Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 20.pdf/675

 The Green PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT #4.00 PER ANNUM. SINGLE NUMBERS 50 CENTS. Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, S. R. WRIGHTINGTON, 31 State Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of interest to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities, facet/eg, and anecdotes.

EDITORIAL. The first annual meeting of the American Bar Association to be held on the Pacific coast was successfully conducted at Seattle, Wash ington, from August 25 to 28. It was preceded as usual by the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, who devoted most of their time to the perfection of the act to make uniform the. laws relating to certificates of stock, and by the meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. The Washington State Bar Association also held its meetings immediately before those of the National Association, and assisted in bringing to the city a large number of members of the State Bar who later participated in the meetings of the American Bar Association. To President Dickinson is largely due the credit for the decision to venture so far from the accustomed meeting places of the American Association, and the striking success of the meeting should be a source of great gratification to him. Thanks are also due for the work of the lawyers of Seattle, and for their generous hospitality, which made the social features of the gathering especially enjoyable. Whether or not it was due to the inspiration of the material activity of the city and the fre quent evidences of its energy and daring, the meetings of the American Association, which for the first time occupied four days instead of three, seem to have been unusually effective in positive accomplishment. It may be that this result was aided by the very fact of the remoteness of the meeting place, which resulted in the absence of some trouble-makers who are usually conspicuous in criticising the work of committees. But certain it is that the usual tradition of postponement of impor tant committee reports was for once aban doned. Attention was concentrated on the two most important reports: th.at of the com

mittee appointed to draft a code of professional ethics, and that of the committee on reform in judicial procedure. The meeting was also unusual in that its debates were interesting and pointed; whereas the meetings of the section on legal education, and also of the Association of American Law Schools, were almost entirely without dis cussion. This is a decided reversal of the usual proportion. On the whole, the papers read at the meetings were of a high order of excellence, but those read before the sections seemed more skillfully prepared than those delivered before the general association. They were also more limited in scope, and for these reasons we have selected the best of them for publication in this issue, which as usual we have devoted to the proceedings of these meetings. The paper by Judge Farrar of New Orleans before the association on " The Extension of Admiralty Jurisdiction by Judi cial Interpretation " was the most lawyer-like paper read at any of the meetings, but it was far too long to be printed in this number, and was also open to the criticism that it dealt with a subject that has apparently been settled by the courts adversely to the speaker's conten tion. The address of Mr. Frederick Bausman of Seattle on " The Increase of Crime in the United States " which was delivered entirely without notes and in a most spirited manner was perhaps the most interesting. As it was not in writing, however, it was impossible to reproduce it here, and the statistics upon which it is based are in the main familiar to our readers. The remedy advocated by Mr. Bausman, viz.: the repression of excessive sentimentality of the American people with reference to criminals and their punishment, and the simplification of criminal procedure will command general acquiescence. The annual address by Ex-Senator Turner was heard with difficulty by many of the