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THE GREEN BAG

became so irksome that he envied the laborers on the highway whom he passed in the morn ing as he went to his office, and another has said that if he could earn his living in anyother way he would never go inside the court again. The anxieties of the business man are many, but after all success with him to a large extent is the establishment of wise routine and the selection of subordinates to whom details can be entrusted. But the lawyer's work is constantly changing and the part that can be turned over to subordinates is often but a fragment of his responsibility. Above all else, the consciousness that upon his efforts are depending the fortunes and often the happiness of others imposes upon him a strain of which a man devoted to the pursuit of his own fortunes knows nothing. UNWRITABLE LAW Another month has passed and still the Thaw case drags on, though the district attor ney fervently thanks God that the end is in sight. In spite of diminished public interest the verdict will be awaited in much suspense. In the meantime, however, a Virginia jury true to southern traditions has in the Strothers case promptly acquitted two brothers of the murder of a brother-in-law because of alleged domestic infidelity, and the judge who solemnly charged the jury that there was no unwritten law which justified acquittal is said to have praised them for their neglect of his instructions and declared " It is an established precedent in the state of Virginia that no man tried for defend ing the sanctity of his home should be found guilty!" TORTS OF MUNICIPAL OFFICERS A political situation in Boston suggests an interesting legal problem. The Grand Jury, after an exhaustive investigation of the per formance of certain contracts with the city of Boston for the construction of the Fenway drainage system, concerning which there has been much public criticism, reported no bill against one of the leading contractors. The District Attorney, however, confirming the opinion of the special attorney, who previ

ously investigated the case for the city of Boston, announced that although it was evi dent that the contractor had made an im proper profit of twenty-six thousand dollars, nothing of a criminal nature could be proved because of the peculiarly lax contract under which he worked. This contract had been approved and executed on the part of the city by the Superintendent of Streets, who was designated by the Mayor for that purpose. The Superintendent was a politician and un familiar with the kind 'of work called for by the contract. A very slight investigation, however, would have informed the Superin tendent of Streets that the prices fixed for certain services were absurdly in excess of the market rate. The District Attorney, therefore, concludes that the Superintendent of Streets was negligent in the performance of his duty. With this it seems the matter must end so far as the courts are concerned, and as the Superintendent of Streets is now out of office the public must simply content itself with seeing that he remains in retirement. But is there sufficient reason why a muni cipal administrative officer specially designated by the Mayor to let contracts for an extraor dinary public improvement should be per sonally exempt from the consequences of his neglect of official duties, even if he be not guilty of willful misconduct? If such officer is financially responsible, why should he not be held liable by the city in part for negligence, just as any careless employee in a private establishment would be held responsible for the consequences of his failure to exercise the care of an ordinarily prudent business man? There is disclosed by this transaction an opportunity for municipal graft too insidious to be ignored, and it is submitted that the danger that honest and capable men would be deterred from accepting office under such circumstances is unreal. We seldom get them now. If the old decisions that such adminis trative officers are not agents of the municipal corporation apply to such a case as this, it would seem that legislation is needed to make the responsibilities of the agent of a municipal corporation conform to those of other agents.