The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-07-14
The LAWYER IN POLITICS
AS seen BY GOV. WILSON

WhASh b0AtO otOO0 IA thO 10Y Va
rendering the ideal service to society
which was demanded by the true
standards srd canons of his profess
sion. Modern business in particular.
with its huge and complicated pro-
cesses has tended to subordinate him,
to make of him servant. an instru-
ment instead Of free advisor and
master of justice.
The speaker said that the train
ing of the modern lawyer in schools
appeared to him to be an intensely
technical training. Moreover the
profession Of the modern lawyer
were all in favor Of his close identifi-
cation with his clients, and he seldom
thinks of himself as the advocate Of
society. "TIis very professional loyal
ty gets in him the feeling that he is
the advocate now Of this, now of that.
and again Of another special indi-
vidual interest. He moves In the at
mosphere Of private rather than pub
lie service. Moreover. he Is absorbed
now more than ever before into the
great industrial organism. His bust
ness becomes more and more compli-
Gated and specialized. His studies
and his services are apt to become
more and more confined to some spe-
cial field Of law. He becomes more
and more a mere expert in the legal
side Of certain class of great indus
trial or financial undertakings. The
newspapers and the public in general
speak of Corporation lawyers and,
OF course the most lucrative business
of our time is derived from the need
that the great business combinations
We call corporations have at every
turn of their affairs of an expert legal
adviser. 1t is apt to happen with the
most successful, and by that test the
most eminent lawyers Of our Ameri-
can communities that by the time
they reach middle life, their thoughts
have become fixed In very hard and
definite molds. Though they have
thought honestly. they are apt to
have thought narrowly; they have not
made themselves men Of wide sym
pathies or discernment.
ut is evident what must happen in
such circumstances. The bench must
be Allied from the bar, and 1t is grow.
ing increasingly difficult to supply
the bench with disinterested, unspoil
ed lawyers, capable Of being the free
instruments of society. the friends
and guides of statesmen, the inter
prefers of the common life of the peo
pie, the mediators of the great pro
, cess by which justice is led from on'
enlightenment and liberalization t.
, another"
Tests Of ServiceabIIty.
Governor Wilson said there wer,
two present and immediate tests o
, the serviceability Of the legal profes
/ sion of the nation. In the first place
1 there was the critical matter Of tn
8 reform Of legal procedure. 'Tf tn
: bar associations" said he, were t
Z devote themselves with the gres
S knowledge and ability at their CON
: mand, to the utter simplification c
}. judicial procedure to the abolition {
y technical difficulties and pitfalls,
! the removal of every unnecessar
q form, to the absolute subordination {
g methods to the object sought, the
e would do great patriotic servio
Il which, II they would not addres
4 themselves to It, must be undertake
by laymen and novices,"
J.. He said that the second and mol
fundamental immediate test of IL
profession was its attitude toward tt
4. regulation OF modern business. part
culariy of the powers and action
- modern corporations. at is absolut
/ ly necessary that society should col
mand its instruments and not be dol
mated by them. The lawyer, not Il
layman, has the best access to t
means by which the reforms of o
economic life can be best and me
fairly accomplished. Never before
our history did those who guide ;
fairs more seriously need the ASST
u ance Of those who can really claim
n expert familiarity with the legal pl
cesses by which reforms may be
fectually accomplished. 1t is in II
4 matter more than in any other tn
Il our profession may now be said to
II on trial. It will gain or lose the CT
i hdence of the country as it prov
4 equal to the test or unequal"
4 CDCIT CONCDCCC ne