Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1897 — TOO MANY LAWYERS. [ARTICLE]

TOO MANY LAWYERS.

“Of a Thousand Seeds He Frlngeth Only One to Bear.” The rush into the learned professions seems greater than ever, particularly into the legal profession. Within a fortnight, says a Chicago paper, several hundred young men have been admitted to the bar of Illinois, and the same thing, to a greater or less extent, is going on in all the States. Taking the 45 States it would not be surprising to learn that some 3,000 or 4,000 youths had been licensed to practice law in the United States this current year. Nor is the spectacle a uew one. It is simply a repetition of what have been seen for years and years past. What becomes of all these youths, fresn from their studies, full of ambition aud emulous of the fame of the great masters of the law? liow many succeed and what proportion fail? Are the rewards of the profession so great as thus to entice so many to pursue ft? And what are the chances for obtaining a portion of these rewards? Let a great English jurist, Vice Chancellor Baeon, who died but a short time ago, answer. It became his duty oti a certain occasion to receive a class of students just called to the bar, and he thus addressed them: “I eannot congratulate you, gentlemen, uix)n the profession which you have chosen. It Is one in which very few succeed, and most of those who succeed wish they had failed.” A few, alas! how few, favored by good fortune and possessed of real qualifications for the profession, finally forge into prominence aud success. Just read the leading newspapers of the country. Here they tell of the suicides of disappointed lawyers, there of others driven to desperation, insanity and crime because of failure. Glance over the advertisements: "A good lawyer wanted in a commercial establishment; salary $lO a week!” “Wanted—An active and experienced lawyer to draw papers and make collections; salary $8 per week.” Undoubtedly the law is an attractive field In the United States. The ixithway to power and public station Hi's through it. The lawyers may l>e said to be the ruling class. They make, construe aud execute the laws, aud are to be found in the seats of the mighty. But where one attains that seat hundreds fall by the wayside. “Of a thousand seeds lie only brlngeth one to bear,” saith the Scriptures. No truer word can be spoken of the legal profession.