Productive Fortune
566 THE COMMONWEAL March 3 ~ , I927 was confined almost exclusively to monastic circles, its popularity beginning when definite prayers were at-tached to it. Mediaeval Christian minds relied upon...
...Mediaeval Christian minds relied upon visual representation to an extent which would have seemed bizarre to the Orient...
...A thousand inven- tions have added to our enjoyment of life...
...Automobiles and radio have come...
...Through this operation bonds now due will be called in, and the entire issue will have been redeemed long before the date of maturity...
...This, an omi- nous fact in many respects, merits grave meditation...
...The cotton industry, for instance, has recovered tem- porarily owing to the drop in the price of the raw prod- uct...
...That a barrister should be not only "a gentleman learned in the law," but also one with some general knowledge of other things, would appear a self-evident proposition based on self-interest, if he is to make a success in his chosen field...
...Too March 3 ~ , t927 THE COMMONWEAL 567 much money," aggressively active in the limited field of commerce, may prove a mixed blessing if it means lowered productivity to the average investor...
...But what is this about the suggested engagement of the Reverend Billy Sunday as co-star...
...Leaders of the bar who discuss the proposed regulations while they deplore the condition of criminal law practice, evidently accept this idea as a postulate...
...Bankers report that even now there exists a tremendous reserve buying power, which is interested in purchasing bonds that offer a fairly high rate of return on sound security...
...Beebe and his friends will be able to accept it quite as it stands--Marian devotion, mysteries of the Faith, indulgences--and act accordingly...
...When he seeks a "mouth- piece," he is not deterred in choosing his counsel by realization that his adviser has read many books other than those relating to the law...
...The obvious fact that this power is to a large extent in the hands of small investors indicates that the average citizen has been able to save far more than he could ten or twenty years ago and still keep up with a stand- ard of living which has improved steadily...
...Colleges may do much for young men, but they do not specialize, in most cases, in moral development...
...An indus- trial bulletin calls our attention to the "vast changes which have taken place in our standards of living...
...This intimation may be an exaggeration, but there can be no question that the practice of the law is often a great strain on consciences often infirm and sometimes almost in- audible...
...That homely philosopher of the day, Will Rogers, in commenting on a bill before the California legisla...
...Book-learning, he figures, "never did them no harm" as crim- inals any more than it influenced those eminent young students, Leopold and Loeb, to curb their criminal instincts...
...MORALITY AND THE LAW O NCE more the question of raising the standards for admission to the bar is being agitated, with much emphasis being placed on the benefits which will accrue to the standing of the profession as a whole if at least a partial course in arts at some recognized uni- versity is demanded of every candidate for the bar...
...ALTHOUGH death came to Bishop William T. Russell, D.D., of Charleston, South Carolina, at a comparatively advanced age, one cannot help feeling that an exceptionally able man has been cut down in his prime...
...ture to regulate the conduct of members of the bar, asserts that you cannot make a lawyer honest by an act of the legislature--that the only way this can be done is to work on his conscience, but intimates that the task is a difficult one at best, because lack of con- science is what makes him a lawyer...
...But whether the acquisition of a certain amount of general education will correct certain evils in the pro- fession as a whole, as most of the advocates of the pro- posed change so confidently assert it will, is another matter altogether...
...As secretary to Cardinal Gibbons, as historian of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as an army chaplain, and as the sponsor of the annual "Pan-Amer- ican Mass" in Washington, he identified himself closely with the recent progress of the Church in the United States...
...Even religion, which seems to many materialistically minded people a "side-issue," displays a rugged vitality and missionary spirit which seem to promise magnificent things...
...Let it be granted that men of more culture and refinement might be obtained for the pro- fession if a whole or partial course in arts at a standard university or college were insisted upon as supplemen- tary or complementary to the study of the law, what guarantee is there that the moral influence resulting (if moral influence did result) would be applied to remov- ing what the Chief Justice of the United States has described as a blot on the nation--the administration of criminal law ? The college-trained lawyer seldom seeks to practise at the criminal bar...
...Meanwhile, it ~s interesting to speculate upon whether financial fortune has been able to bring about the general civic advantages expected of it...
...The energetic reformer has everything that a headliner on the "big time" should possess--person- ality, wonderful advance advertising and, as Heywood Broun pointed out a few days ago, a most alluring name for the electric light display over the entrance...
...Integ- rity and moral qualities such as the non-college trained young Springfield lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, early dis- played and throughout life developed, are not the re-sult of book-learning, but of self-discipline and ac-knowledgment of obligations to a power that is greater than self...
...Other aspects of his personality were no less marked...
...But the astounding tide of American prosperity has swept over them all with very little difficulty...
...He is not afraid of book-learning as a moral force--some of the smart- est of his fellow-craftsmen are distinguished Latinists or men like Gerald Chapman, strangely using their leisure to extend their general knowledge or to im...
...Doubtless all three last namedmeducation, art, religion--have to some extent profited by the fact that more money has been made available for their operations, and that people generally have had more time to consider them...
...Neverthe-less, there is grave danger in the circumstance that money, which must bear fruit if it is to maintain its value, is being directed into industral channels already bearing very nearly the maximum productive cargo...
...And we have it on the authority of Mr...
...PRODUCTIVE FORTUNE T HE excellent financial condition of the country is evidenced by the Treasury plan to refund the Sec- ond Liberty Loan through an issue of 3~ percent five-year notes...
...But opposed to all this is the very important fact that industrial acceleration is the basic rhythm of our living--an acceleration which has created a modern urban life more and more wholly de- pendent upon organization and its accessories and less and less able to stand on its own feet...
...The belief that all that is needed to evan- gelize America is the raising of $Ioo,ooo,ooo and the employment of Aim& Semple McPherson as evan-gelist-in chief ismand will have to be--touching...
...The first did something to encourage wide-spread thrift, and the second succeeded in fore- stalling all question of pensions, at least for a long while to come...
...Moreover, the suggestion smacks of thoughtlessness in that it would altogether rob "Ma" Sunday of her share of the spotlight...
...During the first six weeks of I927 over one billion dollars in new bond issues were absorbed by American buyers without seriously impair- ing the value of extant flotations...
...Coming to the see of Charleston in x916, he was the successor of two of the greatest and most interesting prelates in American history--Bishops England and Lynch--and, like them, he was a force in changing the attitude of the South toward a Church little known and understood there...
...Yet if ever there was a profession which showed that education and morals are most sep- arate and distinct, it is the profession of the law...
...There are other aspects of the plan which will require careful consideration if it is to be carried out successfully, as for instance, the matter of guarantees...
...prove their appreciation of good literature...
...Ralph Adams Cram that "one of the most astonishing experiences in my long life is the recent ris- ing up among us of great artists ready to serve...
...566 THE COMMONWEAL March 3 ~ , I927 was confined almost exclusively to monastic circles, its popularity beginning when definite prayers were at-tached to it...
...With such a declaration there can be no dispute...
...Educators inform us that, at least from the numerical point of view, the development of the national mind is proceed- ing at a great pace...
...The criminal knows this...
...Later on, when the project of a soldiers' bonus became a topic of conversation, even more mournful prophecies of financial downfall made themselves heard...
...Great vitality, rare gifts of scholarship and literary grace, a generous tact in recognizing the achievements of others--these and other virtues distin- guished the mart whose later years were devoted to building up the press department of the National Cath- olic Welfare Conference...
...THAT Aim& Semple McPherson should have been offered the leadership in a proposed $Ioo,ooo,ooo evangelistic tabernacle circuit, patterned on the Keith chain of vaudeville theatres, is as appropriate as it was inevitable...
...We trust that in the end, Dr...
...In less official ways, many writers and students throughout the United States discovered that in Bishop Russell they had an interested, sympa- thetic spectator...
...When the vari- ous war-time loans were raised, they were considered a serious test of the nation's ability to pay...
...There seems to be a widely pre- valent idea that more book-learning must inevitably raise the standard of morals...
...And book-learning, without moral guidance, has no more effect in the strengthening of conscience than an act of the legislature...
...The editors of The Com-monweal found in him a sturdy friend and counselor...
...There is another aspect of this question which in- vites speculation...
...To them, repeated Ayes were not merely so many services rendered to Our Lady, but also little "word pictures" which recalled her to mind and drew attention to the great mysteries in which she had been a central figure...
...More-over, a saving of millions in interest will materially re- duce the burden carried by the Treasury...
...Each of them is versatile, but also each is distinctly individualistic...
...Of course, there are other proofs of the magnitude of the national hoard...
...The warm commendation which this plan has received in banking circles is probably due to the proof it affords that the national debt is decreasing steadily and that rates of taxation may soon be lowered again...
...His Maryland, the Land of Sanctuary, the standard popular exposition of Calvert history, was also to a large extent the documentary background of the Cal- vert Associates...
...This is not fair to either of the distinguished performers...
...It is not to be denied that the injection of a little more morality into the concepts of some corporation lawyers might be beneficial, but meanwhile, where is the uplift of the criminal practitioner to be sought ? Not in colleges, even if enough students can be in- duced to forego the monetary rewards of civil practice and devote themselves to work in the criminal courts...
...on the contrary, he has high hope that this additional knowledge may be applied to the laws of evidence in such manner as to obtain for him speedy enlargement and freedom to plan other campaigns against society...
...The prizes of the profession are not to be won there, but in the civil courts and espe- cially in the realm of corporation law...
...Even so, however, it is likely enough that over-production by the mills will induce congestion and the evils of a shut-down throughout the industry...
...Working from this beginning, the masters of the Catholic soul, from the Popes downward, added other elements and blessings until the rosary of today is not only marvelously use- ful, but wonderfully complex...
...In some ways, both the loans and the bonus have turned out to be distinct advantages...
Vol. 5 • March 1927 • No. 21
