The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-02-13

the larger one. Inc true grazing Should v a Siooi"6 r.
The: hundred-million-dola corporation should be taxed
proportionately more, instead Of less, than the one-mii-
dollar corporation. The graded franchise tax, WISE
" conceived and properly carried out, would fix that limit
at the point where it would be Improbable to go beyond
it. This is a work that can be we'll done by lawyers only,
by lawyers who get their pay from the public that IS
to be protected, and not from the combinations that are to
be curbed.
Regulation and taxation are two methods, by winch
the people may always prevent a corporation, from be-
coming an intolerable monopoly. There is no danger
either from the disease or the remedy, if the ~lawyerszof the
land, will firmly and forever refuse to allow their retalneTsI
to extend to their acts of citizenship, and, if they will con-
sent to take as a sacred trust the leadership, that the COM
munity is only too glad to give them, If they will only
hold themselves free to accept it"
We will next state our views.
In the first place, It is unquestionably true, that the
sphere of action in the legal profession has been enlarged.
by reason of the fact, that the lawyer has entered the
world of business, in connection with the practice OF his
profession. ..
He no longer merely advises his clients as to the law,
but they consult him as a man of affairs relative to the
conduct of business, in which he frequently takes an
active and leading part.
In the light of such criticism as we have reproduced,
lit would be folly to deny the fact, that some OF the mem
|bers Of the Bar who have entered this new held, have
ignored the traditions of the past, and violated the ethics
of the profession. Such lawyers, as has been said, have
enormously assumed that the rule of ethics to be applied
to a LAWYERS advocacy, is the same where he acts Tor
private interests against the public, as it is in litigation be-
tween private Individuals" and, we believe that the
failure to observe this distinction, has given rise to most
of the criticism.
We, however, most emphatically enter our protest
against the statement that the Bar, in the main, has
become commercialized, or that the standard OF its ethics
has been lowered, or that it has departed from its tra-5
dtions.
We are told that a short time ago, the legislature
resolved to investigate the gas situation in New York
City. A committee went down. One lawyer AFTER
another was sought and all refused for a fee to assist the
committee. They were attorneys for a powerful Com
pany or its subsidiary corporations. One lawyer told the
chairman, if he took the peoples side, he need never look
for business from the public service corporations. Finally,
one LAWYER was found, and he was a match for the dozen
LAWYERS, who confronted him for the Trust. He had
right on his side. I have an abiding faith in the patriot
ism of the legal profession, and feel assured that lawyers
will be found, as was the case in New York, who will
respond to the call of duty, and see that the rights OF the
people shall not suffer, even at the hands OF other mem
bers of the profession. and who will yet bring about a
proper adjustment, of the trusts and monopolies, to the
-E-wayE
Government.
We, already, see efforts in this direction, in the insti-
tuition of proceedings against certain monopohes and cor
rupt influences throughout the United States, and that
LAWYERS are rendering valuable aid in behalf of the Gov
eminent. ..'.....
y The ideals of the legal profession are today higher
than they ever have been, which fact is attributable, IN
large measure, to the Bar Associations.
There are more able lawyers than ever before, in the
history of the profession.
We are satisfied that the legal profession, will show
in the future, as it has demonstrated in the past, that the
ablest champions of the peoples rights, with few exceP-
tons, are to be found among its members.
In conclusion we adopt the fitting and eloquent
words of Mr.. .Alphonso T. Clearwater of the Kingston IN.
~ Bar:
..Always in the history of constitutional governments,
the Bar has been the staunchest and most potent sup
porter of liberty and the laws. Always it has stood for
thai, which is highest and finest in civic life. Always its
support has been tempered with a sanity, a wisdom, a
grasp of the fundamental, and a disdain for the trivial,
which has won for it a commanding position, in the es-
TEEN Of men; and, notwithstanding, many OF US have
fallen by the wayside, I do not believe that the great body
of the Bar is furnished, or that it has become mercenary,
or that it has lost its lofty ideals, and if we will but ap-
peal to our better selves, will give heed to the solemn VOW
inscribed at the head of the Scroll we signed upon our
admission to the Bar, when the roll OF the centuries Shall
be called, among all the avocations which will answer. at
the end, the Bar Of America will appear with its ancient
armor reburnished, and its lustre then will be %undimmed," -