process of democracy. Public opinion should be the leaven. What is
possible for the doctor is also possible for the lawyer, for the teacher.
In a democracy, teaching should be the most honoured of the professions,
and indeed once was,--before the advent of industrialism, when it
gradually fell into neglect,--occasionally into deplorable submission to
the possessors of wealth. Yet a wage disgracefully low, hardship, and
even poverty have not hindered men of ability from entering it in
increasing numbers, renouncing ease and luxuries. The worth of the
contributions of our professors to civilization has been inestimable; and
fortunately signs are not lacking that we are coming to an appreciation
of the value of the expert in government, who is replacing the panderer
and the politician. A new solidarity of teaching professional opinion,
together with a growing realization by our public of the primary
importance of the calling, is tending to emancipate it, to establish it
in its rightful place.

Nor are our engineers without their ideal. A Goethals did not cut an
isthmus in two for gain.

Industrialism, with its concomitant "corporation" practice, has
undoubtedly been detrimental to the legal profession, since it has
resulted in large fees; in the accumulation of vast fortunes, frequently
by methods ethically questionable. Grave social injustices have been
done, though often in good faith, since the lawyer, by training and
experience, has hitherto been least open to the teachings of the new
social science, has been an honest advocate of the system of 'laissez
faire'. But to say that the American legal profession is without ideals
and lacking in the emulative spirit would be to do it a grave injustice.
The increasing influence of national and state bar associations evidences
a professional opinion discouraging to the unscrupulous; while a new