The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-03-26

DEFENDING THE POOR.

his son. The Legal Aid society was
consulted in regard to the case by
Q customer of Tony's, and its At
torney was on hand to speak for
the great-grandmother at the hear
ing before the Judge. But it was
really Tony himself who settled the
case. After listening patiently to
the learned discourse of his faith
er's counsel on the common law
rights of . father, Tony said in a
weary voice, ASK the judge if he
ever heard Of a great-grandmother
running . boathouse!" The Judge
looked At the helpless old woman
seated beside Tony, and decided
that II he ever did, . great-grandson
would be needed to help her.
The cases handled by the society
rarely entail the collection of large
sums of money, but the attorneys
realize that to the poor a small sum
is as precious as . large amount Is
to the rich, and they will haggle
just as valiantly for $40 or SIS as
an uptown attorney argues for q
thousand. As all but about one
tenth Of the total number Of cases
are settled out of court, most Of this
haggling Is done in the Offices OF the
society. One of the most desperate
bouts of this sort occurred the 9TH
er day in the society's Harlem
branch when SAM" tailor, ap-
peared to contest the complaint of
a young woman who declared that
he had ruined a new evening dress,
purchased with the savings Of many
months, by scorching 1t in several
places. Other customers Of Sans
also appeared to make SIMILAR
charges concerning their wearing
apparel entrusted to his care.
Sans indignant defense collapsed
when the young lady's dress was
brought into the Office, marked with
several large burns the shape Of a
tailor's flat-iron, but it took the
attorney over two hours to get him
to agree to q fair settlement, which
was to cover up the scorched area
with new material.
1T is not often that an unskilled
laborer has the unpleasant distinc-
ton of suing a large corporation for
wages" said Leonard MCGEE. attor-
ney in chief of the society, in dis
cussing the various types of cases
handled, the other day. but it was
accorded to one Of our recent ap-
plicants. He was an Italian who
had been working in gang on a
large engineering project When
pay day came around and the men
filed up for their money. our client
presented his labor check and was
told that it had already been paid
He protested, and an investigation
was made, which showed that the
money had been paid to the wrong
laborer, but he could not obtain his
money. We finally had to start suit
to get it for him, and We did-4s
hours after the suit was filed"
After spending a morning in the
Offices of the New York Legal Aid
society and listening to the inces.
SAINT tale of woe from all types and
ages of impoverished citizens whose
only hope of justice is through the
efforts of the organization, you feel
as Mark Twain did when he first
found out about it's work. 1T stirs
ones blood and compels ones deer
homage" was what he said. All
the more so, when you realize that
the society's very philanthropy
only tends to emphasize the awful
truth of Reginald Heber, Smiths
statement in his recent report on
Justice and the Poor" issued by
the Carnegie Foundation.
THE administration of American
justice is not impartial" says Mr.
Smith. The rich and the poor dc
not stand on an equality before the
law. The traditional method OF
, providing justice has operated tC
close the doors Of the courts to the
poor, and has caused a gross denial
Of justice in all parts of the coun-
try.
Nothing rankles more in the hu.
man heart than the feeling Of in
justice. 1t produces a sense OF
helplesshess, then bitterness. 1t il
brooded over. 1t leads directly tt
contempt for law, disloyalty to the
government, and plants the seeds
Of anarchy. The conviction grows
that law is not justice, and chal
lenges the belief that justice is bes,
secured when administered accord
ing to law. The poor come to thinl
Of American justice as containing
only laws that punish and never
laws that help. They are agains
the law because they consider thu
law against them"
| While the New York Legal Ait
society, as we'll as the other A
or so legal aid societies in exist
ence throughout the country, arr
doing their best to remedy this con
dition, one cannot help feeling tina
American justice should not be pro
vided entirely by charity. AS Elih,
Root says in a foreword to MI
Smiths report, 1T is time to Sc
our own house in order" And
such famous conservative as MI
Root takes this view of the judicia
branch of our government, you cal
be perfectly sure that sometime
) immediate and drastic shOuld n