The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-01-31
Noted Attorney Before the Kan
sas Bar Association.
Lawyers the Force Which Holds
Together Society.
THEY ARE COURAGEOUS
FavOrs a Universal Congress at
st. Louis Exposition.
Elected Life Member of the
State Association.

Judge mes Hagerman, of St Louis,
Mo. general solicitor for the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas railroad, delivered the
leading address at the meeting of the
State Bar association in the supreme
court room Thursday evening, on the
[heme Lawyers and Bar Associa-
tions."
After referring briefly to the two
pleasant years spent in Topeka with
the legal department of the Santa Fe,
Judge Hagerman said, in part: All
enemies of governments, of institutions,
of social order, of life protected, liberty
regulated and property guarded by
law, and all tyrants and advocates OF
unlimited and irresponsible power all
wrong-doers and wrong intendeTs,
know that the lawyers, like a SOlld
phalanx, stand in their way, and are TO
be reckoned with. To these arch en-
enies of mankind the lawyers have
local habitation and name and are as
visible as the army, navy or church
BY lawyers L do not mean those who
represent themselves but those acting
In representative capacity, which i'm
pies an aSency-a principal and an
agent, or what is nearer, a trustee and
a beneficiary, or still nearer an office,
an official and constituency. The
lawyers in the United States at the
present time are roundly estimated at
above $4,000 in number. They have no
insignia of Office. are of the plain citi-
zens in every community, their reputa-
tlon largely local, and when they pass
away their fame is, except in rare in
stances, only traditional. The formal
evidence of their right to practice their
profession is scattered through the rec
ordS OF many thousands of courts and
occasionally preserved in the form of
a license which if not lost or destroyed
most frequently finds resting place in
cellars and garretS or among the muSty
tones of their offices. The lawyers of
our country, taking them as a body,
are the cenripeta1 force which holds
together society and our governn entS,
state and national. without them the
judicial branches of our government
would be paralyzed, could not perform
their functions and would cease to be-
There can be no civilization without
law, and law cannot be applied or en-
forced without lawyers Yod can as
well conceive of love without lovers, or
of family without father, mother,
children or kindred, as of law without
lawyers
THE beginner at the law should un-
derstand that the nature of his vocation
its relation to society and government
and the affairs of life. He should set
before himself high ideals. When ne
enters the practice he becomes in the
nrSt instance the adviser of those who
seek his services touching their rights
duties and liabilities, what course they
snail pursue or avoid, and later their
spokesman and champion. His position
IS always one of trust. The highest work
OF the lawyer is in the court room. Some
deny this, but I earnestly assert it. In
this day and generation it Is claimed
more money may be made by lawyers
outside than inside the court room. 1t
ought not to be so. What would be the
history of the bench and bar without
the great contests which have taken
place in the courts and the great argu-
ments made there? What would our
judges be and the law be without them
The work in the court room is not the
only work of the lawyer but L contend
1t is the highest order of work and re-
quires the highest order of ability.
The lawyer should be courageous and /
bold He should belong to no man but
wear his own hat and own his own con-
science. 1 have often thought that ev-
cry professor in a law college should be
required during the last year of the SEN
1or class to deliver and have published
one lecture on the ethics of our profess
sion Every judge at least once during
his term of office should deliver a kind
red address, reduced to writing"
In relation to the SchIey controversy
and the part which the legal profession
played, Judge Hagerman said:
When that new-fiedged historian
made an attack upon the distinguished
and gallant sailor on a charge amount
ing substantially to cowardice, incapac-
1ty and treason, the brave old man Sc
cured the services of able attorneys
Lawyers tried the case and we can but
wish that judges had heard it as we'll
Had this been so they would have said
that all that was contained in the
charges We're known both to congress
and the president before ever these
charges We're made. They We're known
when he was promoted and made an
admiral. They would have said that bv
this act alone they were forever estop-
ped from saying his course was to be
censured. They would have looked at
the results which followed and declared
that as he stood upon the deck of his
Ship exposed to the full fire of the enc
my and of the shore batteries that he
bore himself as a man. Again the
great judges would have looked at this
sailors life and would have attached the
presumption of innocence They would
have seen him when a young man lead
Ing band of Americans up a T5-foot
declivity against a force of Koreans
who had dared offer an insult to the
American flag. They would have seen
this sailor rescuing Greely and receiv-
ing the acclaim of all the nation They
would have seen Schley standing upon
the deck Of the Brooklyn and leading his
men from the time the Spanish fleet
came in sight until it surrendered He
should be commended and those who
condemned him should be condemned >
Bar associations, as they now exist
IN our country, are of recent growth
In their plans and organizations thew
are not diSSimilar to our union of states
one central organization analogous TO
our national government; and state ter
rlIoTlal and municipal governments AS
the years roll by, bar aSsociat tions orc
increasing in numbers and importa noe
and influence. If there are any where
the membership is falling off and in
terest tagging, have not had nv af
tentiOn drawn to them. 1t looks as If
the morning of the bar associations iS
Just fairly dawning, with the prospect
of bright and glorious days to come .
After devoting considerable attention
to the national, state and city bar as
S0ciatiOuS of the country Trrdca rro----