The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-14
Gov. Wilson Hits
Lawyers Hard In
Kentucky Speech
Says Modern Business Is
Now Making Legal Pro
fession a Servant of Cor
porations Against Society

1
Lexington, KY, July 14.-Before the
Kentucky Bar Association, at it's
| tenth annual meeting in the Leighton
| Opera House here. Gov. woodrow
| Wilson of New Jersey gave an i'm
pressive address on the Lawyer in
| Politics.
! Gov. Wilson drew a strong contrast
! between the ideal and the lawyer as
| he is. He deprecated the impression
| that the bar is permanently depre-
| ciating, but he showed Enthusiastically
| his belief that the old spirit of the
| profession is being Slapped by the new
| conditions thrown in the way of law
yers by the corporations and trusts.
| He went further and declared it Of
| grave concern to the nation that there
| were now no men to be judges but
| lawyers who were under these inf1u-
| ences.
Society, said Gov Wilson, has at ev-
cry turn to express it's life in law
| That is the whole process of politics.
| The lawyer, therefore, has always
| been Indispensable, and nowhere has
he played a more prominent part in
politics than in England and Ameri-
ca.
The lawyers ideal part in the un-
ending struggle Of society is easy to
conceive. He, if any man, knows
where justice breaks down, where law
needs amendment. He should be the
mediator between society and the in
dividual, between all contending and
ocntesting interests.
Lawyer Now Servant of Trusts.
"If 1 contrast with this ideal con-
cept1on the lawyers actual role, I
hope l will not be interpreted as sug-
costing a cynical view or harsh crit
icisrn. The facts do not justify a
cynical view of the profession or even
a fear that it may be permanently
losing the spirit which has ruled the
action of the greater members Of the
Bar and immortal Judges.
The truth is that the technical
training of the modern American law
yer, his professional prepossessions
and his business involvements, i'm
pose limitations upon him and SUBJ
ject him to temptations which seri-
ously stand in the way of his render
ing ideal service to society. Modern
business in particular with its huge
and complicated processes, has tend
ed to subordinate him, to make him
a servant instead of a free adviser
and master of justice.
His Thoughts Are Narrow.
He seldom thinks of himself as the
advocate of society. He moves in
public service. Moreover, he is alb
sorbed now more than ever before
into the great industrial organism
He becomes more and more mere
expert in the legal side of a certain
class of great industrial or financial
undertakings.
The newspapers and the public in
general speak of corporal ton Jaw
yers,' and of course the most 1ucra-
tive business of our time is derived
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 law
yers of our American communities
that by the time they reach middle |
life their thoughts have become fixed |
in very hard and definite moulds. |
Though they have thought honestly, |
they are apt to have thought narrow
ly; they have not made themselves |
men of wide sympathies or discern
ment.
No Unspoiled Men for Bench.
1t is evident what must happen in |
such circumstances. The bench must |
be filled from the bar, and it is grow
ing increasingly difficult to supply the
bench with disinterested, unspoiled |
struments Of society, the friends and
guides of statesmen, the interpreters
of the common life of the people, the
mediators of the great process by
which justice is led from one enlight
eminent and liberalization to another
For the notable, I had almost said
fundamental, circumstance of our po-
litical life is that our courts are, I'M
der our constitutional system, the
means of our political development.
habit of mind of our lawyers will per-
nit. Our politics are bound up III
the mental character and attitude and
in the intellectual vigor and vision
of our lawyers. Our lawyers are the
instruments of our life.
There are two tests of the service
ability Of the legal profession to the
nation.
In the first place, there is the crit
ical matter of the reform of legal
other countries in the essential mat
ter of putting the whole emphasis in
our courts upon the substance of
right and justice. TIE actual mis-
carriages of justice, because of moth
ing more 5aoI +t than mere Slip are moth
more incalculable than their number
is the damage they do to the reputa-
ton of the profession and to the ma
jesty of the law.
Be Tested by Attitude to Trusts.
The second and more fundamental
test of the profession is
it's attitude toward the regulation of
modern business, particularly of the
powers and action of modern corpo-
rations. Never before in our his
tory did those who guide affairs more
seriously need the assistance of those
Who can really claim an expert famil-
iarity with the legal processes by
which reforms may be effectually &C
1t is in this matter more
than in any other that our profession
may now be said to be on trial. 1t
will gain or lose the cofidence of the
country as it proves equal to the test
or unequal.
Try Nugget cigar after a shore
dinner at T,ehmapO's a.