The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-07-20
THE PASSING OF THE ATTORNEY

]. Hamilton Lewis, Ex-Congress-
man from Washington and at the
present time Corporation Counsel for
the city Of Chicago takes a rather
ressimistic view regarding the future
of attorneys. The lawyer is losing
his occupation because the world is
learning to get along without him.
Fifty years from now" says Mr..
Lewis, I'VE will have tribunal, some
thing like those of ancient Greece,
where any man, whether he be a law
case. This tribunal, perhaps, will
be made up of several men from dit
ferent walks of life"
Having thus deprived the lawyer
of opportunity and reward, Colonel
Lewis promptly proceeds to complete
his work. The glory of the profess
sion has vanished; its perquisites in
the political and social world are
done away with. No longer is it
necessary for a man to be a lawyer to
go to Congress. Business men go
there. The places and honors once
considered as belonging only to the
lawyer are going to men in other
walks of life The lawyer is looked
upon as a. parasite, feeding upon the
body polite
While in a great many cases there
are individuals holding diplomas en-
utling them to the practice of law
that are a disgrace to the profession
il is nevertheless a fact that there
are many men following that profess
sion that are of high character social
ly and politically and number among
the very best citizens in the commu-
Lities where they reside. This is no
doubt true in Stark County where at
torneys as class are noted for their
honesty and integrity and fairness
towards their clients and the people
at large. William e. Curtis, the able
correspondent of the Chicago Record
Herald, who is now in England in the
interest of that paper in writing about
tax dodgers and obedience to law by
the people of England says the fol-
lowing:
There is, of course, a popular i'm
preston that mllionaires over here
do not pay their share of the taxes,
and the salaried citizen whose income
may be known exactly by the assess
Crs, and who is, therefore, compelled
to pay his full share, is always max
ing complaint concerning the tax
Godger. Human nature is the same
the world over, and If you compare
the personal tax returns in England
and those of other countries they will
doubtless be quite as accurate and
quite as honest-probably more so
than the lists that were recently pub
Used in the Chicago papers showing
the amounts upon which the rich men
of that city were taxed. l do not
mean to say that the people of Eng
land are any more honest than the
people of Chicago or the United
States, but any one familiar with at
fairs over here will agree with me
that they have greater respect for
the law and for civil authority. A
policeman in England is always
obeyed; cases Of resistance are ex-
ceedingly rare, for, although he may
be guilty of an injustice or his judg-
nent may be defective, the average
citizen regards him, or rather the
authority he represents, with respect
and reverence and obeys his COM
Llands.
The same is true in the courts.
There is. greater confidence in judicial
decisions in Great Britain than there
is with us. The number of appeals
from the judgments of lower court
Is comparatively small, both in civil
and criminal cases and it is not too
much to say that, while there are
shysters at the British bar and JUS
tice is often trified with, the average
lawyer in criminal cases is not WORK
ing entirely to secure the acquittal
OF his client. but TO protect linn from
injustice. Criminal codes and prac-
tices are regulated for the purpose
OF protecting the innocent and punish
ing the guilty. 1t is sometimes possi-
Bile for a rascal to escape punishment
through technicality, but such cases
are extremely rare, and justice is
quite as swift as sure in the British
courts. You never hear of the de-
fendant in criminal case staying OF
the penalty for his crime year aCer
year in England, as is SO frequent in
the United States.