The Fee System as a Social Force. 
221 
ney will prosecute the case at public expense. There will be 
numerous instances where suits will be instituted simply be¬ 
cause of the spite which one neighbor bears another. If the at¬ 
torney is paid fees, he will be eager to undertake any and all 
of these cases which the people offer to furnish evidence for. 
From the standpoint of public welfare the position of the dis¬ 
trict attorney is an exceedingly important office. Next to that 
of the judge, it is the most important in our judicial system, 
and in some cases he even assumes some of the latter’s duties. 
The attorney must, in fact, perform many of the functions of 
the higher magistrate, especially in weighing evidence, and ex¬ 
amining witnesses, to determine whether a process should be 
begun or not. In order to perform his duties properly, he should 
approach each case with an unbiased and unprejudiced mind, 
aiming only to secure the prevalence of justice. But how can a 
man be unprejudiced before whose face there is always shaken a 
reward for securing conviction, and a penalty in the form of 
unremunerated work, in the case of acquittal? We must take 
men as they are. Lawyers are human just as well as politicians. 
They cannot help being influenced, to some extent at least, by 
conditions which affect the well being of themselves and their 
families. There is many a case in which the district attorney 
himself is very much in doubt as to whether the accused is inno¬ 
cent or guilty. 1 If the prisoner is poor and has inexperienced 
counsel, the chances are that the abler lawyer will get the ver¬ 
dict. Such cases are by no means rare, in which the excessive 
zeal of an attorney for his fee can secure the conviction of one 
who is innocent. 2 
An innocent man may suffer punishment and serve his time in 
the penitentiary, and the world is no wiser. He, however, 
becomes a different man. He looks upon the state as his enemy,, 
and is more than likely to become the real criminal he was sus- 
1 From testimony of many who are or have been district attorneys. 
2 Of early legislation of the same tenor as these laws, may be mentioned 
the “Fugitive slave law,” passed Sept. 12, 1850. — See Congressional 
Globe. One of the provisions of this act, against which a great outcry 
was raised in the North, was that marshals or justices securing the con¬ 
viction of a negro as a runaway, should receive $10; while if acquittal was. 
the result, the court fee should only be $5. 
