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The Commoner
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 9, NO. 46
Lincoln, Nebraska, November 26, 1909
Whole Number 462
The Lawyers Ideal
"Law Notes,"-published at Northport, Long
Island, contains an editorial comment on Presi
dent Taft's recent speech at Chicago. An extract
is published below to show the readers what
President Taft thinks of the lawyer's ideal as
it is illustrated in the conduct of many at
torneys. Whilo the president is arguing in favor of
giving more power to the judges (who already
have power enough) and while ho does not
touch the worst abuses of the lawyer's power,
namely, the selling of his services to predatory
corporations, still he contends for a higher Ideal
among our lawyers. The lawyer is an officer
of the court and as such he is sworn to assist
in the administration of justice. When he has
helped his client to secure all that his client Is
entitled to, ho has done his full duty as a law
yer, and he can not go beyond this except at his
own peril. The lawyer who habitually attempts
to prove that to be right which he knows to bo
wrong finally loses the power to discern between
right and ,wrong, and becomes an unsafe ad
viser. "Law Notes" says:
THE PRESIDENT ON COURTS AND LAWYERS
Tho president's Chicago speech was largely
devoted to a grave arraignment of American
courts and their methods of administering the
law, and it comes with especial force from so
accomplished a lawyer. Much of tho mihtnnno
of tho criticism is more or less fomifiar to our
In tho European countries, la duo largely to the
failure of tho law and it administrators to bring
criminals to justice."
Ho proceeded to contrast English courts and
their methods with American. Tho superior
effectiveness of the former and tho minimizing
of delay there ho attributed to tho effective con
trol of the courts by tho Judges, whilo hero,
on tho other hand, tho judge "has hardly more
power than tho moderator in a religious as
sembly." The power of tho Judgo has boon
lessened, howover, not only by legislation, but,
by reason of our habit of hastening to embody
everything Worth having in the stato constitu
tions, tho principle is embedded 4n tho funda
mental law of many states that tho judgo shall
not express any opinion on a question of fact,
leaving that for tho jury.
But tho evil is made greater by tho conduct
of our lawyers. Tho president declares that
it is undoubtedly true that in England lawyers
in tho conduct of their cases feel much more and
respect much more their obligation to assist
tho court in administering justlco and restrain
themselves from adopting tho desperate and
extreme methods which American lawyers aro
even applauded for. Tho trial hero is a game
in which the advantage is with tho criminal, and
if ho wins he seems to have the sympathy of a
sporting public."
This is a stato of things which no ono can
deny, and it should bo a source of humiliation
to us. Law Notes.
ARE THEY SO SIMPLE?
!
Tt V Im nrtAriAV 4 Oi T ...!. fl i k
srar!r?s
time. A striking statement, of the same evils
va iuuuu ul itjuac iwo years ago oy Judge
Amidon, and created much discussion. .How
much easier it is to point out the defects of
existing institutions than to devise a practical
remedy is indicated by the fact that Judgo
Amidon is on the committee of the American
Bar Association which produced the report for
the unification of courts noticed above. Before
reform is accomplished, however, the people
must be awakened to a lively, and real sense
of the evils of tho present condition of things,
and surely there can be no more effective way
of accomplishing this result than for the presi
dent to emphasize the defects of tho administra
tion of law in his public utterances.
"There is," said Mr. Taft, "no subject upon
which I feel so deeply as upon the necessity for
reform in the administration of both civil and
criminal law. To sum it all up in one phrase,
the difficulty in both is undue delay, It is not
too much to say that the administration of
criminal law in this country is a disgrace to our
civilization, and that the prevalence of crime
and fraud, which here is greatly in excess of that
CONTENTS
't
THE LAWYER'S IDEAL
ARE THEY SO SIMPLE?
ON REPUBLICAN GROUND
"GOVERNMENT BY PREACHERS"
THE TARIFF ON FARM PRODUCTS
EDUCATIONAL SERIES THE EVILS OF
ALCOHOLISM
A TEXAS PROHIBITIONIST
EDITORIALS FROM! COMMONER READERS
PRACTICAL TARIFF TALKS
A YOUNG MAN'S AMBITION
BRANDING THE REAL ONES
"THE WORM TURNS"
CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
. NEWS OF THE WEEK
monetary reform. Indeed, if I should bo dele
gated today to individually and personally pre
pare a new system of finance for tho country,
I should be at a loss as to how to proceed. I
should find it necessary to enter upon a careful
Investigation, and would not undertako to formu
late anything without much moro study than
I have been able to give to this subject. Even
in that event I should want your advice and
co-operation, and should ask your aid just as
I am asking it now for tho commission."
Does anyone imagine that Mr. Aldrich and
his associates have not devised an explicit scheme
as their plan of "monetary reform?" Does any
ono imagine that on the monetary question Mr.
Aldrich will take the advice of any ono outsido
of the exclusive circle of financiers ho serves
so cleverly? Was It not, in fact, an insult to
tho intelligence of the St. Louis business men
for Senator Aldrich to pretend that ho sought
their advice? To be sure he wants their co
operation and their aid just as he wanted it for
the tariff bill; just as ho will want it for the
ship subsidy scheme just as he will want it
in furtherance of any measure intended to in
crease the dividends of tho men for whom Mr.
Aldrich speaks in the United States senate.
Is it not strange that the business men of
St. Louis, Chicago and of other cities who aro
depending for success upon honest business
methods, do nqt understand that their interest
lies with the masses of the people to whom
Aldrichism is oppressive rather than with the
Rhode Island senator and his small coterie of
monopolists?
"GOVERNMENT BY PREACHERS"
An Indiana society which talks abo'ut being
engaged in the "fight for personal liberty" pro
tests against "government of and by preachers."
It is to be hoped that the doctrine of personal
liberty will not be carried to the extent of de
nying freedom of speech to those who do not
drink. Surely a preacher who has no pecuniary
interest to serve, but who acts whether mis
taken in judgment or not according to what
he conscientiously believes is for tho good of
people generally, is as much entitled to an opin
ion, on the liquor question as tho man who, be
cause he manufactures it or sells it as a money
Investment, has in the cultivation of the drink
habi'f;
On Republican Ground
Tho Houston Post, which has onllstod In the
fight to convert tho democratic party, from a
tariff 'roform party to a party of protection for
local Interests, insists that "Mr. Bryan fails to
pasp tho economic status of tho frco raw ma
terial doctrino" and that "ho Booms to Ignore
tho truth that tho solo function of a tariff law
according to tho democratic viow, is to derive
revenue .for tho support of tho government."
Tho Post mistakes tho Issuo. Mr. Bryan in
sists that In tho making of a tariff law, the
question of rovenuo is tho only question to be
considered and that tho Interests of tho Texas
wool growers and tho Toxaa lumber dealers
shall not abBorb tho attention of law makors
Tho Post adopts as it necessarily must,' if It
defends protection tho republican lino of argu
ment and attempts to mako a rulo from an In
cident. It says, "Tho experience of freo hides
has ajready shown that tho repeal of tho tax
does not Jnuro to tho benoflt of tho consumer,"
but that "tho money once paid Into tho treas
ury of tho government, now goes straightway
into tho pockets of tho manufacturers of
leather products."
If it could bo shown that tho consumers of
leathor, harness, boots and shoes havo not
profited by putting hides on tho freo list, it
would not bo an answer to tho proposition ad
vanced by Mr. Bryan.
-vrIMHJ08t Y1Ui CXRmIne tho platform which...
Mr. Bryan rood at Dallas, itirnnVthStKe
harness, freo boots anTfreoShocs. ' '" ?T'
; Dtfos the Post Insist that tWcolwlimor moulds
get no benefit If tho policy proposed by Mr.
Bryan wero carried out? If so, how wilt it ex
plain tho willingness of both its senators and
all of its members of congress to voto for frco
hides, on condition that leachor, harness, boots
and shoes should also be on the freo list?
Wo are exporting manufactured leather, and it
is entirely probable that tho prico of manu
factured leather in this country is not equal
to tho foreign prico plus tho tariff, there'fpro
such a reduction as tho Aldrich bill mado In
tho tariff on leather, harness, boots and shoes,
was not sufficient to compel a reduction in tho
price of tho American product, but does that
givo us any reason to believe that no advantage
would como to tho consumer If Mr. Bryan's
proposition was carried out, and tho manufac
tures of leather put on tho freo list?
If the removal of tho tariff on manufactured
leathers would not reduce tho prico of tho fin
ished product, tho only explanation would bo
that the tariff is not added to the price of tho
homo product, and that would mean that tho
manufacturers of leathor aro able to sell at
home In competition with the world without any
tariff whatever on the manufactured product,
and in spite of a tariff on the raw material. If
It is true that our manufacturers can compete
with tho world and carry the burden of the tariff
on raw material, the removal of that burden
v.'ill enable them toincreaso their sales abroad.
At present when a manufacturer of leather
wants to export, he Imports his raw material
because he can secure a rebate of tho tariff
on some raw material. He is- thus forced to
discriminate against the domestic producer of
raw material.
The Post complains that the government loses
the benefit of tho tariff formerly collected on
hides. If the domesiic producer of hides col
lected on such hides an increased value equal
to the tariff, then the manufacturers of leather
had to pay to tho producers of hides, five or
six times as much as the government collected
on foreign hides.
If the leather manufacturers paid this amount
out of their own pockets and did not reimburse
themselves from tho consumer of tho manu
factured products, it must be admitted that tho
government showed a great deal of partiality
for the hide producers, and how well tho Post
defends, from a standpoint of a revenue tariff,
'ft II
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