Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-11-23

ing real service to his fellows.
 The profession for which | was train ed--the law-presents another line o' temptations. The court room is a souls market where many barter away their ideals in the hope of winning wealth or fame. Lawyers sometimes boast of the number of men whose acquittal they have secured when they knew them to be guilty, and of advantages won which they knew their clients did not deserve. I do not understand how a lawyer can so boast, for he is an off cer of the court and, as such, is sworn 1 to assist in the administration of jus | tice. When lawyer has helped his client to obtain all that his client is | entitledS to, he has done his full duty as lawyer, and if he goes beyond this he goes at his own peril Show me the | lawyer who has spent a lifetime try | ing to obscure the line between right and wrong, trying to prove that to b6 | just which he knew to be unjust, and l will show you man who has grown weaker in character year by year, and whose advice, at last, will be of no value to his clients, for he will have lost | wrong. Show me, on the other hand, | a lawyer who has spent a lifetime in | the search for truth, determined to fol low where it leads, and l will show you a man who has grown stronger in char. | acter day by day and whose advice con. tantly becomes more valuable to his , client, because the power to discern the | truth increases with the honest search for it.
 Not only in the court room, but in the consultation chamber, the lawyer some ! times yields to the temptation to turn his talents to sordid use. The schemes of spolation that defy the officers of the law are, for the most part, inaugurated and directed by legal minds. President Roosevelt, speaking at Harvard few years ago, complained that the gradu. ates of that great university frequent ly furnished the brains for conspiracies against the public welfare. l was speak ing on this very subject in one of the great cities of the country some months ago, and at the close of the address, a judge commended my criticism and declared that most of the lawyers prae. ticing in his court were constantly sell ing their souls. The lawyers position IS scarcely less responsible than the po- sition of the journalist, and if the jour. nalists and lawyers of the country could be brought to abstain from the prac. tices by which the general public is Overreached, it would be an easy mat ter to secure the remedial legislation necessary to protect the producing masses from the constant spoliation to which they are now subjected bY. the privileged classes.
 Most of you, l presume, will engage !, in what is known as business, although l confess that have no sympathy with the narrow definition which is often given to the word, business. Every per son who contributes by brain or muscle to the nation s wealth and greatness is engaged in business and is necessary factor in the world s progress.
 Commerce is an increasing factor in the business world. It includes both ex. change and transportation and stands next in importance to production. Pro- ductiOn comes first, but production could only be carried on on limited scale without the exchange of mer. ehandise. To desire to gain an honor able distinction in this department of labor is a worthy ambition. He who inn proves the instruments of trade or brings purchaser and consumer nearer together, and thus facilitates exchange, may count himself a real benefactor. But even here there are temptations to be avoided. Let me suggest three. First, speculation. I do not mean to say that the element of chance can be entirely eliminated from any kind of business. The farmer takes his chances upon the seasons; the merchant takes his chances upon the market the rail road owner takes his chances upon both the season and the market; and we all take our chances upon sickness and death. Uncertainty enters into every human calculation, but a distinction can be drawn between those uncertainties which are unavoidable, and those uncer- tainties which are the very essence of the transaction. There is a legitimate work for the stock exchange, and for the chamber of commerce, but there is an illegitimate and vicious speculation .On the stock exchange and the produce market which has lured many business men to their fall. The ordinary meth Ods of accumulation are necessarily very slow when competition is left free to regulate profits, while the gambler is spurred on by the hope of quickly real izing large profit upon small invest ment. It is not strange that many are charmed by the siren song of the stock ticker, but it means ruin, and to the extent that a man yields to the tempta- tiOn his morals are weakened. There is but one sure measure of rewards, viz, that which compensates each in proportion as he serves society. The securing of something for nothing by 6 lucky turn of card or by a sudden change in the market, paralyzes one g purpose, and in time, renders him un- fit for patient and persistent effort I might emphasize the fact that gamb- ling in stocks and farm products often leads to embezzlement, larceny and sui eide, for these are the fruits of specu- latiOn when it becomes a disease But l prefer to put my argument against gambling upon the broader ground that