Adirondack Triumph

There are more lawyers in the U. S. (178,000) than there are doctors (157,000), and many more people need doctors than lawyers. The American Bar Association ruefully admits that the legal profession is overcrowded, especially in large cities. It has a committee studying the situation. Last week an editorial in the New York Law Journal urged a youthful revolt against the city, twanged an idyll of la wing in the country. To make its point, the Journal printed a letter from a young lawyer who went rustic after three long discouraging years in Manhattan.

The Journal's, anonymous correspondent blindfolded himself 18 months ago, put a pencil to a map. Where his pencil landed he went and hung out his shingle. Wrote Lawyer "Richard Roe" from "somewhere in the Adirondacks": "I have been here almost one and one-half years and have earned a comfortable living. . . . During the fall I spend much time hunting deer and bear. In the summertime fishing for rainbow and brown trout, swimming and playing ball ... are some of my many enjoyments. ... I was initiated to the delights of square dancing and old-fashioned games.

"My expenses are very small. . . . The barber shop below my office contains two church pews from an abandoned church [which are] comfortable. ... If the telephone rings upstairs, or a client walks up the stairway, I sit up, adjust my tie and commence work.

"The people of the village are very much interested in anybody who is 'lawing it.' . . . I had a large case recently before a justice of the peace and jury of six, in which I earned $10. The trial was held at 8 p. m. in the social room of the local fire house. My client was suing for $6.50 damages ... to his automobile. At least 100 spectators were present. [A city lawyer and I] fought our case amid boos and cheers from the audience until 11 p. m. The jury brought in a verdict for $3.50 in favor of my client, which was indeed a triumph for me."

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