The San Francisco call., 1899-02-05
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Of them trudged to the West End and
surrounded the doors of gentlemen's
houses, holding out suppliant hands.
whining prayers for help, often. when
there were only ladies, resorting to
loud threats and curses. The squares
were Systematically begged" by young
girls, trained for the purpose, looking
plaintive, and dexterous. in provoking
pity by means of their artful tale.
Thieving was carried on just as sys-
tematically by the same persons. We
call out upon the eighteenth century
for its savage code Of punishments,
but we ought to remember the terri
BILE provocations which they endured.
The thieves ventured everywhere; into
the shops; into the private houses; they
haunted the inn yards where the stage
coaches arrived, and carried off the
portmanteaus and trunks; they haunt
ed the quays. where the hoys and coast
ers We're moored, and carried off the
luggage. Hang them!" cried the ex-
asperated shopkeeper. "They robbed
my till last week The week before they
carried off bale of my finest silk. Let
them be hanged Hanging is not good
enough for them.'' Some Improvement
we have effected, but the man still sings
along the road-he calls it, POLITICALLY,
'gridling on the main drag" and the
woman still crawls along with her two
children and her white apron; and the
professional still calls upon me and
invites me. with a tale of unmerited
suffering, to keep him in laziness and
perjury.
The Scotch have a provision-I be-
lieve in all their towns-by means of
which a law agent or adviser in legal
matters is appointed in every district
for the poor. That is to say, the poor
are enabled by law to seek legal advice
uyh hax 70
in doubt for nothing at all. I have only
recently become acquainted with the
regulation: it reminds one that Scot
land and England are still different
Kingdoms, with laws that differ in
many respects. How does this statute
work? / have a paper before me de-
scribing what happened during the
one of the larger, not the largest,
towns in Scotland. with a population
of about 10000. The person, to begin
with, who desires to employ the serv-
ices of the towns writer" or adviser
for the poor goes first to the Sheriff's
clerks Office and gets letter, which
is merely a formal matter ind is given
to every applicant. He then carries
his letter to the agent and states his
difficulty. The agent, who holds office
for twelvemonth, hears him, advises
him, and, if necessary, take the case
into court. The office is by no means
a sinecure. During the writer's term
he was consulted by 221 persons, of
whom only twenty-four were men, and
the rest were women, varying in age
from II to 80. The cases involved the
writing of 715 letters and seeing over
1000 persons. Most Of the cases were
those of maintenance, chiefly brought
by parents against their sons Some
were for SANDER, cruelty. libel, per-
sonal injury and other matters.
Seventy per cent of the cases were
those of parents against their sons for
aliment In other cases drink was at
the bottom of all the trouble How
ever, what the cases were matters
nothing; the point is that in Scotland
justice can be had by the poorest for
nothing; not out Of the rates; nobody
pays for it; the lawyers actually work
for nothing and apparently with will
ingness. 1t might be difficult to
make our lawyers work for nothing.
but perhaps it would not be impossible.
Each mans turn would come seldom.
1t would be, for the term of office, a
heavy tax, but it would be the tax that
they would pay, as in Scotland. for the
privilege of working at all. There are
thousands Of cases Of ill-usage, neglect,
desertion, oppression and injustice oc-
curing daily among the poor of our
cities and towns for which they have
no redress because they cannot pay the
lawyer The Scotch practice Is en-
forced by an ancient statute that a
lawyer shall SO give of his time and
money and ability for the love of God
and the cause of justice between man
and man." In one or two of our Lon
don settlements" there is the poor
mans lawyer" but the settlements"
are few and far between: they are
oases Of verdure and refreshment In a
broad desert Of weary and thirsty
sand. The Agent for the Poor. There
| is a fine ring about the words. It looks
like a title of honor. But fear 1t will
have to remain Scottish.