The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1910-06-30
OF the Great Questions of
the Future Says Attorney
General Wickersham.
CASE METHOD BE S 7
Attorney General Of the, Unit
ed States Makes Address
to Harvard Law School.

The college trained lawyer will solve.
the great legal and economic ques-
tons OF government in this and the
next generation. That is the opinion
of Attorney General Wickersham.
He will not be the man whose only
acquaintance with the principles Of
law and government has been derived
from text books and lectures: such as
man would not be equipped to cope
with them. He must be the man who
has found the living law as 1t has
been developed in the real transac-
lions OF men. Except with possible
rare exceptions, the day of the plod-
ding student who read his Blackstone
in desultory. unmethodlcal, inter-
rupted fashion from the musty shelves
of some practicing 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 prln-
ciples and doctrines of law as SCI
-ence through the selection, classifica-
ton and analysis Of adiudged cases
involving their application.
The attorney general speaking hero
today before the Harvard Law school
Association on THE Relation of Legal
Education to Governmental 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.
The Living Law Needed.
1T is only the labors, the thought
and the criticism of men who have
found the living law, as 1t has been
actually developed by the real trans
actions 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 gen
eral. 1.-The wise solutions Of such
questions as these can only be reached
by men who are able to deal with
facts and principles as compared with
Information 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 medlocrity," Mr..
Wickersham continued, "is in my
opinion, one of Nhe greatest dangers
which confronts successful democracy
everywhere. The hope OF avertlng it
rests largely with men of sound legal
education.
For. this same contentment with
mediocrlty breeds an Impotence with.
any sort OF superiority, desire to
belittle all excellence. a readiness 10
impute wrong motives to anything not
easily understood, to accept calumny
as truth, without inquiry, and grad
ual lessenlng for advancement, as It
is perceived that peace. which is Of
ten mistaken for happiness, is alone
to be found by accepting contentedIy
a place in the undistinguished multi
tude."
Deal with Facts.
Here the attorney general quoted
from the report of committee some
time ago appointed by the faculty Of
arts and sciences Of Harvard, which
expressed the opinion that in award
ing high rank or distinction in coll
lege, emphasis should be laid more
largely than 1t Is upon ability to deal
with facts and principles as COM
pared with information acquired or
memory.
1T is precisely that ability which
is the ideal of the legal profession"
said Mr.. wickersham, "and the
is characteristic of Its,
most honored leaders and is utterly
inconsistent with contentment with
mediocre things.
That clear thought sound learning
and consummate ability to deal with
facts may be attained without law
school training is abundantly attested
by many illustrious examples. Many
examples may be cited to sustain the
theory. But as early as Blackstone's
day, thoughtful lawyers realized that
only occasional and exceptional men
good results by this
haphazard sort OF education.
but the tendency Of all collective
instruction is undoubtedly to discour-
age the free development Of individ-
nal characteristics, to induce confor-
nifty with conventional standards andl