ustxtxb_obs_1977_02_25_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth . as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to hutnan values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy; we will take orders from none but pur own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who are associated with the enterprise shares this responsibility with him. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that he agrees with them because this is a journal of free voices. O 0 The Texas OBSERVER The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1977 Ronnie Dugger, Publisher Vol LXVIX, No. 4 February 25, 1977 Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Democrat, which in turn incorporated the Austin ForumAdvocate. EDITOR Jim Hightower ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lawrence Walsh EDITOR AT LARGE Ronnie Dugger CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Kaye Northcott, Jo Clifton, Dave McNeely, Wade Roberts, Don Gardner, Warren Burnett STAFF ASSISTANTS: Laura Eisenhour, Luther Sperberg A journal of free voices BUSINESS MANAGER Cliff Olofson OFFICE MANAGER Joe Espinosa Jr. Published by Texas Observer Publishing Co., biweekly except for a three week interval between issues twice a year, in July and January: 25 issues per year. Entered as second-class matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin. Texas, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Austin, Texas. additional per year. Airmail, bulk orders, and group rates on request. Microfilmed by Microfilming Corporation of America. 21 Harristown Road, Glen Rock. N.J. 07452. Editorial’ and Business Offices: The iteXas Observer 600 “‘West 7th Street Xustin, Texas 78701 512-477-0746 7411110’1.7! The Lawyers Know Too Much The lawyers, Bob, know too much. They are chums of the books of old John Marshall. They know it all, what a dead hand wrote, A stiff dead hand and its knuckles crumbling, The bones of the fingers a thin white ash. The lawyers know a dead man’s thoughts too well. In the heels of the higgling lawyers, Bob, Too many slippery ifs and buts and howevers, Too much hereinbefore provided whereas, Too many doors to go in and out of. When the lawyers are through What is there left, Bob? Can a mouse nibble at it And find enough to fasten a tooth in? Why is there always a secret singing When a lawyer cashes in? Why does a hearse horse snicker Hauling a lawyer away? The work of a bricklayer goes to the blue. The knack of a mason outlasts a moon. The hands of a plasterer hold a room together. The land of a farmer wishes him back again. Singers of songs and dreamers of plays Build a house no wind blows over. The lawyerstell me why a hearse horse snickers hauling a lawyer’s bones. Carl Sandberg Lawyers Austin Query: Why has the Observer gone into overdrive to produce a special issue on lawyers and their profession? Because lawyers mediate the political and economic life of this complicated and disputatious nation. Because deliberative bodies of Americans, from backwater borough councils to the houses of Congress, passed 150,000 laws last year, and almost always in accord with some lawyer’s version of reality. Because by 1980 there will be half a million lawyers among us, twice as many as there were 20 years ago. We wanted to know what the rest of us might expect from the painful lucubrations of so many lawyers. And why an entire issue? Well, to look at things whole for once \(or at least try to; our range of subjects is hardly exhaustive, but merely suggestive of the space in our lives filled by We engaged the time and energies of 28 people to put this Observer togethercartoonists, illustrators, photographers, and writers. Ten of these were lawyers, and let it be said that they were an easy bunch to work with. All eight who contributed articles met their deadlines. Atty. Gen. John Hill showed up on time for his interview \(and alone, which we thought sportprofessional attitudes got here from Washington just when he said they would. Meritorious performance all around. The lawyer and the journalist have never had much good to say about one another, but we’ve taken pains to show that although many of the sorriest episodes in our history were exclusively the work of lawyers, the bar can be a glorious calling. We naturally reserve the right to be disgusted, revolted, outraged, and even upset when lawyers, singly or in concert, diswe do not have it in for lawyers. Honest. Hightower and I would make lousy hearse horses. As for our fitness to oversee this project: Jim’s experience