St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-03-03
PRESS COMMENT
LaWyer GOvernment,


The Messenger does not share the
prejudice of some of its contempora-
ries against the lawyer class, but it
does believe that there is ground for
concern in the way the government
is handed over to men of that class
1t does not attribute this state of
affairs to the lawyers themselves,
but rather to the system that has
developed as the natural result OF
the failure here in America to make
any sort of a career out of public
service
If anyone will take the trouble to
run over the office holders in his own
town and county he will be struck
by the number of lawyers in the list.
There may be exceptions here and
there, but they simply tend to prove
the rule. The lawyer isn't to
blame; he has as much right to hold
Office as anyone else. 1t is the sys-
tenn that is at fault.
Prof. Richard T. Ely declares:
''Our present system gives US a gov
eminent of lawyers to an extent
known in no other civilized land and
very largely a government of Sec
ond and third-rate lawyers. Law
yers can best take up and lay down
public office, but even lawyers OF
the first rank take office at a per-
sonal loss"
Who will deny that there is not a
considerable amount of truth in this
Let the average business man ask
himself what he would do If he were
offered a place on the Vermont pub
lie service commission for instance.
Could he afford to let his business
slide and accept this post for six
years, even though it be a position
of great Importance? The average
business man would have to answer
no.
But how about the lawyer? The
average lawyer will answer yes, be-
cause he can lay aside his profess
sional work with ease, as a rule, and
state employment comes as pleas
ant thing. AS Professor Ely points
out, the average lawyer receives a
larger income in Office than in prac-
tice and the increased prestige that
comes from holding a responsible po-
clients when he returns to his prac-
tice.
1t is plan that the system is re-
sponsible for lawyer government.
The Messenger will wager a cookie
that more than one governor of Yer
mont has been forced to appoint a
lawyer to office because of his failure
to secure a competent business man
to accept the position.
How to correct it? By making
the administration of the public bus
mess a career for the capable men of
high character, such a career, in fact,
as will permit them to prepare for it
as one prepares for medicine and the
law with the assurance that so long
as his services are satisfactory he
will remain in the employ of the
government, whether it be town,
city, county, state or national.
To quote again from Professor
Ely: 1.-THE public service must Of
fer a public career or we must be
poorly served. The civil service
must generally be put on the same
footing as the professorships in state
universities in this and other cOun-
tries. Men must be encouraged to
prepare for work in administration
by long and careful study and train
ing, and must be rewarded by per
manent positions with honor for dis
tinguished service. In no other way
is good government possible. AS
people we are far from grasping this
truth with its implications. Even
in progressive Wisconsin men are ap-
pointed members of the railroad
commission and of other commits
sions, requiring expert services, for
periods of years; whereas, like pro-
fessors in the university, they should
be appointed on good behavior"
1t is difficult to find a fallacy in
the argument; The Messenger finds
it impossible to do SO, although some
of its lawyer friends might be able
to point one out. If this plan we're
put into effect it would work no in
jury to our institution. The people,
by their suffrage, would shape gov
ernmental policies and say what
should be done, while experts would
displace amateurs in carrying out the
wishes of the electorate. 1t is good,
practical sense.-St. Adams
Billy Sunday and His Work.
Billy Sunday is a reformer of the
lighting kind. Without stopping to
mention them now, just run your
mind back over the list of the worlds
greatest reformers and consider what
we know of their eccentricities and
faults, which were the subject of
harsh criticism by their contempo-l
aries. Those who knew Mr.. Moody
will recall the constant fire of Sc
we're criticism which covered his en-
ire public career, because of his
Guinness of speech and his uncon-
Tentional manners. 1t may throw
some light on Billy Sunday to know
hat Mr.. Moody was the evangelist
Who has Influenced him most. Big
men who have waged successful
light against the forces of evil have
swept aside many restraints and con-
yentions that control other men, and
hey have developed what seemed
o their critics to be serious faults
# character.
Billy Sundays critics sometimes
core by contrasting him with his
Master. He has grave faults. He
5 intolerant, his language is often
Tiolent, impatient and unkind. He
S a fighter of the type that asks
md gives no quarter. l saw and
leard him do and say things that
eemed to me ridiculous and 1 dis
lDnrOVo of MANY things that / have