92 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



astonishing survival of a rather special ancient custom. The tribal 

 chieftain surrounded himself with satellites, priests, kin-folk and cour- 

 tiers. He was compelled to delegate to these the exercise of some of his 

 functions. It suited their needs to make it difficult for the common 

 people to approach him and present their petitions and their grievances. 

 In time it became the custom for the wealthier and more influential of 

 those who would get word with the chief, or would, through his immedi- 

 ate friends, gain favor from him of a promise, a gift or a decree, to pur- 

 chase, outright or indirectly, the help of an intermediary. This custom 

 was handed down, became fixed in its details, and survives to-day in the 

 lawyer's fee. Now as in the early days of this custom, a person specially 

 authorized for the purpose stands between the faithful and the law- 

 enforcing power. One may almost say that we license the door-keepers 

 of the halls of justice and permit them to take toll of all who enter. 



The chief direct beneficiaries of the survival of this law-having-habit 

 are the lawyers. As such, one can not hope to find them zealous in modi- 

 fying or weakening the habit. But lawyers are as ready as is any other 

 special class to declare their devotion to the general welfare, and they 

 are better situated and better fitted than is any other class to check the 

 growth of this injurious law-having custom. And nearly all lawyers 

 admit, when the question is of law-making by legislatures, that the law- 

 habit is most harmful, and that it constantly grows stronger. 



Ten thousand generations taught our race to love a king; we seem 

 unable to get over the habit. We love him ; we believe in him ; we think 

 he can make us prosperous, wise and happy; and when he comes to us 

 in the guise of a legislative majority from our own political party our 

 faith enjoys a veritable renaissance. 



There was a time, say 50 or 80 years ago, when the law-having habit, 

 among English speaking peoples at least, seemed on the decline. Then a 

 change came, merely, one may dare hope, the inevitable temporary re- 

 action we must always look for in such cases, and to-day we are again in 

 the full tide of law building. 



Now, are lawyers as a class attempting to check the growth of this 

 law worshiping habit? Do they point out again and again to the 

 populace that it is, after all, but the habit of worshiping a divinely 

 appointed king under another nomenclature and another set of cere- 

 monials ? 



In the layman's observation, they do not. They profit by the law's 

 growing complexity. They hasten to become legislators themselves if 

 only to equip themselves in the way of profitable legalizing. 



But is there not here an opportunity for this social group, harmful in 

 its very essence, to lessen to some degree the harm its existence causes, 

 by attacking in an organized way this hurtful habit of worshiping 

 the law ? 



