The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-22
rHu LEcAL PRoFEssroN.

employed on both sides of tho suits in the Federal Court at Montgomery brought by the railroads to restrain re- gently enacted legislative rates. These able attorneys. in the course of the successful practice of their profession, have tried many cases, both for and against railroad corporations. striving to do their duty fearlessly and faith fully; and now. forsoothe. because gen. tlemen of brains and character are en- gagged to ask United States Court 10 say whether or not certain rate laws recently fixed by the Legislature of Alabama are constitutional and val i'd. resort is had to unwo worthy methods to excite, if possible, a senseless preju- dice against them in the minds of thoughtless persons.
 Our people are excitable and mercu- rial, but when sober second thought" comes to them they can always be de- pended upon to be fair and just. One day, in the United States Senate, when Ben Tillman, who frequently allows his passions to obscure his judgment and sense of justice, was endeavoring to feed a narrow prejudice, which he supposed existed amongst the ignor- ant and vicious against lawyers as class, a great Southern Senator charac- terized him as a demagogue and ex- claimed eloquentlly:
 Have we gone mad in this country? Have we concluded that 1t is crime to possess character and brains enough 10 be employed in the learned profess sions, and to be engaged in defense of the lives and property of men who op- crate railroadsT
 A lawyer, if he is a good one. is as good a citizen as lives beneath the flag. To him more men carry their misfor- tunes and the defense of their rights than to any other man in this Repub lie: and I have observed that those who abuse them most are the ones who are quickest to appeal to their Judgment and counsel in troublous times. If you strike from the pages of the American Revolution the brilliant names of the lawyers who illustrate anu liEuIlHdL6 tucLl. yOu Wllk ASdN0 di~ most every chapter of 1t dark. It was a lawyer whose immoral sentence still rings in the ears of liberty loving peo- pie in this and in every other land. when he proclaimed it is his. defiant wish that they should give him liber- ty or give him death.
 The man to whom we owe more for the Constitution of the United States than to all others was a lawyer. Thom as Jefferson was a lawyer. Madison. Monroe, Hamilton, Randolph, Marshall. Jay, Fancy. Pickney and Gerry were lawyers.
 The honorable practitioner of the law has duties to perform which he cannot disregard-from which there is no avenue of escape. It is the proud boast of the legal profession that its members, as a general proposition, have always been on the side of law and order, of justice and liberty, of humanity and right. Nearly every great movement in the worlds history, since the dawn of civilization. looking to the amelioration of the suffering condition of mankind. resisting the en- croachmcnts of arbitrary and despotic power. breaking the shackles of ignor- ance, superstition and vice, advocating | the largest liberty in the control or | individual and private business affairs, | opposing inquisitorial acts of legisla- tive and executive branches of govern ment insisting that authority shall be vested in the courts to interpret the Constitution and enforce the laws of the land, has been championed by this incorruptible body of men. whom mar row minded and scheming politicians. | the world over, have been pleased to characterize as lawyers-as hirelings. purchasable and tainted. It is to the credit of the profession that they are high above the hoarse oronkings of the | demagogue and malcontent.
 The great men who redeemed Alaba- ma from the thraldom of negro domi- nation and restored white supremacy 1 within our borders were lawyers. Houston, Clopton. Morgan. Holtzclaw, Sayre, Stone, Walker. Watts, Judge, | Barnes. Sanford, Oates, Baker, Shorter, Smith. Troy, Herndon. Cobb. Tomp- kins, Roquemore, and bost of other immortal names that were not born to die" were lawyers. and every one, without exception, during their useful and honored lives, were employed at some time or other by railroads. Such men have made our race the foremost in the civilization of all ages and | countries.
 So much for the railway lawyers in the case What about the presiding Judge? The next step, we opine. will be to denounce him fiercely because he dares to hear and decide a case at the instance of a railroad corpora tion. In all history there is not nob- Ter example of honesty and courage than that set by the great English Judge, who. when his King expressed a wish that he should decide a partic- dignant and defiant message to him "Tell your master 1 will decide this case according to the very truth and Justice of it." From that memorable day down to this good hour the peo- pie in all climes and under every sky have delighted to render glorious tri- bute to that bravce, honest and upright judge.