Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-16
VISITING BANQUETfRS
in REMINISCENT MOOD

! When he Is not his value as q lawyer
and as member OF the bar is passed
| No body of men are as a class more
faithful to the trusts reposed in them
than the lawyers. True there is an
occasional man that is rot true but
1t is due to the frailty of the individu.
al man and not to the bar or the pro
fession.
| II believe that the members of the
bar are worthy and deserving. Of ev
cry confidence and every tribute that
can be accorded them. The men who
added this great territory in which we
live, to the United States, were law.
yers unframed in diplomacy yet they
successfully met the most skilled dip.
lomats and the ablest minds of the
world. It was lawyer unframed In
| war that made the greatest secretary
of war the nation has ever had.
''In closing let me give you this one
thought: DO thy duty. Leave unto
God the rest"
D. D. Murphy.
d. D. Murphy of Elkader, followed
| Mr.. Sullivan. speaking to the toast
! 'The Lawyer in the Legislature. .
| There is no reason for assigning me
| this topic" said Mr.. Murphy, who
spoke in a pleasing and easy manner
than that I have never been in the
legislature and never expect to be.
Perhaps for these very reasons may
speak without bias or prejudice
"One thing is true, that the pres
ence Of the lawyer in the legislature
initiates against the financial inter-
ests Of the profession. With his train
ed mind, SO especially fitted for the
making Of laws, he makes such good
laws that he keeps the other members
of the profession out of business. The
great mass of legislation throughout
the worlds history has been made by
legislators trained in the law The
work of parliament in England is the
work of men trained in the legal pro.
fession.
eve might say that this country was
made and has been governed by law
yers 1t was the lawyers that discuss
ed the great questions that finally led
to the declaration of independence
and that give us liberty; it was the
lawyer that after the war discussed
and formulated the plan that preserv-
ed to us the fruits Of that victory
which gave us freedom. Out of fifty
five members who made the constitu-
ton, thirty were trained lawyers.
Since the formation of the govern
ment it Is unnecessary to speak of
the great preponderance of lawyers
among the national legislators So
universally is it true that when we
speak of a great legislator we assume
and almost invariably correctly as
sumo that the man is lawyer James
G. Blaine, who had only theoretical
knowledge of the law and Marcus A.
Hanna, were perhaps the only notable
exceptions that we have had in many
years.
I'm England there was once parlia-
ment which had in it no lawyers and
that parliament has come down to us
as the lack-learning parliament. 1t
made many laws and it also made
good business for the lawyers.
"The lawyer in the future can be a
great safeguard as conservative
force. His mind is trained to weigh
all the circumstances of situation
and to pass an unbiased opinion. He,
from his training is in position and is
capable in an extraordinary degree to
understand and act in comprehen-
sive manner.
He is trained to be faithful to his
client and in this instance his client
is the public. He should and as a~rule
does serve the public faithfully and
capably and is one of the greatest
ca fep1ardc paincf cnooio1 1o+
ut is in most cases sacrifice for
the lawyer to give his service as a
legislator but there always has been
and will always be found men in the
profession who are willing to give
their time and their training in this
valuable service"
Judge c. c. Cole.
Venerable Judge Cole. who closed
the speech making of the evening,
bore testimony to the excellent char
acter of the early Iowa bar. He had
personal acquaintance with every
member of that bar mentioned by Mr..
Stiles and in the course of his re-
marks named many others who made
up that noted body of early Iowa law.
yers.
He said In part:
'.The early lawyers of Iowa render.
ed wonderful assistance to the judges
of that day in laying the foundation
for the Jurisprudence Of today. Du.
buque was at that time the strongest
bar in the. state, Des Moines was next
and after that it was a debate in my
mind between Iowa City and Keokuk.
The attorneys from these cities
brought to us many difficult cases.
They argued them before us and we
discussed them. They gave to us won.
derful aid in rendering our decisions.
In that way a strong bar makes
good court. The bar is responsible
more than the bench for good deci.
sions
when I went on the bench our
methods were quite different from
those of today. Our records were
manuscripts prepared by the clerk of
the court. We considered every case
together. One Judge would read
aloud the record Of the case for TWEEN.
ty or thirty minutes. Then another
Judge would read and SO on. When
the case was finished we would each
in turn state the facts of the case as
we understood them. Discussions
rrIlI evils T.