THE HIGH COST OF LAW. 
While much is said and written 
about the high cost of living, less dis- 
cussion is devoted to another burden 
of the people, the high cost of law. 
National and state legislatures are 
grinding out each year thousands of 
new laws and law schools are turning 
out hundreds of lawyers to make a 
living by telling the public how to 
comply with or evade them. 
It is not wide of the truth to say 
that there are thousands of innocent 
people today suffering from injustice 
without protest because of the cost 
of engaging a lawyer to secure their 
rights. 
Because of professional ethics. no 
lawyer will undertake to contract 
with his client for a fixed sum for 
any services, beyond those of simple 
processes, the fee for which is in a 
few cases fixed by law. 
There is no other class of profes- 
sional men so well remunerated for 
their services as lawyers, The fees 
paid to receivers’ attorneys, masters, 
auditors and all other positions re- 
quiring a knowledge of the law are 
out of proportion to those of men en- 
gaged in any other profession. 
Samuel Untermyer is very much 
concerned because business men make 
large profits from their business, but 
he is naturally silent when attention 
is called to the fees which he has re- 
ceived in several cases, at least one 
ef which alone entitles him to the 
reputation of a man of wealth. 
Louis D. Brandeis is censorious 
over the salaries paid by certain rail- 
roads and industrial corporations, 
but such fees as he has been paid in 
cases which have been made public 
compare favorably with the standard 
of annual salaries paid to corporation 
presidents throughout the country, 
and not small corporations either. 
As an instance of the high cost of 
law, take the confusion attendant up- 
on compliance with the new income 
tax law. The department which is 
charged with its enforcement is woe- 
fully ignorant as to the construction 
of many of its provisions, making rul- 
ings and contradicting them with as- 
tonishing frequency. 
Lawyers are reaping a harvest 
from clients who desire to know how 
to comply with the law and in many 
cases the cost of such legal advice is 
larger than the tax to be paid the 
government, hence the person in- 
volved is likely to let it go by de- 
fault, even if he is exempt, rather 
than pay out more in legal fees than 
his exemption amounts to. 
This is not written in any spirit of 
animosity to. the legal profession. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Lite 
(WRITTEN FOR THE BREEZE.) 
Sometimes 
life seems but a struggle, 
Sometimes its pathways look bright; 
Sometimes 
Sometimes 
Sometimes 
we're almost disheartened, 
our burdens are light. 
dark clouds overtake us, 
Sometimes we sail ‘neath clear skies, 
Sometimes our fine hopes are blasted, 
Sometimes 
new pleasures arise. 
Sometimes we long for the future, 
Sometimes we dwell on the past, 
Sometimes life moves along slowly, 
Sometimes the pace is to fast! 
Sometimes we trust all to friendship, 
Sometimes betrayed by a friend,— 
Don’t despair, but cheer up and keep smiling 
All will come right in the end. 
—G. D. H. 
Many of its members stand high in 
the regard and esteem of the public. 
They are probably charging today no 
more in proportion than they have 
been for years, but the multiplicity of 
laws which are being framed to gov- 
ern the conduct of the individual 
each year requires more legal advice 
as to the way to conform to them. 
Commissions have been appointed 
in several states to investigate the 
causes of the delay in litigation which 
prolongs cases for several years be- 
fore settlement, to the great harm of 
the poorer litigant, 
People are everywhere showing a 
tendency to respect the law less and 
less, and much is to be said on this 
point when the character of many of 
the laws and of the men who make 
them is considered. 
The Progressive party wants law 
making and unmaking placed in the 
hands of the people so that this shail 
be a government of the mob and not 
of law. 
If the cost of law were not prohibi- 
tive in many cases, possibly there 
might be more respect for it and it is 
also true that if it were possible to 
secure its protection without so much 
expense, there would be less demand 
to have its making and unmaking 
placed in the hands of the people.— 
Commercial Bulletin, Boston. 
Friday, Feb, 13, may well be any- 
body’s unlucky day. 
Many a man who itches for office 
is scratched at the polls. 
“Way Down Eas?” At THE Boston. 
The return of William A. Brady’s 
“Way Down East” company to the 
Boston theatre for a brief engage- 
ment is in the nature of a home-com- 
ing rather than an event of merely 
perfunctory interest. This play was 
the first attraction upon the stage 
of the Boston theatre when that his- 
toric temple of the drama passed into 
the hands of B. F. Keith, the first at- 
traction of the house when the Har- 
ris-Charles Frohman-Klaw and Er- 
langer management leased it, and 
now, after all these years, Mr. Keith 
resuming his direction of the edifice 
again secures the New England 
drama for what promises to be a 
memorable return visit. 
For this occasion “Way Down 
Fast” is being presented by a com- 
pany containing nearly every living 
member of the cast that first inter- 
preted its roles in this city. It has 
been Mr, Brady’s purpose as far as 
possible to keep together the actors, 
actresses and singers who originally 
vivified the personages in this fam- 
ous typical New England play, and 
save for those removed by death, the 
changes have been few. 
The future policy of the Boston 
theatre will be to play all the big pop- 
ular productions available at prices 
not to exceed 25c, 50c and 75c¢ with 
$1.00 for the best orchestra seats. At 
the Wednesday matinees the prices 
will be 25c and soc. The above 
prices are now in effect for “Way 
Down East.” 
