case the work was taken up at once and pushed to a speedy conclusion and the results reflected the spirit of the campaign, Could your committee have had more time to enable it to weed out poor solicitors and secure the services of such men as canvassed the county of Woodbury, the membership would have been at least trebled by their efforts. But enough about the work of the Membership Committee and something as to what the Association itself might do to attract the attention of a majority of the lawyers of the State. Criticism came without limit. Many said they did not know what the Bar Association had accomplished, others that what little the Association had done in the way of recommending legislation they did not like, others that the Association was made up of men who had held office or wanted to, etc. Now of course all these objections are extreme, and yet it seemed to your committee that the Association might do something to interest every lawyer in the State without losing any of its dignity or detracting from the results of its efforts. Might not the State Bar Association, in matters of law reform, treat with every lawyer in the State instead of the members of the Bar Association only? Why should there not be a postal referendum of the lawyers of the State in the questions of law reform? Would it not be advisable as a means of getting the attention of the lawyers of the State and for their influence with the Legislature in securing the enactment into law of the reforms recommended by the Association? And would it not be fair and reasonable to permit lawyers, who for one reason or another are not members of the Bar Association to participate in these matters? And may not other means be used to enlist the interest of the non-members of the Association, so that more might conclude that there is something being accomplished by the Association and want to take a more active part in it? Your committee therefore leaves with you the suggestion that the Bar Association feature some new plans to interest, if possible, every lawyer in the State in its work and help your Membership Committee do its work, hoping that in the course of a very few years the figures may be reversed, and instead of having fivehundred eighty-six members of the State Bar Association out . of a bar of over three thousand, we may have twenty-five hundred members and leave only five hundred eighty-six lawyers on the outside. Under such circumstances the annual dues might be reduced to two dollars and the work of the committee in gathering statistics and learning about the methods employed in other States and other countries might be increased, greatly to the profit and benefit of the lawyers and the people of the State. If your committee has gone away beyond its purview and stepped on the toes of any other committee, we hereby beg pardon and assure you that it was not our intention to trespass on the territory of any other. Respectfully submitted, A. H. HOLLINGSWORTH, Keokuk, E. H. McCoy, Waterloo, A. L. RULE, Mason City, J. A. DEVITT, Oskaloosa, FRANK S. DUNSHEE, Des Moines, A. T. COOPER, Cedar Rapids, Chairman. Upon motion duly made the report of the Committee on Membership was received and placed on file. THE PRESIDENT: On behalf of the Association as well as myself, I desire to thank the chairman of the Committee on Membership for the manner in which he has discharged the arduous duties of his particular work. The next in order upon our program is the Report of the Treasurer, Mr. Frank T. Nash, of Oskaloosa. TREASURER'S REPORT, FROM AUGUST 5, 1911, TO JUNE 27, 1912 DISBURSEMENTS Chas. M. Dutcher, on salary (Order No. 2, Former President) Citizen Printing House, for printing, 1910-11 (Order J. P. Blaise, stenographer, reporting proceedings of .$ 107.75 16.35 71.52 Beechler Insurance Agency, premium surety bond for 5.00 Economy Advertising Company, for printing and binding proceedings of 1911 (Order No. 4) 472.33 H. C. Horack, Secretary, for postage, stenographic work and supplies (Order No. 5) 26.10 20.91 C. G. Saunders, for expenses, postage, etc. (Order No. 6) Citizen Printing Company, to printing (Order No. 7).... Economy Advertising Company, printing proceedings of early Iowa Bar Association (Order No. 8)..... Economy Advertising Company, printing and supplies (Order No. 9) ........ H. C. Horack, Secretary, postage on Early Proceedings, Frank T. Nash, Treasurer, postage, supplies, etc. (Order 26.25 Total disbursements Balance on hand Total 398.20 58.60 103.05 61.98 20.05 $1388.09 585.91 $1974.00 Respectfully submitted, FRANK T. NASH, Treasurer. Upon motion duly made the report of the Treasurer was received and placed on file. THE PRESIDENT: I desire to say in reference to the Treasurer's report, that we have had this year two special items of expense, one an enlarged item, and the other a new item entirely. It was deemed advisable by the Secretary and your President to have the reports that were sent to the members, bound in a little better form. We believed the Association had reached the place where it could afford to have the copies bound in cloth, and it was accordingly done. We thought that would meet with the full approval of the Association. It renders the book more convenient and enables one to put it on the library shelf without the additional expense of binding. We hope the membership is pleased with the result. At the last meeting of this Association a committee was appointed for the purpose of reprinting the proceedings of the old Association which existed for a number of years and then ceased to meet for some time. Many of these papers were of great value. They were given by men who had distinguished themselves in the State and Nation by reason of their service at the bar and on the bench, and as only a few copies of the reports of these meetings were in existence, it was thought, in order that the legal history of the State might be preserved, that a reprint should be made and put in the hands of the membership. That expense has aggregated roughly about $450. The committee was given power to act for the term of its appointment, and the volume has been issued and placed in the hands of the members. There is one question in connection with that which ought to be considered by this Association. The plates have not yet been destroyed, and I presume some additional volumes could be secured, if necessary. The supply remaining, I think, is not large, and it is a question whether there ought not to be some more volumes printed, so that they may be had by the members of the bar in years to come, and also by the public libraries, and colleges over the country. I have become convinced in the last few years, that one of the great mistakes in the Nation was that proceedings of this character were not preserved. In the last three or four years I have interested myself in seeing that publications of this character might be placed in the libraries of the country. After this volume was prepared, I instructed the Secretary to send a copy to every State law library in the United States. I think copies should be placed in many of our public libraries. So far as we have any reason to expect, these libraries will exist for centuries, and these reports should be preserved there as a part of our history. The matter of additional copies is in the hands of the Association. I do not know what the ex pense would be. I am satisfied it will be less than the original one thousand volumes. The next in order, will be the report of the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, by Justice Scott M. Ladd of Des Moines. JUSTICE LADD: The committee has not met yet, but we have informally talked the matter over and have concluded that no recommendation should be made at this time. There is no demand for any change in the law, and those who are educating the young men for admission to the bar are performing their duties satisfactorily. So that we make no recommendation. THE PRESIDENT: The next in order is the report of the Committee on Legal Biography, by Mr. C. J. Wilson, of Washington. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LEGAL BIOGRAPHY Your Committee on Legal Biography presents herewith the biographies of the brothers who died between June 1, 1911, and May 10, 1912, and are pleased to state that the number of deaths for the year ending May 10th, is few as compared with other years. The committee wishes to express its thanks to the Clerks of the District Courts of the several counties for the courteous and prompt replies to its correspondence; they have almost without exception replied promptly to inquiries by filling out the blanks sent them or by notifying the committee that there were no deaths to report. The report submitted is far from satisfactory, from the fact that in a majority of instances the deceased were personally unknown to the committee, and the data in our possession was too meagre to give as complete a sketch as the subject undoubtedly is entitled to. We suggest that hereafter, as occasion may arise, members of the local bar supply the committee with a sketch of their deceased brothers, at least a statement of the standing of the deceased at the bar, as well as any unusual attainments or marked successes of his life. This seems necessary for the reason that their intimate knowledge of the subject preeminently quali |