The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-18
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

America issthe land of opportunity If you doubt it 1isten to the story of Bir- mingham boy and be convinced 1
 Isadore Shapiro left yesterday to be- come associated in the practice of law i with Guggenheimer, Untermyer & Mar shall, one of the biggest law firms in America.
 The simple announcement may not be understood by these unacquainted> with the difficulty of a young mans getting q footing in a great New York firm of attorneys I know, for I tried in the a mere bit of good luck. I was turned down cold until the head of the firm asked me where I had studied law and I told him I had first taken a course in Roman law in Paris. It just struck him all in a heap. By love-" said he, that's the way I began and you are the only fellow I have ever met who did the same thing. I'll just give you tryout," and he made me the head of | a department.
 l Now, thought this was some feather 1 in my cap. But I had every educational | advantage from private tutor in my home when child, ill the American col leges and years in Europe. Now. right Russian Jew, with a large family and battling for livelihood, had Nhe gum in him and fought his way up from news boy on the street to be one of the trial lawyers in one of the most noted legal combinations on this side of the Atlan- tic.
 | Isadore Shapiro. salute you! First, for what you have done, then for that some thing in your race that refuses to let circumstance break the indomitable spirit of IsAel which has been kept lit up under the prosecutions of thousands of years.
 ] Let no Birmingham boy ever again say that he has no chance in the light of the tale of what this Jewish lad did in spite of life's handicaps. Selling pa pers and making enough not only to contribute his share to the family sup port but saving out sufficient to go to public school. Did he stop when he fin ished the grammar grades as so many less determined boys do? No. he made up his mind to get college education. 1 With the daring of his race he played for big stakes in the educational game worked his way through, but was the 1 first special student in it's long history to be awarded degree. Dean Henry Wade Rogers. now judge of the United States circuit court of appeals. but then dean, said it was done because of the his high standing"
 l I, too, did some graduate work at old Eli, and I can see the small figure of the Jewish youth in whose eyes burned the unquenchable desire to be an edu- cated man as he moved proudly be- heath the .elms which have sheltered some of the great men of America, but never swayed above gamer specimen than tenated the frail body of Shapiro. l I have not always agreed with my young friend in the stands which he has taken in civic affairs We have fought on opposite sides, but I have never withheld my admiration from him, for he has been bold fighter and has devoted much time to public affairs of great moment with a rare devotion to duty. need not dwell on his legisla- tive career or his aspirations for city honors, for he has served his city and l his state we'll.
 1 I have always believed that Shapiro was a serious student of government rather than timid, self-seeking or time serving politician. He has been honored by his own people as well as the public at large. Has served as president of the Young Mems Hebrew association, but is best known as a specialist in char biological, sociological and penological work. He has been president Alabama committee on prisons.
 l This is what the son has done. His father was a peddler when he first came to America from Russia He came here and ran a small grocery, in which Isa- dore worked as child until big enough to drive a delivery wagon. His father was always poor and the wolf was kept from the door only by the help of his offspring. He had five daughters and three sons. A typical Jewish family striving to keep body and soul together. l It was out of such an humble home that Shapiro came. and it must have been gratifying to him, and it certainly reflected the right attitude of the men of his faith, when the two B'Nai B'Rith lodges in Birmingham gave him farewell banquet at the Tutwiler. ] He Is to go immediately to work upon
 his arrival in New York this week, the New York law permitting his admission to the New York bar upon certificate from the supreme court of Alabama. Most of his work will consist in trying cases and appearing before public service
 commissions. He goes in under fine auspices. and I will be a very much disappointed man unless he develops into one of the legal luminaries of the coun- try.