§ 142. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER. The honor of public office, the advertising possibilities, the salary attached, and the apparently brilliant opportunities therein render politics especially alluring to the lawyer. But the real situation of the lawyer who is elected to public office and has not an independent means of support to fall back upon in case of defeat is unfortunate in the extreme. He must practically abandon his law practice if he does his duty by his constituents, and he thus becomes dependent upon a small salary for support of his family. Campaign expenses and the necessary fight for re-election make alliance with corrupt officials or designing interests well-nigh inevitable. The prospects for advancement are dubious, and the easy road to dishonesty becomes more and more alluring. The grafter is often evolved from the luckless individual who entered politics with the best of intentions and the most commendable ideas of honesty, but who became a victim to circumstances. The conclusion reached is that the lawyer should avoid politics until he is so situated financially that he will not be dependent upon his salary for support. There is need of strong, earnest lawyers in political life who are independent of bosses or "the interests." SEC. 143. CHAPTER XV THE LAWYER IN BUSINESS Is the Legal Profession Overcrowded? Business becoming more Complex and Hazardous. The Rise of Trusts. SEC. 146. Abuse of Power by Trusts. The Independent Dealer a Check upon the Trusts. The Trusts Supplanting Independent Operators. SEC. 147. National Welfare Demands a Strengthening of the Hands of Independent Dealer. SEC. 150. The Result of a Further Broadening of the Lawyer's Duties. SEC. 151. Summary of Chapter. § 143. IS THE LEGAL PROFESSION OVERCROWDED? A cry is going up from the alarmists of the profession that there are too many lawyers, that the profession is becoming overcrowded. It is a fact that more men are studying law to-day in the United States than ever were before in the history of the nation. More stringent rules for admission to the bar are clamorously advocated by some. They regard the influx of new lawyers as a menace to the community, on the ground that there will be insufficient business for all. It becomes, therefore, a question profoundly affecting the ethical standards of the profession: What is to be done with the increasing numbers of lawyers? Lawyers will become dishonest and corrupt if starvation or a bare living is their only outlook, for lawyers cling to their profession, even though they have become disillusioned concerning it, and decline to enter other vocations. Many of them feel that if they have made a failure at law and are forced to give it up they are forever discredited in the eyes of the world. Let us inquire, then, if the immediate future is likely to witness a further broadening of the scope of a lawyer's activities, so that the man who studies law with the intention of using his knowledge professionally may not be disappointed. 144. BROADENING OF LAWYERS' DUTIES. In the olden times the lawyer's field of activity was limited. The handling of cases in court or the prosecution or defense of criminals comprised the greater part of his professional activities. Not necessarily was he excluded from following other pursuits a part of his time, but, acting strictly as a lawyer, there were no other demands for his services. Time, however, has wrought a change in this condition of affairs. At the present time there is a large class of lawyers who rarely go to court in the trial of a case. Their services are mainly advisory. They effect consolidations of business houses, or direct the formation of large concerns. When vast amounts of capital are to be invested in a business, binding agreements and a consolidation that will withstand every possible attack of its enemies become a necessity, and a skillful lawyer must be employed to accomplish these things. Thus it comes about that lawyers so employed are the highest paid of any in the profession. They become advisers to business houses, and in this way extend the sphere of a lawyer's activities. By a process of evolution, the lawyer has kept pace with society in general. He has retained all his old powers and privileges, and he has gained new. The lawyer as an adviser to proprietors of large enterprises has become an established feature of society. Is there a likelihood of a further broadening of the lawyer's activities in the field of business? § 145. BUSINESS BECOMING MORE COMPLEX AND HAZARDOUS. One of the most significant features of our national development is the change that is taking place in business and commerce. A few generations back manufacturing and commerce were carried on by small companies or by private in dividuals. There were no large cities and hence no great demand for foodstuffs or fuel in any particular locality. The suburban farms and the outlying districts furnished a fairly adequate supply of necessary commodities to the city population. Transportation was then in the hands of the producer. There were multitudes of small business houses, each doing a fairly lucrative business. THE ADVENT OF RAILROADS But with the coming of the railroads and the possibility of transporting necessaries of life from a much greater distance, larger populations in the cities became possible. Hence, a great movement of centralization of population set in. Great cities have grown greater, and small manufacturing towns have become large centers of population. Markets for foodstuffs and other necessaries of life have thus developed. Far-sighted business men have seen the possibility of tremendous profits if the control of the markets could be wrested from the hands of the small business houses and combined in the hands of a few giant corporations. THE RISE OF TRUSTS For more than a generation the business and commerce of the country has gradually passed under the domination of the trusts. Great cor |