THE REIGN OF LAW 309 



divine teach the doctrines of a Christ for whom he has no 

 devotion. 



One can not be a good lawyer without l)eing honest. Law 

 and honesty go together, jests to the contrary notwithstanding. 

 Dishonesty will undo a lawyer quicker than it will any one else. 

 They see so much of it in other men they should learn to abhor 

 it. There are fewer lawyers in the penitentiary than any other 

 calling, not excepting ministers of the gospel. This should be 

 a proof of their honesty, but some are unkind enough to say it 

 is merely a tribute to their shrewdness. In a former house of 

 delegates in St. Louis, twenty four out of twenty eight mem- 

 l)ers took bribes right and left. None of them were lawyers. 

 Of the four who did not prostitute themselves, three were law- 

 yers. Under the laws of most of the states, only two classes of 

 men are required to be of good moral character — lawyers and 

 saloon keepers. The laws go further and demand that the 

 saloon keeper, in addition, be a law abiding citizen, while noth- 

 ing is said about the lawyer in this regard. That is taken for 

 granted. If lawyers do not uphold the laws, it can hardly be 

 expected that others will. 



In a monarchy the government is sustained by the power 

 of the crown ; in a republic the government rests entirely upon 

 the laws which a majority of the people make for themselves. 

 If all the laws were ignored, anarchy would be the result — 

 there would be no government at all. When any portion of 

 the laws are not enforced, the government is weakened to that 

 extent. Laws that are not observed add just as much to good 

 government as sores do to the human body. Disregard of one 

 law breeds contempt for all laws, and laws to be effective must 

 be respected. There is entirely too little respect for the maj- 

 esty of the laws in America. This inevitably leads to corrup- 

 tion, which will, if tolerated, eat into and destroy civic life. 

 If a dramshop is allowed to remain open at a time the law 

 demands it be closed, then the gambling laws cannot be con- 

 sistently enforced; then other offenses denounced by the law 

 must be tolerated, then comes grafting by officials for over- 

 looking these violations, then legislators imbued by the same 

 spirit sell their votes for bribe money, and a reign of corruption 

 follows. The perpetuity of our government depends upon the 



