Bisbee daily review., 1906-09-12
HOT SHOT THROWN
 AT SINISTER LAWYERS
Increasing Number Deplored at Bar Association Meeting and Claimed to Be Weaking to Profession.

That there Is startling increase in the r1mber of lawyers of questionable ie,.u.ssion, seriously affecting the rep utation of the profession. and that there is ample evidence in the un- willingness of members of that pro- fession to disbar fellow member un. less convicted of crime to show that there is but little improvement in the standard of conduct in the profession were statements made by Professor William Draper Lewis, dean of the University of Philadelphia Law School, in an address before the American Bar Association, which opened its twenty ninth annual meeting in St. Paul re- gently. The antiquated methods of legal procedure. still adhered to after years of use, Dean Lewis also held were not only a disgrace and intoler able to the average business men, out also afforded a sure refuge fo: the an- scrupulous.
 His subject was Legal Education and the Failures of the Bar to Perform Its Public Duties" After defining The function of the legal profession to the community he took up the question as to whether the ethical standards of the members of the Bar were improving. If answered in the negative, he said, it would seem that large and !ncreas- ing number of the profession were proving on the weaker members of the community. Continuing. he said:
 The universal presence among us of the ambulance chaser, unrebuhed by our courts, and the fact thaJ we practically never disbar a lawyer eA- cept he has been indicted and con- viCted for a criminal offense are sigLi- ficaDt commentaries on our ethical standards and the way in which ye guard what We are pleased to call the traditions of the profession. The ques- tion Is not whether the bar is wors ? from a moral point of view than it was: i- is enough to make the answer we must give to the first test of eff ciency doubtful, that we do not insist upon . high standard Of conduct among our members, and that ir this respect the observer finds few II any signs of improvement.
 Seriousness of Legal Delays.
 Concerning the question as to whether the law corresponds to tho full sense of the right of the com munity, Dean Lewis said the fac- that we have reached the stage of being able to suggest to our legislatures that they follow legislation ol private rights, adopted with advantage by other countries, though nothing to be proud of, was in itself a good sign. But he found serious defects in the methods of legal procedure. Reply ing to a question as to whether the law today is administered with reason able certainty and dispatch, he said:
 The two fatal words-'unceriaiuty, 'delay'-are interwoven in all cur methods of doing our legal business The practical solution of our anti quated systems in the complicated con ditions of our social and business life would disgrace the early part of the nineteenth century, when practically all business was performed in a cumbersome way. But to a modern business man, accustomed to modern and efficient methods of dispatching business, the delays and uncertainties of our administration of the law have become intolerable. They at the same time afford a sure refuge to the un-