Wrong Without Remedy: a Legal Satire. had a party majority of at least a thousand in his favor; but this majority had been wiped out and his opponent was elected with a lead over Anderson of not less than five hundred. Anderson at this time was not a bad man. He had graduated from college seventeen years before with highly creditable rank in scholarship, and had read law thereafter. For fifteen years he had devoted his attention to the practice of his profession and had gradu ally acquired a good body of corporation clients. He was regarded by bench, bar air! community as an able, resourceful, scholarly lawyer. He was particularly well versed in the law of corporations, and especially in that branch of it which defines the rights and obligations of stockholders and directors to each other and to the corporation; he had been retained in several cases involving questions in this branch of the law and with commendable research he had investigated the authorities until he had become saturated with the subject. Anderson's code of professional ethics was a high one. The weak point in his character was undue deference to public opinion. To him it was more important to seem to be a good man than to be one. He was a firm man in any position he took, but he placed an unusually high -aluation on a position of good standing in the community, and he was willing to sacrifice much to secure and main tain it. For many years Anderson had been pos sessed with a judicial ambition. The salary of a common pleas judge was less than An derson's professional income, but judicial work was congenial to him, and he was more than willing to make the financial sacrifice. His defeat was a bitter disappointment to him, and he was in no happy frame of mimi as he wended his way homeward through the storm. What should he do about it? Was he to remain at the bar in this county and prac tise before his successful competitor? The
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thought was extremely unpalatable, not only because the judge-elect was a successful com petitor, but also, and chiefly, because Ander son knew him to be an unfit man. His knowledge of the law was meagre, and he was lazy. He was undignified, and his court was sure to be a place where all manner of reprehensible pettifogging would be per mitted. Moreover, Anderson knew he would not be intellectually honest; he would never lose sight of the effect his decisions might have on his own political future, and Ander son foresaw that law and evidence would be tortured to admit of decisions which would comport with the demagoguery of this judge. No, Anderson made up his mind he would not sacrifice his self-respect by practising in that man's court. Anderson did not sleep much election night, nor for several nights thereafter. The more he thought about the situation the worse he felt. With his determination not to practise before his opponent, he saw that his ambition was disappointed and all his plans were wrecked. He grew more misanthropic every day. He found it hardest to bear the jubilant looks of his enemies and the merciless com ments that came to him from all sides on his weakness as a candidate for office. Mad with disappointment and goaded by the unjust criticism to which he was subjected, he be came a different man. He threw his princi ples to the winds and became the foe of society. He had convinced himself that money was well-nigh the whole secret of power and happiness, and he made up his mind to get money. He would not commit crime; none but fools were criminals. There were too many ways to get money without endangering one's personal liberty. Ander son set himself the more difficult task of get ting money quickly without either earning it or bartering his reputation for it. For a man of his tastes there could be no happiness without high standing in the community. Without conference with anyone, Ander
