The Chandler Tribune (Chandler, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1908 Page: 2 of 4
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FEES OF EMINENT LAWYERS
Largest on Record Was That Paid William
Nelson Cromwell for His Part in the
Purchase of the Panama Canal.
EW YORK—Fifty millions
of dollars—enough to buy
Newport and nil of Its
villas at their assessed
valuations—-is a conserv-
ative estimate of tho
money that goeB every year into the
pockets of New York lawyers. It is
based on the opinion of a noted at-
torney, who is pessimistic rather than
given to exaggeration. On one side
were fees of $750,000 and $1,000,000
the aged railroad magnate. When Mr.
Plant died, in June, 1900, at New
Iinven, Conn., his estate was worth
$17,000,000. The poiut in the contest
was whether Mrs. Plant should re-
ceive an annuity of $30,000 by the
terms of the will or have the will set
aside and get about $7,000,000. The
contest depended on a codicil making
J the heirs of Mr. Plant’s six-year-old
i grandson the residuary legatees and
J tying up the fortune until the youngest
i son of the grandson reached his ma-
jority.
When the case came up for trial,
I before Justice Leventritt, in the su
J preme court. Just seven years ago,
lawyers believed that the suit was a
earned in single cases. Among the j doubtful one. The codicil could be
set aside if the will was offered for
probate in New York. Connecticut
was the only state in which such a
provision would be legal.
So the cage turned on a question
of domicile—whether Mr. Plant was
a resident of New York or of Connecti-
cut. Ho went to Connecticut a few
days before his death, so the contest-
ant claimed, to avoid the New York
law and establish a residence in New
Haven.
Lawyers say that Mr. Guthrie de-
served all Hie credit he got. for win-
ning the suit. To his persistence in
great lawyers $100,000 fees are not un
usual.
The fees of the great attorneys in
the past seem pitifully small. Ilufus
Choate, even when recognized as one
of the greatest of American lawyers,
took cases for $50 again and again. It
was only toward the close of his career
that he thought that sum too small.
Aaron Ilurr, a successful practitioner
in his day, accepted cases for much
less. Daniel Webster, in the height of
his legal career in Boston—in tho days
of the Dartmouth college case—earned
$20,000 a year. Before his life ended
he accepted contributions of money
from his IT'sinds. The same was true
of Henry CUf,
Lincoln’s Small Fees.
Like Lincoln, both of these famous
men sacrificed much to public life. One
of Lincoln’s largest fees while a law-
yer in Illinois was a land warrant
lor his services In tire Black Hawk
war. He took a tract of land in Iowa,
opposite Omaha. Ills fellow lawyers
took him lo task for accepting small
fees, or none at all, saying it demora-
lized the profession. "Old Abe,” as he
Was then called, defeiftled two boys on
murder charges and would take noth-
ing for it. When he came to New
York in 18110 to deliver his famous ad-
dress at tho Cooper Institute, an old
friend asked him how he fared in the
world.
“Oh, very well," Lincoln is said to
have replied. "I have a cottage at
Springfield and about $S,000 in money.
If they make me vice president with
Seward, as some say they will, I shall
be able to Increase It to $20,000, and
that is as much as any man ought lo
want.”
Lincoln's fortunes were about in
this condition when he went to the
White House as president.
When New York lawyers talk of at-
torneys who have earned big fees they
usually mention William Nelson Crom-
well among the first. He is "a physi-
cian of Wall street," the new typo of
lawyer bred by the growth of great
corporations, the most skillful reor-
ganize of wrecked business enter-
prises in tho legal profession. But
among laymen he is better known as
the man who earned $1,000,000 when
he bought the Panama canal.
Mr. Cromwell, a small, secretive and
rather nervous man, has been com-
pared to a mole for tho way he bur-
rows Into Intricate business prob-
lems. He combines a legal judgment
with brilliant financial skill.
Fortune In Single Case.
A man with such a unique genius
might be expected to make exception-
ally large fees. His first big case, for
Instance, brought $200,000. This was
in November, 1890. The brokerage
firm of Decker, Howell & Co. was
forced to suspend with liabilities of
$10,000,000. Mr. Cromwell was made
assignee. He managed the affairs of
the concern so skillfully that ho de-
clared a dividend of 100 per cent. He
was paid $7,222.16 for this work.
The many great cases that have
since added to Mr. Cromwell’s fame
were overshadowed by his fee for the
J’anama canal deal. Busy as he was
here, Mr. Cromwell found time to look
Into the higher politics of Central and
South America. How he got track of
tho situation in Panama is a mysterj. '■ pany, consolidated the turbulent nf-
AVhen ho became general counsel for fairs of the Union ami Brooklyn Ele-
the new Panama Canal Company in j voted railroads into one prosperous
1896 the Isthmian route hardly had a ; concern. Among the others the men
friend in this country. He quietly , whose peculiar talents nlso run to cor-
started the campaign to have the poratlon law are Samuel Untermyer
Vnited States buy the property, won i and Secretary of State Root,
over the French bondholders, gained | Mr. Cn'ermyer is credited with hnv-
supporters for the scheme in tills tnK received a fee, or commission, of
country and finally offered the United I more than $1,000,000 for the deal by
ance he might have been a brother of
George William Curtis. He is John
E. Parsons, a New Yorker born and
bred, legal adviser for big corpora-
tions and estates, and as a lawyer be
lieved to have the finest practice in
the country.
Mr. Parsons is reputed to have re-
ceived one of the largest fees ever
laken by a lawyer when he drew up
the charter of the sugar trust. Ac
cording to common report, he realized
$100,000 for this service. As
counsel for the trust lie also defended
it during the attack upon the combi-
nation a few years ago. That defense
Is said to have added another $100,000
to his fortune.
Contrasted with these lypes of cor
poratlon lawyers is the general prac-
titioner. Former Ambassador Joseph
if. Choate Is a typical example. John
G. Johnson of Philadelphia is another.
Speaking facetiously of Mr. Choate
at a public dinner, Chauncey M. De-
pew is said to have remarked that
"only unselfish millionaires could em-
ploy Mr. Choate as their lawyer be-
cause they would have to give up
about all they had to pay his fees.”
Yet lawyers said last week, indeed,
that Mr. Choate’s fees were not large
compared with the $1,000,000 Mr.
Cromwell received in the Panama ca-
nal deal, the $750,000 paid Mr. Guth-
rie in the Plant will contest, or the re-
puted $400,000 fee to Mr. ParsonB for
forming the sugar trust.
CARRIED. ECONOMY TO EXCESS. MONOPOLY IN HUMMING BIRDS.
Good Story Told by James J.
New York Firm.
Hill on | America Is the Only Continent Where
They Are Found.
-S' &&SON&
gathering evidence that should make
Mr. Plant a New Yorker and set aside
the codicil, to his skill in presenting
It and questioning the witnesses, Mrs.
Plant owed tho $7,000,000 her attorney
won for her. Mr. Guthrie's fee is said
to have been between ten and 14 per
cent, of this fortune, somewhere be
tween $750,000 nnd $1,000,000.
Of the many big fees Mr. Guthrie
has received, the most significant was
the $80,000 paid to him in the proceed-
ings to test the constitutionality of
the income tax. It was a case in
which methods counted for more than
fees, and Mr. Guthrie's tactics made
his fame national. He devised the
method under which the proceedings
should be brought so that they would
not violate the statute against suits
lo restrain the assessment or collec-
tion of federal taxes. He drafted all
the papers and made the opening ar-
guments beforo tho United States su-
preme court.
In Corporation Cases.
"When you hear of very large fees
paid to lawyers by corporations,” said
the lawyer, “you must remember that
the knowledge and ingenuity of these
attorneys often make the big combi-
nations of capital possible. The business
man goes (o the lawyer with the germ
of the idea. The lawyer arranges a
corporation that will be legal and able
to withstand attacks upon it. Often
the lawyer's original ideas go into the
consolidation. The lawyers usually re-
ceive a block of slock for their work.
It is, to a certain extent, a contingent
fee, for its value depends upon the
success of their work."
To tliis class belongs Edward Lau-
terbach, who promoted the East River
Bridge company, reorganized (he Phil-
adelphia & Reading Railroad com-
Choate In Many Great Cases.
Mr. Choate was admitted to the New
York bar in 1856. As protege and
partner of William M. Evarts he won
immediate success, and gained an
enormous practice and a very large in-
come. By 1870 he was considered a
leader of the New York bar. For
nearly 30 years there was hardly a
great ease in which he was not one
of the counsel—the prosecution of the
Tweed ring, the famous investigation
of Gen. Fitz John Porter's conduct,
which ended in a reversal of the judg-
ment of the original court martial;
the celebrated libel suit against Gen.
Di Cesnola, the Tilden will case, the
litigation over Commodore Vander-
bilt’s millions, and the suit of David
Stewart against Collis P. Huntington,
to mention only a few of them. Mr.
Choate is said to have received fees
of $100,000 on a number of occasions.
When he was named as ambassador to
England by President McKinley in
1898 he had earned a fortune in his 4 2
years of practice amounting to some-
thing over $1,000,000. At that time
his Income, chiefly from his law prac-
tice, was estimated at $100,000 a year.
It is said of Mr. Choate that he would
probably be richer if he had devoted
himself to corporation rather than a
general practice, but that he would
only do so at the sacrifice of that
excitement and interest which he finds
as an advocate.
John G. Johnson of Philadelphia is
generally recognized as one of the
greatest lawyers in the country. He
once declined a seat on the bench of
the supreme court of the United
States because, he said, with his
income of $100,000 a year he would
be reduced to poverty if he agreed to
become a justice at $8,000 a year.
Mr. Johnson has since been paid
$100,000 for a single case, like the
Northern Securities litigation, involv-
At the first hearing the decision was
against the women.
There was still a forlorn hope. A
great lawyer could save the $45,000
general *°r 1 ho women. Would Mr. Johnson
undertake it? There were two dis-
couragements to such a plan. The evi-
dence was unusually complicated. To
disentangle the facts would be worth
a lawyer’s fee that would probably
leave little of the estate.
Nevertheless the women's lawyer
look the papers lo Mr. Johnson. He
said he would read them overnight. It
was one of Mr. Johnson’s peculiarities
that by ignoring details he can reach
the very heart of the controversy in
the shortest possible time, then ex-
press the gist of it in a few simple
words. The next day the women's
lawyer called on Mr. Johnson.
"I’ll take the case,” he said.
He did so and fought the case
through the county and appellate
courts. He saved the $45,000 for the
women.
"What will be your fee, Mr. John-
son?” one of his clients asked.
“I will charge you $1,000," he re-
plied. When the women recovered
from their surprise, they were rather
hurt. They were proud, and felt that
they were an object of the lawyer's
charity. Mr. Johnson was stubborn j
about it. He insisted that his services
were worth no more.
Fees Past and Present.
James J. Hill, the well-known rail-
way magnate, was talking in Kansas
City about railway economy:
"Economy is excellent,” he said,
‘‘but even economy must not be car-
ried to excess. Railways must not be
managed as a certain New York neck-
tie manufacturer manages his busi-
ness. A drummer in this man’s em-
ploy showed me the other day a letter
from the firm. It ran thus:
')p' have received your letter with
exp V account. What we want is
order® We have big families to make
expenses for us. We find in your ex-
pense account 50 cents for billiards.
Please don’t buy any more billiards.
Also, we see $2.25 for horse and bug-
gy. Where is the horse, and what
did you do with the buggy? The rest
of your expense uoeount is nothing
but bed. Why is it you don’t ride
more in the night time?
“ John says you should stop in Dos-
Ion, where his cousin, George Moore,
lives. John says yon should sell
Moore a good bill. Give good prices—
lie is John's cousin. Sell him mostly
for cash. Also, John says you can
leave Boston at 11:45 in the night and
get to Concord at 4:35 in the morn-
ing Do this—and you won’t need any
bed. And remember, what we want is
orders.’ ”
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Bank Deposits.
"It's odd. the different sources of
bank deposits," remarked George
Though the art museums of Europe
may have seme treasures of which
America cannot boast, our continent
has the distinction of a monopoly of
the world's supply of humming birds,
the gems of all the feathered creation.
Of these there are said to be some
400 species—the 400 we may well cal)
them!—nearly all of which are pecu-
liar to the tropical regions. Only 18.
cross the borders of the United States
from Mexico, and occur only in out
southwestern states.
The popular idea is that the hum-
mer lives only on honey, gathered
from flowers. This is a mistake. The
bird does secure some honey, but Its
food consists mainly of the small in-
sects which frequent the flowers.
Some of these insects are injurious to
the blossom, and the tiny birds fulfills
a useful function in destroying them.
That the hummer is insectivorous ia
also shown by its habit of catching
tiny insects on the wing, which is oc
casionally observed.—From "Experi-
ences with Humming Birds," by II. K-
Job, in The Outing Magazine.
Ornamental Street Lighting.
Not many American cities pay the-
attention to beautiful effects in their
street lighting, and they are in this,
respect far behind foreign cities. A.
superficial observer will think that
the foreign city is not so well lighted!
in its business districts as the Ameri-
can city, but will not notice that this
GAVE VEILED WARNING TO JAPAN
States the option of the
$40,000,000. What came after—tho
failure of the Hay Hcrran treaty, the
Panama revolution, said to have been
plauned in New York, and the hasten-
ing of the negotiations— Is familiar
hiBtory. But as a monument to the
genius of Mr. Cromwell was a fee the
like of which can hardly be paral-
leled in the history of the legal profes-
sion. It was not a fee, properly speak-
ing, but a commission. The largest
estimate of It is $1,000,000. In reality
Mr. Cromwell’s pioflls have been estl
mated as nearer $2,000,000.
Guthrie's Big Victory.
Equally reinarkable In IU way was
the fee Wllllnm II. Guthrie received in
tho Plant will contest. He was of
oounsel for Mrs. Margaret J. Plant,
the widow of Henry Rradley Plant,
c®nil* I which he Induced foieign capitalists
to invest money in this country and In
the consolidation of the American
breweries. It Is estimated that with
his genius for financial law he can
earn $500,000 a year and command
$1,000 a day for appearances in court.
Secretary Root's Sacrifice.
Law., era regard Secretary Root as
probably the greatest corporation law-
yer in the United States. Mr. Root
gave up a law practice estimated to
be worth from $80,000 to $100,000 a
year to lake a place in a cabinet pay-
ing $8,000 a year. This was when lie
succeeded Secretary Russell A Alger
of the wnr department.
But most typical of all the corpora-
tion lawyers was a t»n found in a rc-
moto room on an upper floor of a
William street skyscraper. In appear-
A lawyer who is an authority on
the question of fees, drew an interest-
ing comparison between the altered
standards of fees, past and present.
"The lawyers of the old school,” he
said, "had a very moderate notion of
fees. When I was a student under
Mr. Evarts and Mr. Choate $250
seemed to he an average fee and $500
the exceptional fee, with a tendency
to charge women little or nothing. I
think Mr. Choate's fees all his life
have been much less than is charged
or supposed to have been charged in
exceptional cases by men like Guth-
rie and Cromwell."
The lawyer continued: —
"Always what seems a largo fee to
t ie up-country legislator is really a
s nail fee down here. Expenses are
larger. Loss in other business is many
times as large as in the up-country
districts.
"As to contingent fees, there are
many popular misconceptions. In tho
first place, many a monopolist would
go unwhipped of justice, as the courts
have said in their opinions, but for
the fact that the poor man who has no
money or the man of moderate means
who feels ho cannot risk money can .
employ rounsel on a contingent fee.
"I personally believe that no pro-
vision in our statutes is more Ameri-
can, in Hie better sense than the pro-
vision for a contingent fee. Every law-
yer of standing, in some shape or
another, makes his fee contingent in
part or entirely upon his success. No
modern lawyer would think of charg- |
ing a full fee on a failure, except in
the rare case of a client whom he
never expects to see again. I know i
that some charge too large a contin-
gent fee, but many charge only 10, 15
and 20 per cent., and some charge
ns little us five per cent, in rare in-
stances.
How Rewards Are Fixed.
"A student went to James Russell
Lowell and said: ‘Professor, 1 think
you have marked me unjustly.’ ‘Sir,’
said Mr. Lowell, with his grand cour-
tesy, ‘I would not willingly wrong ]
you; will you tell me how you think ;
you should be marked?’ The Btudent
set forth his views, and Mr. Lowell
admitted them. 1 think It has been
the common practice of such men as
Mr. Choate and Mr. Evarts to ask
clientH their view about their fee and
to fix the fee largely accordingly, j
And then, even more than with the
medical profession, it Is the custom ol
lawyers (o make low charges to the
poor and unfortunate, and to charge
women lit tie or nothing.”
But the surprising fact remains, is
, one lawyer said, that of the 11,000 J
lawyers, fully two-thirds, or 7,300 ol !
j them, do not make more than $3,000
a year.
Yet at this estimate, the 7,300 attor-
! neys earn nearly $22,000,000. The 25
lawyers making $100,000 each put an
their pockets,
for the 3,600 I
Thomas J. O’Brien, the American ambassador to Japan, who declared*
at a banquet recently given at Tokyo that the Pacific ocean was a great high
way open to all mankind, was born at Jackson, Mich., July 30. 1842. He was
graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan, and was
admitted to the bar in 1864. He became assistant general counsel for th<
Grand Rapids £ Indiana railroad in 1871, and continued in this position
until 1883. lie was made general counsel in the latter year and served until
1905. He was the Republican candidate for judge of the Supreme Court
Michigan In 1883. He is well-known for his scholarly attainments and ’
home is in Grand Rapids, Mich.
hln
Loninitz. "For example," he said, “we
receive thousands of dollars every
year from Cleveland men in the army
and navy. The amounts range from
five dollars a month from privates to
$30 or more from some of the officers.
"Most of this is sent (o us direct by
the paymaster of the army or navy as
the case may he. Just now we are
getting a lot of money from men in
ihe navy on this cruise to the Pacific.
The paymaster makes out a list of
the various deposits and sends along
a check to cover tho total amount.
Thus the men draw their pay and de-
posit it without ever seeing it. Their
pass books, in a good many cases, are
left right here.”—Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
A Question of Age.
"Dad," piped Freddy.
“What is it now?” asked the eider
Freddy impatiently.
“I just wanted to know,” said the
youngster, "how many years’ differ-
ence there is between a green old age
and a ripe old age.’’—Bohemian.
The Only Difficulty.
Ted—You're wasting your time, old
man. You’re courting the wrong girl.
George—No; she’s the right girl, all
right. I’m afraid the trouble is that
I’m the wrong man.—Illustrated Bits.
Is due to the fact that the American
business man is a lavish user of elec
trie light for advertising purposes, not
often with good results from the artis
tic point of view, while in foreign
cities a minimum of this sort of bill
posting is permitted. When the pri
vate lights are extinguished, late at
night or on holidays, the blacknesB of"
the American street is felt rather than
seen, and does not compare favorable
with the well-arranged lights of the
foreign City in attractive groups ol
handsoms fixtures—Municipal En
gineering Magazine.
I* Sharpens His Vision.
“Yes, he's near sighted. Says he
can't distinguish faces 50 feet away."
"I don't believe it. Ever Binee he
has owed me seven dollars he has
had no trouble in recognizing me clear-
across the street, and then dodging
round the corner.’’—Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
Unique.
"Eggs for Invalids" read the sign at
the market.
“What is there unusual about those-
eggs?” asked a curious observer.
"Why, them eggs is an absolute-
novelty," said the dealer briskly, add
ing in awed tones, "Them eggs Is.
fresh.”
WHERE AMERICAN SEAMEN MADE MERRY
ing the Union Pacific merger. But
lawyers say of him that lie will also
lake $100 eases with $5 fees to right
an injustice or punish crooked deal-
ings when the victims are poor. At-
torneys nlso say of Mr. Lauterbach I other $2,500,000 into
that in the same spirit he will lose ] Allowing $5,000 each
a fee rather thnn have a client leavo | practitioners remaining—a eonserva-
hls office smarting under an injus ! tlve estimate—they would add $18,-
tice. I 375,000 to the expense bills of litigants.
Put Cause of Justice First, .... 7 . .... — ,
Wizard of "Mungo Park.”
A story told of Mr. Johnson in this j The Berliner Tagebjalt, reviewing a
connection is especially characteristic ! recently published biography of
of the mail and his ways. An estate | Thomas A. Edison, tells of the trials
worth about $15,000 was badly tan
gled ami in litigation. On one side
were the women of the family. They
knew nothing of tho business. The
property was all they had for their
future support. On tho other side
was a claimant with shrewd lawyers
uiid apparently the better of the case
imposed on the inventor because of j
the unwarranted connection of his
uanie with catch-penny novelties, \
Some of the well-known anecdotes are |
retold, and the scientist is constantly
referred 'o as the “wizard of Mungo
Park." Mr. Edison formerly lived at j
Menlo Park, N. J.
V.
Hie Home of the President of Brazil In Petropolls Where the a
Executive Received th,> Officer, of the’American Fk*t Amerlwn
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Smith, G. A. The Chandler Tribune (Chandler, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1908, newspaper, February 14, 1908; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc914917/m1/2/: accessed June 2, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.