The Springfield herald., 1908-08-14

How they would resent the idea, the
bare idea, mind you, of mixing in any
thing SO derogatory to the Bench, to
the sacred Bench, as politics. AS for
listening to the suggestion of who
would be good man for clerk. or
who might be glad to get a job as
bailiff for his night and day services
for months. tut tut, think of the
''ermine.' think of the sanctity that
doth surround Judge.
But bless you, when the time began
to swing around for another election.
how easily and sincerely these good
men forgot all about that assumption
of aloofness and political chastity.
You would meet them in the little
petty back halls In the various wards,
at the downtown meetings and at the
clubs. and they always remembered
you az you were active in the partly,
and they always had choice lot Of
"guff' about the principles of the
party. which, translated into the ver-
nacular meant: 81 want to hold on to
my job" Why. these fellows were
occasionally the most ungrateful and
palpably hypocritical skates" | ever
met. The most ordinary ward work
er" could see through such a game as
this without second glance.
or course the corporation counsel's
office, with bunch of assistants, was
a fruitful place for bestowal Of
legal Jobs. It had many tough legal
nut to crack, and was a busy office.
Being right in the lime-light, and with
so many matters of Importance, the
head of the office had to be somebody
who could do more than put up bold
front" He had to be lawyer, and
he was generally a good one. But
while this was necessity, and while
he had to have several live. able as
sistants, he could appoint, by way Of
helping out the party. a number of
assistant" corporation counsels. who
could be consulted" occasionally and
draw their salaries without going into
"brain-storms" with fatigue. The num-
ber of corporation counsels the "traf-
fic" would bear varied with different
administrations. Some corporation
counsels pared 1t down to actual ne
cessities. so far as possible. Others
expanded the list until it threatened
to stretch out ito the crack of doom. y
The city attorneys office. being an
elective one, was plum eagerly
sought by the more active of the pure
ly political attorneys. He had a num-
ber of positions under him of assis-
tants in the running of the office, and
these places were regularly filled from
the legal ranks of the party. Here,
then. were more inches to be filled up
with legal timber; and If a young poll
tician had been admitted to the bar"
he had chance of going in and get
ting salary from the start and an op-
portunity for experience which would
be invaluable to him. All the city at
torneys | ever knew were orators, ex-
cepting one. They were all active in
party work and party councils. and
sometimes graduated from this Office
either to higher political positions or
to positions with big corporations II
they CHANGED to develop unusual ca
pacity as lawyers.
There were other departments, often
appointive. where legal talent was re-
quired, and there was always some
political attorney ready at the drop
of an interview to shoulder the white
mans burden and take hack" at the
city treasury. 1t is a noticeable fact
that lawyers as rule II don't say
1t because am one myself are hon
est in the practice of their profession.
| mean by this that they don't en-
beZZle money and prove uDfaithful