Young men with talent and ambition are led to believe that the professions are so over-crowded that there is very little opportunity, in these days, for a collegian to succeed in a professional career. A comparative study of the number of students in the professional schools in Germany, France, and the United States, for 1890 reveals the following facts: KEY: A: _Law._ B: _No. to every 100,000 population._ C: _Medicine._ D: _No. to every 100,000 population._ E: _Theology._ F: _No. to every 100,000 population._ A B C D E F Germany, 6,304 13 8,886 18 5,849 12 France, 5,152 14 6,455 17 101 .. United States, 4,518 7 14,884 24 7,013 11 We glance briefly at the promises which the so-called learned professions hold out to young men. The opening for young men in the legal profession has many difficulties, but it is not without its rewards. David Dudley Field estimated that in 1893 there were 70,000 lawyers in the United States. If we estimate the population of the nation at 70,000,000, there would be one lawyer for every 1,000 of the population. Assuming that three-fourths of the population are women, children, and men under age, there would be one lawyer to every 250 males of full age in the United States. Germany, with a population of 50,000,000, has about 7,000 lawyers, or one to every 7,000 persons. In the State of New York, with a population of 6,000,000, there are 11,000 lawyers, or one for every 545 of the population. Of this number of lawyers, there is a great proportion engaged in real estate business, or other outside matters, which enables them to secure a maintenance. Others have entered the law because of its promise of social position and honor. Aside from the numbers in the legal profession, there are other considerations in the problem. The people of to-day are less disposed to controversy, and avoid employing lawyers to settle disputes and differences in court, and others often hesitate to employ a lawyer for fear of being made a victim of the rapacity of some who have brought the profession into disrepute. Again, there is less confusion in the laws. They are being collected, condensed, arranged, and simplified, and people are coming to understand the codes. Likewise, the courts are adopting simpler rules and codes of civil procedure, which give less room for pettyfogging hindrances and delays in litigation. A lawyer of talent, with the aid of a good stenographer and typewriter and other advantages of to-day, can do double and treble the work of a lawyer twenty-five years ago.