The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-07
REFORMING TIL; WORLD
QUICKLY.

Attorney Frank r. F'cetham Of this
city delivered an address recently be-
fore the Civics club of the university
that was loaded with the best prac-
teal advice we have seen in II long
time. MIR. t'eetham was addressing
an audience of yuunG men preparing
to go into the world as leaders. His
subject was. Tho Young Lawyer in
Politics" and instead OF placing be-
fore his hearers prospects and cond'-
lions that are possible only by long
stretches "f the imagination. he talked
from the d"sk of a. practical and sue
ccssful lawyer.
He advised the Young lawyer to get
into politics. not as Il profession. nor
Yet as u calling in which every one
win" has gone before is a corruption-
it ar y fool. hut for tn" purpose ut
ADVERTISING the lawyer. We presume
MIR. Feetllam did not mean to use
politics to- draw clients. So much as
he mean, tina, the test Of the mcttlc
of the man is taken in politics quick
or than in almost any other calling.
He must have Il, clean personal rec
ord or expect Ia he riddlcd in his
N~niknsSSSS. ttG illllSl u" Il HSiite''
clean and manly. able tn give and
take blow for blow. And ahove all,
he mus. hc a good loser. We know
of nothing more essential in the work
of the lawyer. than these qualities,
except. of course. the knowledge of
the law.
Probably the best point i'll the ad-
dress was the suggestion to the
young lawyer to avoid efforts ut re-
forming the world on short notice.
That thought is a text M which hun
dreds of could he written.
If the reader will take the batch of
graduating orations which will I've
produced next June he will find
about ninety per. cent of. them will be
given over to the s~olution-on paper
of problems with which the great
est intellects nf the age are concern
ed. often without solution: and he
will find everyone of those embryonic
world saviors offering a solution
usually taken from the tex of his ia
roritc author. In nearly every in
stance the orator believes the world
will only he saved from destruction
by his timely appearance. Mr.. Feeth-
am advised the prospective lawyer
against 81 hasty determination to ST.
reform mankind. It's a bigger task
than ono man can accomplish.
Conditions in nearly every line Of
human endeavor are different than
they were twenty-five years ago
even Ter years ago. As those condi-
lions change. there is Il demand for
mel able to grasp these changes ana
adjust then to those of the past. SO
:hst, We are evolutioned and not rev.
ollricned into reforms. This naturally
gives rise to tw" classes of .nen-con-
servatives who hold infallihly to the
past. land. radicals who seek more
than the conditions warrant of the
future. These two elements are ever
al, war and. the result is that real
progress is retarded. 1t is the in
between .,nan VIII" acromplishes the
real good. lie holds TO that of the
old which is good and seeks the sanle
of the new. d%iscarding what of the
past is obsolete and refusing what
of the future is Impractical. The lat
ter is the man who does not seek to
reform the world on short notice, yet
is in keeping with the conditions Of
the times.
y" greater illustration of the gem
of. advice. can he found than that of
Senator La Toilette. He. has been
heralded as the radical of radicals,
yet as a matter of fact his policies
and what he has accomplished are
not such. His plan by which public
utilities are regulated is nothing like
the public understands it. His plan
of control of corporations is far from
Socialtstic. Yet the public does not
80 understand IT. Wh.., then, are they
50 much understood? Merely be-
cause hundreds Of men who want To
reform the world on short notice
have sought to ride into favor with
the extremists and have distorted the
La: Toilette policies. MS they might be
termed. into vehicles for the journey,
Many would be surprised at the tame
ness of some Of the things the Wis
consin man .advoGates did the,
know what these things really were
The extremists have retarded the
needed advance along the lines ad.
vocated by HIM by trying to reform
the. world too quickly.
The young men of today can afford
to take such advice rs Mr.. Fcetham
gave them in large chunks.