apart from the twenty-five dollar payment required by rule 25 at the time of filing his petition for admission to the bar."

This will make the novitiate pause before he knocks at the door for admission to the bar. He is thus given warning before entering upon the study of the law that however learned he may become, he will be refused admission unless he can meet the high standard set by the Supreme Court for admission.

The State Board of Law Examiners has the power and is enjoined by the Supreme Court which appoints it to investigate any charges which may be made against any member of the profession and if in its judgment he be guilty of serious misconduct to bring action against him for disbarment. This is an unpleasant duty but is being faithfully and efficiently discharged by that board. After consultation with members of this Association and of the bench, I assumed the right to appoint a grievance committee in each congressional district to whom I have referred during the year all complaints that have been brought to my attention against members of the bar. These complaints have been or are now being investigated by the respective committees and reports are turned over to the State Board of Law Examiners. In this way the State Bar Association is assisting the State Board of Law Examiners and the court in purging the profession of offending members.

Outside the domestic circle, there is no closer relation than that between client and attorney. It is one of trust and confidence. Betrayal of that trust cannot be too hotly condemned. The lawyer owes a duty to the court, and through the court to his government in the proper administration of justice. Any lawyer who foments litigation or who indulges in corrupt practices in the administration of justice is guilty of a high offense against the government itself and should be disrobed.

Comparatively few lawyers are unfaithful to their trust or forget the canons of the profession. It is said that the gloomy walls of our penitentiary keep in durance vile not a single lawyer. This is mute testimony either to their virtue or their great skill. The average lawyer is a respected citizen in his community. He lives a good life and dies a poor man.

The more eminent members of the profession, living and dead, may be numbered by the hundreds and their contributions to the public welfare cannot be over estimated. Even to catalogue them would unduly prolong this address, but their names would kindle your patriotism and fire your imagination for among them there would be Jefferson, Hamilton, Patrick Henry, Madison, Marshall, Harrison, McKinley, Rufus and Joseph Choate, Cleveland, Webster and Lincoln.

We cannot belong in that brilliant list, but we are part of the same ancient, learned and honorable profession whose task

it is to administer a one-third part of our government--exercising that divine prerogative of passing judgment between man and man and between citizen and state.

We are not mere hirelings of our clients; we are officers of the court and servitors of the commonwealth. It is for us to help to keep the fount of Justice pure and undefiled; entrance to her precincts easy; her laws simple and her judgments sure and just.

To that end I invite you to the concrete task set by our leaders to secure passage of uniform state laws, to assist the American Law Institute in its monumental labors, and to cooperate with our Judicial Council in all its recommendations, and support the court in maintaining the honor and integrity of our membership.

An Address by Silas H. Strawn, President of the American Bar Association

It would seem to be quite unnecessary for me to talk about the American Bar Association in the home of so popular and efficient a President as your fellow-townsman, Senator Long. I am sure that he has told you many time of the aims and purposes of the Association, what it has accomplished and what it is trying to do.

As you know, the principal object of the Association, as defined by its Constitution is "to advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice and uniformity of legislation and of judicial decision throughout the Nation, uphold the honor of the profession of the law and encourage cordial intercourse among the members of the American Bar.

The machinery consists of a president, a secretary, a treasurer and eleven other members of the Executive Committee and a council consisting of a representative from each state. Then, there are ten sections, fifteen standing committees and twelve special committees.

The sections are self-perpetuating in that they select their own officers and councils. However, the task of dividing one hundred and fifty places on the several committees among the 26,500 members of the Association requires great mathematical ingenuity. Due regard must be had not only as to ability and qualifications for the several committees, but to geographical considerations as well.

The activities of the Association cover a very wide range, embracing every branch of the law in which lawyers are interested.

I am assuming that the sections and the several committees will be active during the coming year. At this time I am particularly interested in increasing the membership, in order that the work of the Association may be increasingly useful. I am assuming that every lawyer desires to do all he can to promote the objects indicated in the charter to which I have referred. Obviously this cannot be done without co-operation and without being a member of the Association.

I believe membership in the Association is desirable for the following reasons:

(a) It identifies the lawyer with the only national organization of lawyers and, therefore, gives him at standing in his own community and recognition throughout the country. The names of all of the members are printed in the Year Book.

(b) From the Year Book, the Journal, and such other literature as is distributed from time to time, lawyers get information on every subject pertaining to their profession.

(c) There is no organization which affords an older lawyer such opportunities to become familiar with the technique of any subject in which he may be particularly interested, or a younger lawyer to acquire a more general education respecting the law and its administration.

(d) Any lawyer, even though he be not a member of any of the sections or committees, may actively participate in the work of the several sections and committees.

(e) While I would not advocate the unionizing of the Bar, I believe that every lawyer desires to do what he can to promote the due administration of justice and to uphold the ideals of his profession. The people look to the lawyers for leadership in the enforcement of the law and in the administration of justice. To realize the expectations of the public, therefore, it is necessary for lawyers to take an active part in all governmental and civic affairs. Their work is most effective when it is done collectively and pursuant to definite plans. These plans are evolved by the several committees of the Association.

(f) The meetings of the Association and of the committees afford opportunity for acquaintance among the members of the Bar and their families and are both entertaining and instructive.

(g) The cost of membership, $6.00 per year, in

cludes the Year Book and the Journal, which alone
are worth more than the annual dues.

I hope that the membership may be increased by at least 15,000 during the ensuing year, so that we shall have more than 40,000 members by the time of the next annual meeting.

Within the short time I have been in office, I have received many suggestions from the sane and insane on a variety of subjects.

One gentleman, formerly a railroad executive, now an amateur agriculturist, has filed a plea for the farmer. He "allows" that the governmental agencies ought to be compelled to handle the farmer's interest more sanely and that "in order to do this the 'parasitic' profession must be eliminated from Congress and State Legislatures. Take one of the strongest of these organizations, the American Bar Association. They never admit a fool, but will admit a knave. The members hold most of the Government offices and dominate the others. They help each other first, the rich, and the farmer last. They know the remedy for agriculture, but are ingenious in avoiding its application for the reason it will injure their clients." He gave as his remedy for the relief of the farmer the raising of "more hogs and fewer kids."

In my answer to the communication I felt obliged to admit that some of the members of the American Bar Association might be foolish, but that we tried to keep out the knaves, pointing out that we had a vigorous Committee on Professional Ethics and Grievances. Having been a farmer myself, I told him my heart was full of sympathy for the farmer and that I was willing to do all I could to help, but until his suggestion of "more hogs and fewer kids," I had heard no effective remedy.

I have another communication from a lady in Texas who wants me to have the licenses recalled from a long list of what she calls "shyster" lawyers in Texas and Oklahoma. She says she makes the appeal from the depth of a broken heart over a lost fortune and that others may not suffer. She also asks me to investigate a $25,000 prize offered by a gentleman in Washington for the best essay which wrongfully went to the head of one of our universities instead of to her. She prepared a plan for universal peace, which she claims my friend Nicholas Murray Butler stole and pawned off as his own at Oxford, England. Isn't that an outrage! Neither did she get credit for the plan of the Regional and Farm Loan Bank, which she sent to Mr. McAdoo. This too at a time when she needed the money because she had suffered a great loss by being compelled to accept 5 cents for cotton. She also claims credit for the first draft of the Universal Peace League, which

she sent to Woodrow Wilson in 1917. Peace seems to be the lady's hobby, like another unfortunate, who was discovered trying to sit astride the handles of a wheelbarrow in the yard of a lunatic asylum, and when asked whether that was his horse, replied "No," it was his "hobby," that he could get off a horse.

I dare say Senator Long during his term of office received many similar communications.

I am not discouraged! I am always receptive of suggestions and advice.

I read a recent article by that well-known authority on metalurgy, Professor C. K. Leith. Dr. Leith states the fact to be that three-fourths of the world's iron comes from one-half a dozen districts in the United States, England, France, Sweden and Spain; that two-thirds of the world's coal comes from the Eastern United States, England and Western Germany; that two-thirds of the world's copper comes from half a dozen districts in the Western United States and Chile, and that the Union of South Africa produces, over half the world's gold. That even the United States, which has a greater diversity of mineral resources than any other country in the world, lacks a considerable number of mineral supplies in sufficient quantities to meet modern demands. That the main industrial power belt of the world crosses the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and Northern France, with minor extensions eastward to other parts of Europe. That the United States originates and controls about 40 per cent of the world's mineral production and the United States and Great Britain together control at least 75 per cent. That by reason of their exploitation of power resources, coal, oil, gas and water, the North Atlantic countries, counting both man power and mineral power, are doing annually five times the mechanical work of the combined total of Russia, China and India, the three most populous countries of the world, although the population of the North Atlantic countries is only one-third as great. That is, with a fifth of the world's population, this group of North Atlantic countries is doing about two-thirds of the world's work. That the United States alone is doing about 40 per cent of the world's work and its next competitor, Great Britain, about one-fourth as much as the United States.

There are a few more facts to which I would invite your attention:

În 1876 our population was 45,000,000, now it is more than 117,000,000. Then our national wealth was estimated to be $40,000,000,000, now it is more than $370,000,000,000. Then our bank deposits were $2,000,000,000, now they are upwards of $48,000,000,000. Then our savings deposits numbered about