Gentlemen of the American Bar Association, I welcome you one and all to the fifteenth meeting of this body, and I enter at once and without preface upon the performance of the constitutional duty of the hour.

The President then delivered his address.

(See Appendix.)

The Association took a recess in order to enable the members of the different States in attendance to select a nominee for the General Council from each State.

The States were then called and the General Council elected. (See List of Officers at the end of the Minutes.)

The President then appointed the Committee on Publications, as follows:

Richard Vaux, N. J. Hammond, Willis Van Devanter, James Lyons and James B. Thayer.

The President also appointed the following Committee on Reception:

Bradley G. Schley, of Milwaukee; Horace W. Fuller, of Boston; Hampton L. Carson, of Philadelphia; George M. Sharp, of Baltimore; William L. Snyder, of New York; Samuel F. Hunt, of Cincinnati; Ignatius C. Grubb, of Wilmington; Charles C. Lancaster, of Washington, D. C.; Edwin Burritt Smith, of Chicago; James Lyons, of Richmond; W. H. H. Russell, of Detroit; Willis Van Devanter, of Cheyenne; Charles Claflin Allen, of St. Louis.

New members were then elected.

(See List of New Members.)

The Secretary, Edward Otis Hinkley:

It

may be of interest to know what has happened during the last five years in respect to our attendance. We had at the meeting in Saratoga, in 1887, 149 registered, which was the highest number that had at any time registered at this place. In 1888, 121; in Chicago, in 1889, 158. That was the highest number that had at any time attended. Coming back Last year, 1891,

to Saratoga in 1890, we had 132 registered. in Boston, we had 202.

The Secretary announced the names of gentlemen accredited to the Association as Delegates.

(See List of Delegates.)

The Secretary then made the following report:

Mr. President and gentlemen of the American Bar Association: I have generally made my report very brief and informal, because nearly all that I had done appeared in print. A few words, however, may be of use. There are now eleven hundred and ten members on our printed list of members. I have had correspondence with a very large number of them. The details of this correspondence would be too voluminous to repeat here. It is sufficient to say that I have endeavored to fulfill the duties of my office by giving all the information in my power. The Committee on Indian Affairs, from whom a report is expected

at this meeting, requested me to serve them in getting from the members of the bar of the several States, petitions to Congress on the subject, which I did, and they were presented to the Committees on Indian Affairs in both Houses of Congress,

At the end of the printed Report there will be found a list of the reports which have been heretofore printed, bound and unbound, to which reference may be had. It has been usual to give to every new member the report of the preceding year to inform him of his rights and duties, and copies of all reports thereafter, but not of earlier years, unless they are particularly called for from the Secretary.

The reports of committees are authorized to be printed, and in pursuance of that authorization the Secretary has had printed. all the reports that are to be presented to this meeting, and they have all been sent out to members except that on Legal Education, which was delayed so much that it could not be sent out to members fifteen days before the meeting, but copies of it are now here for distribution.

This completes a very brief review of my work.

The Report was accepted.

The Treasurer, Francis Rawle, then made his annual report. (See the Report at the end of the Minutes.)

C. C. Lancaster, of Washington, D. C.:

I would like to ask for information a question in reference to the expenses of members of committees. I would like to inquire of what those expenditures consist?

The Treasurer:

The expenditures of these committees are made under the By-Laws in pursuance of an order of the Executive Committee, upon a vote previously passed by them. It is not always

possible, perhaps, to apply the exact letter of the By-Laws to some of these expenses, because members sometimes incur expenses without thoroughly understanding what the rule is. But the strict rule is that the appropriations must be made beforehand. As an instance, I will state that the most expen