The President: The business of the meeting having been disposed of, I will now appoint a committee to escort the newly elected President to the Chair. I appoint as that committee William P. Bynum, of North Carolina, Francis B. James, of Ohio, and W. Thomas Kemp, of Maryland. The committee then escorted President-elect Taft to the platform. The President: I have the distinguished honor and the great pleasure of presenting the President of the American Bar Association. President-elect Taft: I am deeply honored by your election of me as President of the Association. Since I was 21-and barring the interval between the 4th of last March and now-I have held office so continuously and continually that I never felt that I had any right to be considered a member of an association of lawyers. If this were an association of office-holders I would have been entirely at home. But it is never too late to begin either as a private citizen or as a member of the Bar. I thought I had gotten over being a President, and that there would remain nothing for me but the title of honorary. Honorary, mark me-not honorable. I noticed in the Montreal newspapers this morning an executive order as to those who are entitled to the term honorable. I play golf at Murray Bay and the King's Counselor who was playing with me one day—and beating me, too-stopped at one tee and remarked," By the way, I would like to inquire just what the distinctions are in your country with reference to the use of the term honorable." I said we didn't have any distinction at all, that every American outside of the penitentiary was entitled to it and there are some who have lived down even that experience. But, gentlemen, being in good humor doesn't necessarily indicate that I do not deeply appreciate what you have done. Coming as I do after the most hard working and the most successful President that the American Bar Association has ever hadwho has given us the greatest meeting that the American Bar Association has ever had, both in respect of cultivating those valuable international relations that we should make as friendly as possible between the United States and this great country, and also I hope in giving to the members of the Bar a sense of responsibility and a realization of power with reference to the influence they can exert upon the public opinion in the United States, when the United States is woefully in need of legal advice I feel as if your selection of me is an anti-climax. But do not understand me that I am going to decline. My habit of life with reference to acceptances is so fixed that I cannot change it now. Therefore, out of my heart, gentlemen, I thank you for this honor. The meeting then adjourned sine die. SECRETARY'S REPORT MONTREAL, CANADA, September 1, 1913. To the American Bar Association: The report of the proceedings of the last annual meeting held at Milwaukee, Wis., August, 1912, has been printed and distributed to all members of the Association, to all State Bar Associations and legal journals, and to a large number of libraries in the United States and abroad. There were 5584 members of the Association at the time of the publication of the 1912 report. A special committee on increase of membership entitled "Membership Committee " has been constituted with Mr. Lucien Hugh Alexander, of Pennsylvania, as Chairman. The Executive Committee have elected over 2000 new members. The membership of the Association now includes representatives of all the states, of the District of Columbia, and of the insular possessions of Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. Invitations were sent several months in advance of the meeting to all State Bar Associations to appoint three delegates to the present meeting. There are in existence forty-seven State Bar Associations and also the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and the Bar Association of the Hawaiian Islands. Invitations were sent to the Chief Judge of the Court of Last Resort in each of the several states, the Senior Circuit Judge of each of the Federal Courts of Appeal, the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and the Chief Judge of the Court of Commerce, to attend the Montreal meeting, to be the guests of the Association at its banquet, and to participate in the Conference on Uniform Judicial Procedure to be held Saturday night, August 30, 1913. The Secretary's office has continued to supply upon request copies of the Code of Professional Ethics adopted by the Association. Notices were duly sent by the Secretary to all standing and special committees requesting their attention to such matters as were particularly referred to them. Reports of committees for the year 1912-13 were printed and distributed by mail to the members of the Association fifteen days. in advance of the meeting, as follows: Standing Committees.-Jurisprudence and Law Reform; Judicial Administration and Remedial Procedure; Commercial Law; International Law; Patent, Trade-Mark and Copyright Law; Insurance Law; Uniform State Laws; Publicity. Special Committees.-Uniform Judicial Procedure; To Suggest Remedies and Formulate Proposed Laws, etc.; To Oppose the Judicial Recall; Compensation for Industrial Accidents and their Prevention; To Present to Congress Bills Relating to Courts of Admiralty; Government Liens on Real Estate; Compensation to Federal Judiciary; Legislative Drafting; Managers of Comparative Law Bureau. Synopses of the various addresses to be delivered at the present meeting and of the 1912-13 reports of committees were printed and sent to all of the Press Associations for release on appropriate dates. A register of those in attendance will be placed at the rear end of the concourse, adjoining the Rose Room of the Windsor Hotel, except during the sessions of the Association, when the register will be placed in the reading room opposite the Assembly Hall, Royal Victoria College. Members and delegates are particularly requested to register at headquarters as soon as convenient after arrival in order that the printed list of those present may be complete. A list of members and delegates present will be printed for distribution at the meeting, and will also be included in the report of the proceedings. A separate register will be kept in the Secretary's office at the Windsor Hotel in which all members of the Bench are requested to register their names and addresses immediately upon arrival. Another separate register will be kept at the Secretary's office at the Windsor Hotel, in which members of the Association are requested to register the names and local addresses of the members of their respective families who accompany them. Copies of the Constitution and By-Laws, Lists of Officers and Committees, copies of Committee Reports, Programs, and Nomination Blanks can be had at the headquarters of the Association at the Windsor Hotel. The Secretary endeavors to keep the street address of each member, and notification of change in address is requested. Respectfully submitted, GEORGE WHITELOCK, |