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Show mm 1 , i 1 1 ! 1 1 1 I ! 1 1 1 ENTERPRISE 1 It was June 4, 1988. long had been gone from Zion, and although the world knew of the decline and fall of Salt Lake City perturbation still engulfed me as I looked down on what once had been Utahs capital. Its structures were abandoned, its religious, educational and governmental centers stuck out as do the d Mayan temples in their Latin jungle, its streets were overgrown with vegetation, and no sign of human habitation was manifest. Salt Lakes desolation was incongruous for, all about it, the valley indeed bloomed as a prosperous, busy rose. It was akin to an ugly blemish on the complexion of a beauteous maiden. My plane was approaching the massive Bountiful (formerly Salt Lake) International Airport. I turned to a fellow passenger, who had told me he was from Logan. (What, I queried, really happened to Salt Lake City? My companion paused a moment, took a sip from his soft drink, and replied, Its simple, actually. For once ; the public took a politician at his word V What? Hows that? I knew my voice betrayed my incredulity. So did the Loganite. Its this way, he continued. Ten years ago, three Salt Lake City Commissioners held a public meeting at a west side elementary school. At the time, there 1 once-broa- ;; 10005. 1 9 pragmatic dogmatics One West-sidcomplained. You knew, he shouted, what the salaries were when you ran - nobody forced you take the job. e Take your proposals before the voters and let them decide. Now, one of the commissioners there was a crusty old reprobate named Jennings Phillips, Jr. He worshipped the public trough as his only idol, and took unkindly to those who disputed his evaluation of his own worth. Through an abundance of Dutch Courage, or otherwise, Phillips struck back. Those there present say that Phillips snarled response pierced the auditorium. If you dont want your city executives to get a decent, liveable wage, he hissed, 'then move out of the er The Phillips formula pay-rais- city. 1 Within a week, Salt Lakes meeting halls were alive with whispers. Phillips brandishes banishment, some murmured. Phillips wont even let us eat cake, others complained. Phillips speaks more readily of exile than did the Council of Trent of excommunication, added clerics. Soon, popular confidence eroded. The sole means to restrain Phillips and his hench- - mite HfPUom, W was discontent with the Commissions propensity to raise its own salaries. Two recent increases had elevated the mayor to $32,500 annually, and the commissioners to $31,000. 1 by Kent Shearer men, reasoned many, was to take him at his word, and to depart for more friendly, understanding climes. A year later, the population had shrunk ten percent. The 1980 census counted only 90,000 residents. This didnt deter the commissioners. They hiked their salaries another ten times until they had reached the $60,000 plateau. At that point, even those who remained rebelled and moved away. The city was destroyed. Disincor-poratio- n and decay soon followed. Our plane had landed. I looked to the ruin to my east that once had been Salt Lake City. Does the place have a name now?,I inquired. We call it Phillipsburg, my companion said. I0OTHD& mm? X N0TH(U6 HA5 MOUTHS MflO. Mr- - Something I have never fully understood is a reaction others have aptly dubbed the attorney generals syndrome. Those afflicted with it usually law enforcement officials, public servants and lawyers react to any accusation or criticism, however well founded, with a denial. No matter that there may be a higher duty, particularly among public officers, to investigate and consider grievances and initiate corrective action where they are legitimate (as they frequently are). Of no consequence, either, is that the accusation may be true. Americans were treated to a classic example of the syndrome in operation with the response of American Bar by Parker M. Nielson Association President Warren B. Spann to President Carters comments that ninety percent of our lawyers serve ten percent of our people (and that) we are over lawyered and under represented in part because of the high cost of legal services. The charges are patently true, yet Spann was somehow compelled to reply with a classic non sqquitur. Instead of dealing with the merits of the Presidents criticism, he made aspersions to Carters low standing in the polls and his conduct of foreign affairs, and even suggested that the problem was concocted to cover the actual or pretended failings of Carter in these and other areas. Individual members of the profession have also exhibited the syndrome, responding with questions of how they can imrecitations of prove their image and with o the amount of time they devote to charity or on self-congratulat- pro-bon- services. Spanning the syndrome . There is room for disagreement about the reasons, and whether lawyers themselves are even to blame, but it cannot honestly be denied that the advent of mammoth corporations ft uernm vAii during the last century has converted our judicial system into one which effectively serves only the needs of large commercial entities. In this day the lawyer who does not seek out large corporations as clients, or as an employer, is also likely a hungry lawyer. The bureaucracy which has burgeoned since the New Deal has created an administrative maze which private persons, as distinguished from corporations, can ill afford to deal with. Enormous pension trusts and labor unions are now becoming part of the evolution towards bigness which is squeezing the individual out, in the courts particularly. The legal profession has not responded to these needs, perhaps in part because the problems themselves are bigger than the profession. Whatever the reason, rejection of the prospect of heads at least some of the agencies aid from the President-w- ho seems most foolish. A more responsible for the problem appropriate response on the part of ABA President Spann might have been to call on the President for solutions. There are many, but they are beyond the scope of this column. would be improved best by The lawyers image improving the delivery of legal services. However laudable the o services, such efforts are nevertheless rendering of ineffective and no substitute for the availability of legal services on terms that all can afford. It is fine to be charitable, but that is no cure for a judicial system which allows large corporations, trusts, insurance companies, etc. to subject little people to litigation costs that far exceed the value of matters at issue. These are the abuses that the President had reference to, and they are real. - pro-bon- 1 |