The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-23

1 The recent enactment of the state ] Legislature barring the practice of certain attorneys of Georgia, or any other state, within the confines of Ala abma, has struck one of the most eff fective blows to shyster law practice ] that has yet been given in this state. I Three Atlanta firms have had things practically their own way in the Bir- -ningham district for many years past. Their agents, "physicians.' detectives and runners" formed the majority per centage of the shyster lawyers of this city
 1 Back of them they have had solid ca pital and by their system of paying clients a certain monthly sum equiva- flent to their wages, they have Induced l.1nany man to throw up a good pay ltng job, sue his company, and "do them 1 for all he could.
 1 Their ways and means of bolstering up cases would fill volume. They have constituted the most dangerous element l possibly which has been menacing the Birmingham district. Not only nave ] they threatened the welfare or the in- I.dustrial life of the community, put | they have stood in the way of the legal profession of the state as well, for many legitimate damage suits that, Tn | the natural run of things, would Tall l in the hands of local firms, have been Itaken up by these Georgia scalaWass' Always on Hand
 Scarcely & railroad wreck. mine ex- plosion or any sort of accident mas | ever occurred in Alabama and espe- cially in the Birmingham district put members of these various Atlanta firms were first on the spot and before the injured could even be cared for suits would be filed.
 l "When heirs and widows have not existed heirs and widows would be manufactured" said a mine operator. And all would be done so smoothly, so legally that not even technical 1 flaw could be seen to exist | The scheme has been carried to such perfection that it has indeed become an art.
 l One of the fine arts!
 Certainly in the resume of the rotten legal conditions generally existing In Birmingham this Atlanta business plays a pretty large part
 Public sentiment is such a factor in this damage suit proposition" said one of the big real estate men of Bfr7 i mingham that in itself 1t makes or | unmakes conditions. During the last few years I've noticed, here in this city, 8 tendency among many people to knock all companies, railroads and cor
  1 There wasn't any reason in it.
 A Question of Logic Some, of course, deserved it-and deserve it still for that matter-but why all? None the less all have been getting it, regardless. And one of the immediate effects of this general ten dency to down the corporations was evidenced in the enormous increase in damage suits filed in this city. in 1910.
 The facts and figures published so frequently in The Age-Herald, have made the citizens of this community stop and think about it all.
 And there is nothing I know like stopping to think about 1t. Just as soon as these facts about false and trival suits began to come out in the paper, every business man in town be- gan to look into the matter.
 "A great many had been looking into it for several years past, but had given up all hope of ever having any let up. I've heard any number of them say Whats the use? Everything's going to the demnitious bowwows. y can't stop itr And they threw up their hands.
 "Others, who hadn't been hit didn't bother one way or the other about it. None of their business! But when they began to read about the other fellow, and saw how near they were them selves to the precipice, why they began to sit up and take notice
 The World as It Is
 "Such fellows always for himself, you can't get away from that. It's little something we all know But when a man reads how' say TOT m stance, suit filed like this one, the other day by man against the Yo- lande Coal and Coke company for 5000 because locomotive whistle was blown, causing his horse to run away, why, it makes him stop and think.
 Now, if I'm called to serve on that jury just what will l do?
 q daresay not a man who's called to serve on the jury in that particular case or any others similar, but will render a verdict for the defendant. Suppose in his business he owns some little dinkey and because the whistle signals were observed John Some bodys horse shies? Lord alive! what are we all coming to
 But the Birmingham people wont stand for this sort of thing forever. Hard and fast things were going down hill the very week almost that the campaign against fake and ground Hess damage suit cases was started in The Age Herald new note sounded.
 The Public Concerned
 ,l"People got interested at the start, men and women D0tn. why! beCauSe lit struck home.
 why it's the most serious prob lem before us today and when folks see the facts and figures in cold print then public sentiment is aroused and once public sentiment runs against a practice, that practice cannot stand.
 Especially if it's malpractice. The whole town was interested in the dis barrment proceedings against local attorney here not long since. That was a result of public sentiment against rotten business. Then the city ordi- nance week or so ago forbidding shyster lawyers around the jail-- there's another result gained by pub ,ic sentiment. And now this mandate against the Georgia shysters.
 T tell you. there's nothing public sentl- ment won't do. I hope the shysters will be put out of business by it-and I think they will"
 Said an attorney: "Certain of the phases of the damage suit business in Birmingham have scarcely been touched on yet in the press. One l would men, ton is the custom prevalent here to . large degree of advancing funds to darkies whose records are not looked into , for certain length of time and then