Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-16

" uce law is becoming yearly a
moro noteworthy fact. Il was
- stated not long ago. saws
IN8NlS&I Bench and Bar, that about
- 1000 women have been admitted
10 the bar Of the United States. A few
less than forty-have been admitted 70
practice in the United States sunrema
court. Mrs. Belva Lockwood OF washing
ton, ID. C., was the first of these sba
was admitted in 1879. Among others who
have received this distinction are Ar.
Carrie Burnham Kigore, Mrs. Marilia.
Kicker and the Misses Florence ana Ethel
Colford. Among the women practitioners
OF New York CITY are Miss Mary Coleman
Mrs. Resale Loew whitney, Mrs. Mary
Grace Quackenbos and Mrs. Sophie MAYER.
All OF them have been notably SUCCESSFUL
Miss Coleman is said to have once received
q 5000 fee, for which, no doubt. ',valpa
received" was rendered, and Mrs. whitney
VIII be remembered as at one time one of
he attorneys for the Legal Ala society
MIS- Ouackenbos has been more than once
specially retained by the United States
government, ana, we believe, IL regularly
one of the counsel for the New York ISfa
insurance company. Every year thu law
schools turn out a number Of women Grad
yates, some Of whom take up the actual
practice of law, and there are even ind,-
cations that women lawyers may effect
an entrance into the sacred field where
me judicial plum tree grows, to the dis-
concertment Of some of our brethren whose
appetite for the fruit Of that tree ia alto
fether too we'll developed.
America seems to lead ali other conn
tries In the matter Of women LAWYERS.
We have heard OF none in England. and
the few who have been admitted to prac-
tice In France seem TO find little encour-
Rgement.
There may be some women who are
adapted to advocacy, but we beIive that
the majority of those who obtain admis-
sion to the bar are not, and further. that
the time is hardly ripe for the entrances
or many women into this particular de-
partment of practice. 1t still savors of
the incongruous and jars upon wha are
called the conservative" sensibilities. 10
see a woman plead in court, however ably
she may perform her part. II any one
is disposed to cite the appearance of Por-
tia in the case OF Shylock against Antonio
(Shapespeare), as an ancient precedent for
such practice, we answer that Portia mas
oueraded as g mana thing which our
sister at the bar would not wish to dc
at this day. both on account of the in
artistic apparel with which the present
male members OF the profession clothe
themselves, and also the inhibition Of the
penal code, with which lawyers OF both
sexes are familiar.
In the other departments OF legal work
however, women may find a wide field fol
usefulness, where they can easily compete
with, and in some Of which they may per-
haps excel. the men. We refer especially
to the field or fields of legal writing. These
as 1t seems to us, offer a splendid oppor.
tunity at the present time to the talents
Of the trained women lawyers. 1t appears
from the preface OF the West Publishing
C~ompany's Decennial Digest, that within
the ten years ended with 1906, more thar
10000 decisions OF the federal courts and
the courts of several states. have beer
reported. They will continue to come forth
in even greater volume. To analyze, digest
and classify these cases is a monumental
labor, and nowhere, In our opinion, could
the capabilities of our sister lawyers be
more suitably or p~rofitably employed. They
ought TO find ready engagement in the
law publishing houses which issue digesti
and encyclopedias, at comfortable living
salaries-say from twelve to twenty-five
hundred dollars a year. Nor need the lit
erary lawyer, whether man or woman, b.
limited to digest or encyclopedias work, bu'
would undoubtedly succeed equally as &
writer Of legal text books and treatises.
-4-
Political Indifference of Women.
As for the working woman, who, it a
generally assumed, win be the one mos
benefited by suffrage. the frankest seen
inclined to own that not much has beef
done about her so far. writes Sarah Com
stock in Golfers. Colorado women arr
responsible for a measure providing tina
no woman shall work more than eigh
hours a day at work requiring her to be OF
her feet; that seats for saleswomen b.
provided in the shops. and SO on. a few
similar items. But the fact is that thu
working woman is not so important a prob
lem out there as she is In the east. Fac
tories and shops are few, and from what
saw OF the shop girls condition 1t seemeC
not especially In need of measures" II
Denver l was told that the average girl
acknowledgements. the one who receives .