"
REMEMBERS HIS EARLY FRIENDS
Perhaps something of that little pro-
fessional weakness still fingers with US,
for have known even here lawyers
make more or less show of business
that was principally show. Most of my
professional life was passed in Kansas.
1 know the lawyers of this state as I
shall never know them anywhere else,
and 1 assert that as a class, they are as
high minded, self-respecting and honor
able a body of men as you will find If
you search the world over.
The lawyer in this country and In all
constitutional countries is, as rule,
respectable gentleman, doing his duty
conscientiously according to his under
standing, holding office sometimes but
usually walking the beaten path of OBJ
security. He is the monitor by which
many people are directed, the light by
which many feet are guided. His du-
ties are often of a humble character,
for he prepares leases, deeds and con-
tracts, draws wills, and in the darkest
hours gives certain non-priestly con-
ISOLATION to stricken souls. He is often
the repository of the secrets of an en-
tire neighborhood and he bears them
Loyalty as becomes a man of honor.
L have said something of judges and
lawyers in respect to their official and
professional duties; but all Americans
have duties not dependent upon office
or profession. What patriotism is, need
not now be discussed, but those who
have not felt it's influence are not such
citizens as make good lawyers or good
Judges There is a school of political