The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-06-28

The Living Law.
Cambridge, Mass, June 2S.-The
college trained lawyer will solve the
great legal and economic questions of
goyemmen. in this and the next gener-
alton TAis is the opinion of At
tomey General Wickersham
He VIII not be the man whose only
acquaintance with the principles Of
aW and government mas been derived
rum text BOOKS and lectures, such Il
man would not be equipped to cope
with them. lie must be lhe man who
has found the living law as it has
Oeen developed in the real transac-
lions ol men. Except with possible
rare exceptions, the day OF the plod-
ulng student VINO read his Blackstone
IN desultory, unmethodical, inter
rupted fashion from the musty shelves
OF some practcing counsellor, is over.
The college trained lawyer of this
and the coming generations who will
solve the problems OF government Is
the man who has mastered the princi-
pies and do.triaes of law as a science
Through the selection, classification
and analysis of adjusted cases inyolv-
ing their application.
The attorney general speaking here
today before the Harvard Law School
Association on The Relation of Legal
Education to Government Problems
predicted that the lawyer who obtains
those qualifications, will be the man
who can successfully cope with the
great questions which will be present
ed for solution with the growth and
expansion of this country.
1T is only by the labors, the thought
and the criticism OF men who have
found the living law, as it has been
actually developed by the real transac-
tions OF men-that our government
may be governed and guided on safe
and progressive lines and our juris-
prudence developed along paths OF
natural, sound and wholesome growth,
declared the attorney general. The
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these can only be reached by men
who are able to deal with facts and
principles as compared with informa-
tion acquired and memory
Mr.. Wickersham made an able ad-
dress. In his opening words he de-
clared he had been able to obtain
scant leisure from the duties of Off
cial life and referred to himself as
IAN overburdened public official
whose mind was necessarily crowded
with the prosaic and exacting details
of government"
"Contentment with mediocrity.' Mr..
Wickersham continued, lis in my op-
inion one of the greatest dangers
which confronts successful democracy
everywhere. The hope of averting it
rests largely with men of sound legal
education.
For, this same coGtentment with
mediocrty breeds an impatience with
any sort of superiority, desire to
belittle all excellence, a readiness 20
impute wrong motives to anything not
easily understood, to accept calumny
as truth, without inquiry, and a grad
ual lessening for advancement, as /,
is perceived that peace, which is often
mistaken for happiness, is alone to be
found by accepting contentedly a place
in the undistinguished multitude"
Here the attorney general quoted
from the report Of arts and sciences
of Harvard, which expressed the
opinion that in awarding high rank
OF distinction in college, emphasis
should be laid more largely than II
is upon ability to deal with facts
and principles as compared with in
formation acquired or memory.
1t is precisely that ability which
Is the ideal of the legal profession.
said Mr.. Wickersham. "and tho
achievement is characteristic of its
most honored leaders and is utterly
inconsistent with a contentment