The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-05-31
New H e a d quarters
Press and Banner, old
Post Office Building.
THE PEOPLES FRIEND"

THE PEOPLES FRIEND"
Commenting on an objection rails
ed by The Standard of Aiken that toe
many lawyers are elected to the state
senate, The Herald of Dillon observes
that 'thcre are scores of bankers
merchants and farmers in every
county who would make excellent
representatives in the General Assem-
bly,, but they hesitate to go before
the people because they have had no
training as public speakers and would
be at great disadvantage with
trained public speaker as an oppo-
nent' and that "this question brings
us back to the evils growing out of
the county-to-county campaigns for
state Offices" So it does. The town.
ship-to-township tours are the prod
uct of the county-to-county tours.
The State would like to see twenty
cotton mill workers in the General
Assembly, but what chance has man
who labors at the loom and the
spindle to acquire the tricks of pub
lie speaking?
The "friends of the people" I"
though, are opposed to the abolition
Of the joint debates.
The "friends of the people" insist
that glib tongue should be the su-
preme test of efficiency in public Of
fee.
The "friends of The people" de-
mand that the man who has had the
opportunity to learn to speak in col
lege debating society shall have ev-
cry possible advantage that his train
ing yields over the man whose educa-
ton has been acquired in the mill,
the field, the workshop, and at the
book-keeper's desk.-The State.
We believe, on reflection, The
State will admit it's criticism of law
yers to be unjust. We believe it is
true that there are men in other call
ings who are fitted to make good leg
islators, but we believe, at the same
time, that the services of the lawyers
in the legislative bodies of the land
are as unselfshly rendered as the
services of members of any other
profession or calling; we are even
prepared to say the services are more
unselfshly rendered. The fact that
the legislature is composed of lawyers
for the most part, and that it has
been so composed for a number of
years, and in that time little, if any,
legislation has been proposed, of
benefit to the lawyers as a class,
goes to show that the lawyers are not
so bad after all. Bad legislation
seldom gets the support of majority
Of the lawyers in legislative body.
We know of no other calling or
profession with members in such
.bodies who. have not been looking out
almost exclusively for the interests
of the people to whose calling or pro-
fession they belong.
Lawyers of the right kind should
be and are of great assistance in the
making CT laws. AS rule they are
conservative in their attitude and
slow to adopt innovations and un-
tried experiments. Their training
fits them to judge the merits of pro-
posed legislation both as it tends to
benefit one class, as well as it's ten
dency to INVADE the rights of other
classes.
! And we know lawyers, too, who
are not in favor of the county-to-
county campaigns. We dare say
that if the question were left to the
lawyers Of the state to decide, the
eounty-to-county campaign would be
a thing of the past.
But the lawyers are always jumped
on when there is no one else needing
d drubbing, and they are a good ma
tured set; they smile and 60 on -
getting the Offices. The people can
not get along without them, and
neither could the legislature.
Two sessions of the legislature
with only bankers, merchants and
farmers, as members, and without the
guidance Of the lawyers, would fur
nish enough freak legislation to keep
the lawyers busy in the courts for a
decade,