Evening journal., 1914-05-06
New News Of Yesterday
The Lawyer Who Wanted
the Payment of His Fee
Postponed
By HOLLAND.

"One Of the strangest things which a
banker OF long experience meets with is
the curious, childlike simplicity which
characterizes so many men of great in
tellectual power, especially lawyers, in
dealing with money matters" said Asa
Potter-who was formerly banker Of
large experience in Boston--to me re-
Gently.
Il remember perfectly well when
was just beginning my career as
banker hearing Boston men speak of the
strange incapacty of both Rufus
Choate and Daniel Webster, when it
came to handling their personal money.
affairs. Choate never knew how he
stood. He was perfectly content if his
clerk told him he had a balance in the
bank. Yet he was wonderfully skillful
in analyzing the accounts of his clients
if those accounts related to some law
case.
81 recall very interesting incident
of that kind associated with the late
Walbridge A. Field. He was esteemed
as one of the abest members of the
Boston bar at time when that bar
contained lawyers of national reputa-
ton, including among others Benia-
min r. Curtis. who was for time a
member of the United States Supreme
Court bench.
Mr. Fields became a member of the
Supreme Court bench of Massachusetts,
in the late '70s, and his appointment
as Judge of that big hcourt was spoken
of by lawyers as in the highest degree
satisfactory
yet, when It came TO personal money
matters Mr.. Field was as cmiously in
effective as was Webster or Choate. He
was. however, always careful not to
incur any obligations, and he used to
say that he regarded with horror the
idea OF being in debt.
81 think it was about the time Mr..
Field was elected to Congress from one
of the Boston districts that he was re-
tained as one of the counsel in will
case involving a large sum. A friendly
suit had been brought so that there
could be judicial Interpretation of GER
tain clauses in the bill. Judge Field
was one of several eminent lawyers who
were retained i'm the case
"Ihe late William A. Richardson. who
had been Secretary of the Treasury at
Washington in President Grants sec
ond administration. and I were trus-
tees OF the estate. After the judicial
Interpretation had been obtained we.
as trustees, wrote to the lawyers saw
ing that as soon as we had sold some
real estate we should be able TO nav
their fees. such at least as were al
lowed by the court. We said. however
that If the sale was made immediate
ly we thought we could not get as good
prices as would be the case if we waited
for a more favorable moment.
"All of the lawyers, excepting Judge
Field, wrote to MS that they would
Ike their money as soon as possible.
They did not want to wait. Judge
Field wrote, however, in a different
vein He told us that he would be glad
to wait. not because he thought that
he could get little more by doing So
his fee was about S5000-but because
he knew that if he got the money right
away he would spend it for one thing or
another, and when il was all spent he
would not know where It had zone.
Therefore, he would regard it as a great
favor if we would keep the fee until he
asked for it, adding that he should not
ask for it until he had a definite and
reasonable use for the mdney.
He did not ask for his fee until
nearly two years had passed, and then
he made good use of the money. He
was always very proud of his shrewd-
ness in asking us TO hold back his fee
until he made a request that we pay it
over TO him."
Copyright, 1914. by z. j. Edwards.
All riobfs raeor,-,1 ,