The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-03-26
LICENSE TO PRACTICE.

The proposition of western legis'
lature to repeal the laws relative to
licensing persons to practice law and
medicine Is not as ridiculous as IL
might seem upon its face. In fact,
there are a good many arguments to.
support the contentious of the gentle
man who proposes the reform
measure.
However I'm discussing the question
,ye do not want to be placed on rec
ord as favoring for this state the re-
peal of the laws pertaining to the
licensing of lawyers and doctors. Bul
1t may do no harm to call attention to
the fact that there are a great many
persons who believe that such laws
are useless, to say the least.
with the practice of medicine
there Is much reason for preventing
Incompetent persons from practicing,
since physicians are called i'm cases
of emergency, when it is impossible
for persons to exercise any discre-
ton In the matter. Further, when
& doctor makes mistake 1t Is too
late to rectify it, and the fact that
other persons may refuse TO employ
him and thus put him out of bust
ness will not bring back the victim OF
his lack of skill. But with the law
yers 1t is different.
| An old Southern judge who used to
be frequently appointed to examine
candidates for the bar, permitted any
one to practice law that made appl-
cation. 1t was In state that was not
very strict about admitting persons to
the bar. The Judge argued that II a
fellow proved to be incompetent the
people would soon find 1t out, and
| that It didn't make any difference
what an examining board thought
about it. There was a good deal OF
logic in his statement
Is there not just as good argument
I'm favor of licensing men to write for
the newspapers, or to write books, as
there is for licensing lawyers? The
Hack of n license law has not tended
to degrade the profession of journal
ism. Because there Is no regulation
as to who may or may not write
hooks or poor writer's able to palm off
on an unsuspectng public trashy vol
umes? Does not the able newspaper
man or the brilliant author find a
market for his work regardless of the
fact that any man under the sun
who wants TO attempt to edit news
paper or write a book may do so
without being examined and securing
n license? And, to carry the argu-
ment a little further, Is there any one
who believes that II newspaper men
md authors had to pass an eXamina-
tion and be licensed, that 1t would
elevate the quality of the newspa-
pers or the books that are published? ?
surely the law licensing lawyers
bas not elevated the personnel of the
rrofession. That is to say, while
there are many of the noblest men
of the land practicing law, the fact
remains that there are also many of
the most notorious scoundrels and
crooks, lust as there are practicing
every other profession. The lawyers
themselves have not even taken ad-
vantage of the power which they
have to purify the profession for
while there are dozen or two un-
scrupulous shysters practcing law in
every city, one very rarely hears of
disbarment proceedings. Not only
that but It Is harder to connect d law
yer of crime than anybody else for
the reason that every lawyer has
&c rtain amount of influence with the
bar
While we are not urging It, we be-
lieve that If the law pertaining to the
practicing of law should be repealed
today, II would not degrade the bar
particle; that 1t would not lose any
good lawyer a case, and that the pub
lie would be no more at the mercy
of unscrupulous practitioners than 1t
Is at this time Springfield (o)
News.
Best made, Glover Leaf. eodtf