pare an act to make uniform the law of bills of lading. The first draft was submitted to the Committee on Commercial Law, at its meeting at St. Paul, Minnesota, August 23, 1906, and after examination further consideration thereof was postponed until the following year, in order that the draft might be submitted to shippers, bankers and carriers. The Committee on Commercial Law held a meeting at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 13 and 14, 1907, when this draft act was considered, representatives and counsel of all these interests being heard. As a result of this discussion and exchange of views, a second draft was prepared and was considered by the Committee on Commercial Law, at a meeting held in Portland, Maine, August 21, 1907, and by the Conference at the same place, August 22, 23 and 24. A third tentative draft was prepared, which in June, 1908, was distributed among the interests affected and others. At the Conference held in the New Washington Hotel, in Seattle, Washington, August 21, 22 and 24, 1908, this draft was recommitted to the Committee on Commercial Law for the purpose of securing additional information in perfecting the act, especially in view of the fact that the Interstate Commerce Commission had under consideration the subject of a form for a uniform bill of lading for use in interstate commerce. The Committee on Commercial Law held a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, in New York, April 19 and 20, 1909, and again examined this draft, section by section. Representatives were present of the American Bankers' Association, the American Warehousemen's Association, the National Board of Trade, the Merchants' Association of the City of New York, the Chamber of Commerce of Richmond, Virginia, the National Industrial Traffic League, the National Manufacturers' Association, the Erie Railroad Company, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, the Old Dominion Steamship Company, the Bills of Lading Committee of Railroads in Official Territory, the Harvard Law School, the Law Departments of Columbia University and of the University of Pennsylvania. Written communications from numerous other commercial organizations and from many individuals were also received and considered. Thereupon a fourth tentative draft was prepared and it was distributed in July, 1909, throughout the country. This draft was again carefully considered, section by section, at a meeting of the Committee on Commercial Law, held in the Hotel Pontchartrain, in Detroit, August 17 and 18, 1909, all interested being again invited to attend and to participate in the discussion. This committee then reported this draft act to the Conference, held in the County Court House, in Detroit, August 19, 20, 21 and 23, 1909, when the act was again considered and discussed, section by section, in Committee of the Whole. Upon their report it was finally adopted by the Conference and is recommended for enactment by the various state and territorial legislatures and by the Congress of the United States for the District of Columbia. This Uniform Act, as well as the Uniform Act concerning transfer of title to shares of stock, will be printed in the Report of the Conference. The members of the American Bar Association are earnestly requested to secure the enactment of these acts by their respective state legislatures. Respectfully submitted for the committee, AMASA M. EATON, Chairman. REPORT OF COMPARATIVE LAW BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. To the American Bar Association: In compliance with Section 7, Article XV, of your by-laws as amended at the annual meeting in 1907 the Board of Managers of the Comparative Law Bureau presents the following annual report in detail as to the work and finances of the Bureau to June 1, 1909: The Visigothic Code has been translated into English by S. P. Scott, a member of the editorial staff and presented to the Bureau. It has not yet been published but negotiations now proceeding indicate that it can be issued this fall. The Swiss Civil Code which becomes effective January 1, 1912, has been translated into English and annotated with references to parallel provisions in other codes by Robert P. Shick, and Charles Wetherill, of the editorial staff, and will shortly be published. The general subject of comparative law has been more widely brought to the attention of the American Bar by officers and editors of the Bureau through writings and addresses before state Bar Associations. The Annual Bulletin of 1909 has just been issued and sent throughout the country and abroad. The desire of law publishing houses to secure advertising space in this issue has enabled the Bureau to realize about one-half the cost of the edition. The editorial staff has been enlarged and the work of the Bureau has been facilitated by establishing friendly relations with foreign kindred societies, publishers and individuals so as to assure speedy and comprehensive knowledge of legislation, jurisprudence and bibliographical news abroad. The year reviewed as a whole indicates marked advance in interest in the science of comparative law in this country and a growing ability of this Bureau to promote it still further by keeping it before American lawyers as a live topic and affording the aid of materials from other lands. The financial statement is as follows: ASSETS AND INCOME. Balance on hand June 1, 1908... $104.00 Received dues from members and foreign corre- 155.75 300.00 100.00 $659.75 EXPENDITURES. Printing 1908 Annual Bulletin...... $301.31 Postage for Bulletin of 1908, printing circular letters, etc. 190.66 $491.97 Balance in hands of Treasurer June 1, 1909..... Respectfully submitted, $167.78 SIMEON E. BALDWIN, Director. EUGENE S. MASSIE, Treasurer. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TAXATION. To the American Bar Association: In our last report to this Association we called attention to the fact that the International Tax Association had been formed and that it "intends to busy itself with all questions of taxation and reform in legislation relating to that subject in the United States and in Canada. . . . The work of that association and of its annual conferences will necessarily also involve the compiling and comparing of the laws and decisions of the various states of the union and the recommendation of measures, from time to time, looking to such changes in existing laws on the subject of taxation as may be particularly desirable. Whatever may be recommended by these conferences will be of especial value and importance, as they consist of official delegates from the various states of the union and from Canada, including members of tax boards and the like, besides professors in the departments of economics of the various colleges and universities and of experts and writers on these subjects. "Under these circumstances our committee thinks that it would be better to wait for a while until the work of this Tax Association and of these conferences shall have assumed a more definite shape and then, after they shall make recommendations in a concrete form which there may be any prospect of enacting into law in the various states, to have our committee co-operate therein." Since the date of that report the Second Annual Conference of the International Tax Association has been held at Toronto, Canada, as an outgrowth of which a committee was appointed to draft a "model inheritance tax law for the American States " with Professor C. J. Bullock of the Department of Economics of Harvard University as chairman. With reference to the proposed work of that committee Professor Bullock wrote to the |