Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-07-17
Commercial " w
y Righteousness.
.I.1.f.Y.1.Y.I. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
BY LIZZIE YORK CASE.
nuE is not the man that Margaret
n,,ol4 ~

III ought to marry"
"Why not? He seems to be coming
to the front, accommodating property,
has a fine home ready for his bride
a successful lawyer, 1 believe"
1.-THE kind of success that a true
woman will not be satisfied with. I
know Margaret. She is not like other
girls. She has been her fathers COM
panion, and has his ideas of right and
justice. The fine hcuse yo2 speak
of--do you know how Mack got it?
1t belonged to a widow; he had a
mortgage on it. He took advantage
of the fact of the interest not being
paid promptly, it was put up at auc
ton, the weather was hot, people
out of town, no bidders, and he
bought it for a song. The purchase
is now being contested"
well, it's all in the line of bust
ness, 1 suppose"
'Yes, it's business, minus a sense
of right"
"Say, old fellow, are these Utopian
ideas of yours common in the legal
profession"
"They're not quite so common as
Gods air and sunshine, but they
have attended all true success in the
profession of the law,
81 sit at your feet, my dear sir. I
am learning wisdom. What's the
fee?"
"Oh, thank you; don't mention it.
The relation between client and law
yer is a trust relation, and this trust
is violated less frequently than any
other business relation"
"You don't mean it! Say, old fell
low, don't fling sentiments like that
around loose; they'll knock people
senseless."
"We only hear of the failures, you
know. They come to the light, and
the profession stands the brunt."
'Where are your Websters, your
Calhouns, your Storys to-day?"
"While it is true that their days
have gone by, we have as many able
and eminent lawyers in New York
or Chicago, or any of u large
cities, as there were then in the
whole United States"
IT am astonished; but times have
changed"
"Yes, but the law of right and JUS
tice has not changed. That remains.
Success and fame in the legal profess
sion have followed along this line
the line of commercial, or profession
al, righteousness. Call up any of the
names of our renowned ~jurists, fol-
low their course-you will find that
they have won by defending the rights
of their fellow-men, not by defraud-
ing them, not by tricks. Why, a
mans a fool who forfeits the respect
and confidence of his fellows, his
career is necessarily a short one"
81 am glad to learn that there are
some of the good kind left in the
profession"
eyes, but unfortunately there are
too many men in it who ought to be
doing something else, hewers of wood
or drawers of water. Many would
do less harm in the world as ground
lings. A smattering of legal knowl-
edge makes them cunning, tricky,
dangerous to their fellow men, and
damaging to the profession; these
are the ones that get rich off the
widow and the orphan"
"What do you think of a university
of morality, attached to a law
school? Train fellows in the higher
law; when one shows a tendency to
tricks, to dishonesty, turn him down;
don't arm him with legal tools with
which to cheat his fellows. But
then, by Jove! you would not con-
fine this college of morality to the
law alone. That reminds me, I was
riding in a street car in New York
city some time ago. A countryman
sat beside me who was interested in
the little machine that registered the
fares. Turning to an intelligent
looking woman, he inquired what it
was for. After she had explained
it he said: why, how foolish to
go to all that trouble; why don't
they have honest conductors?' Hon
est conductors?' said the old lady,
why there's not honesty enough in
the city to make a mayor"
Thus in their bachelor apartments
the two young men talked and
smoked, one of them with high ideas
of right, the other somewhat pessi.
mistic in his views. The friend Of