The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-29
The American Bar Association.

The American Bar Association.
The American, Bar association can
scarcely hold a meeting without hav
ing! interesting subjects to- discuss. Yet
this is probably the year of all years
for the representative lawyers of the
nation to consider the tendencies of oul
time and either. accelerate the speed by
commenting the work or put on the
! brakes by conservative counsel as they
see fit. ~.
Since the last meeting Of the Ameri.
can Bar association the congress Of the
United States has asserted the consti.
tutional power over interstate, commerce
as it has never been. asserted before
In the passage of a bill extending the
p, powers of the Interstate commerce com
mission, in the terms Of pure food
law and in the enactment of a law pro-
viding for the inspection of, meats, the
United States congress has gone farther
toward realizing Chief Justice Mar
shall's definition of regulation as the
power to prescribe the rules under
which commerce shall be conducted,
than any previous congress ever
Thought of going.
, There is food for discussion and wise
counsel among the lawyers in these top
les. There is also important matter
for debate in the movement for uni
form laws among the states covering
such subjects as divorce, insurance and
others of nearly as great Importance.
The state 's-rights lawyers will doubt
less see in these movements a happy
escape from the submerging of the
states in the nation and will be keen to
point out the superiority of this method
Of solving some of our national prob
lens over the other.
Besides the discussion of laws and
constitutions there remains the discus
sion Of lawyers themselves, which is not
the least duty before the American Bar
association. The bar has grown to be a
e tremendous. power in this country. It
'overtops in influence the bar of any
other country for the reason that we
are coming to be ruled largely by judge
made law which, in it's last analysis,
means lawyer-made law since it is the
advocate who impresses upon the judge
the views Of every particular case
which results in the decision and the
precedent which in it's turn becomes the
law for some other case. The personal
character, the moral attitude of the
lawyer thus becomes Of tremendous i'm
port, = ii Z T.. ;.
What measures are taken to make
and keep the bar pure9 A certain
intellectual test, varying in different
states, is imposed and, the polite fiction
that the lawyer is an officer Of the
court is supposed to confne him to a
certain plane Of moral conduct. But
it is becoming more evident that there
is a, large percentage Of the lawyers,
especially of the great cities, who are
bound merely by the limits set by Grim
inal statutes. Even these are from
time; to, time transcribed, as is evil
denced "by the increasing number of
disbarments. The district attorney of
New York is kept busy trying lawyers
who have committed crimes in the ex-
ercise of profession whose purpose
is. to interpret laws, not to break them.
Then there is an increasing number Of
lawyers who are never seen in court,
but who, behind office doors, scheme
night and day to absolve wealthy
clients from the pain and loss of obey
ing the law. There is no use Disgusting
the fact that these two elements in
the profession have done much to
weaken it's moral influence and to put
it on the defensive before the public.
\. The American Bar association has al
ways had high personnel. It is acute
.ly jealous for the fair fame of the pro-
~fession. It will undoubtedly take the
same stand as the public that unworthy
members of the profession should be
weeded out. The processes Of the Grim
inal law are too uncertain and cumber-
some to attain the object sought. There
are too many shady things which can
be done by shady lawyers within the
law. The association might with profit
take into consideration some practical
plan for reaching the lawyer who stops
short Of felony. in his proceedings, but
who nevertheless falls below the stand
ard which should govern the whole pro-
fession.