34*
THE GREEN BAG
ment, the executive and the legislative, shade into each other, and under our na tional system they must work in harmony to put the judicial department into opera tion; but the moment the latter is chosen it is independent of either. Pressure from the executive or interference from the legis lative are as powerless to move this common creation as is that public clamor from which neither of the others can possibly escape.
ing this division of my question upon my fellow lawyers, it is no more than fair to say that all executive offices, both state and na tional, are continually making drafts upon the Bar, not always to the individual ad vantage of its members, in order to man the commissions and the many administrative posts, either existent or created from time to time.
THE LAWYER IN EXECUTIVE OFFICE
WHAT THE OPEN DOOR HAS DONE FOR THE PROFESSION
Although it could not have been foreseen that in the practical working of a system of government, truly democratic, the law yer would come to have such a dominating position in the law-making department of both the nation and the states, the fact is that the same preponderance has mani fested itself in the executive department. So that of the twenty-four Presidents of the United States who have followed George Washington in that exalted office, whether by election or succession, one was without trade or profession, four have been chosen for military service, more or less prolonged, and more or less distinguished, eighteen had devoted themselves exclusively to the study and the practice of the law and another had divided his activities between the Bar and the Bench with an incidental, or rather an accidental, diversion into the career of the soldier. If the same process were applied to the men who have been preferred by their party, temporarily in the minority at succeeding Presidential elections, the same general tendency to draw upon the legal profession for the higher places of our poli tics would be none the less apparent. Nor is this preponderating position of the lawyer in the executive affairs of our na tional life singular to itself. Analysis of the history of the various states, whether of the original thirteen or of the thirty-two since admitted, would, in general, reveal the same general tendency to draw lawyers away from their practice into posts requir ing administrative qualities. Without press
While we inherit from the mother coun try the great rights and functions which have inhered to the Bar, we have in this, as in many other respects, bettered upon the original teaching. In England, even at the present time, division between barrister and solicitor is so sharp that only the former is eligible to any judicial offices other than those of the most insignificant character. But, in practice, the distinction is carried still further. All the great offices of the British Cabinet — administrative as well as legal — have, until the last few years, been looked upon as the special privilege of the barrister. It was a great surprise, almost a shock, when, a few years ago, a single solicitor was able, by reason of great ability and conspicuous service, both to his pro fession and to politics, to attain cabinet rank. Even this experiment has not since been repeated. So that, in British politics, the barrister still retains the dominant posi tion that tradition and long wont had con ferred upon him. But, in this country, every post, not only that which is the in cident of his profession, but that belonging to his country, is open to the lawyer. The door of opportunity is so wide open to all, that the obligation has been as widely dis tributed as is the authority which created it. As a natural corollary of this freedom, so careful has been the preparation of men for the Bar, so effective has been their training and the discipline after they have entered upon the practice, so keen and intelligent has been their interest in public questions,
