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erty; create no disorder; excite no mobs." And he added:

"We believe . . . in obedience to and respect for the judicial department of the government. We think its decisions on constitutional questions when fully settled should control not only the particular cases decided but the general policy of the country, subject to be disturbed only by amendments of the Constitution as provided in that instrument itself. More than this would be revolution."

THE BAR IN THE WAR-ITS WAR COMMITTEES AND ITS PARTICIPATION IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE SELECTIVE SERVICE LAW AND REGULATIONS

III

THE BAR IN THE WAR-ITS WAR COMMITTEES AND ITS PARTICIPATION IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE SELECTIVE SERVICE LAW AND REGULATIONS 1

WHEN this country became involved in the European War, bar associations throughout the country formed committees to organize war work in which members of the bar might be useful. In the city of New York, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers' Association, the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the County of the Bronx, the Queens County Bar Association, the Richmond County Bar Association and the Lawyers' Club, each appointed a War Committee. These committees announced that their purpose was to consider how members of the associations they represented might render assistance to the government, to the state, and to the city, and might also extend aid to members of the legal profession serving with the land and naval forces of the country, and their dependents. For the purpose of avoiding duplication of labor and expense and of securing efficiency, these committees were on May 2, 1917, amalgamated and there resulted the War Committee of the Bar of the City of New York which has since, in a variety of ways, made itself useful in connection with war work.

The War Committee first sought to marshal the

1 Address delivered at the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association held in New York York city January 11-12, 1918, by Mr. Taft, chairman of the War Committee of the Bar of the City of New York.

resources of the bar of New York City by addressing a circular letter to its 14,000 members, inviting their coöperation and requesting them to give information which would aid the committee in organizing the work. Responses were received from nearly 4,000 lawyers and information was thus obtained which, on being classified and card catalogued, has enabled the committee to call to its assistance members of the bar as occasion has arisen.

It has been an important part of the work of the committee to give to enlisted men and their dependents gratuitous advice concerning their personal affairs before they leave the country. This work has included the settlement of claims growing out of controversies over leases and other contracts, the drawing of wills, trust deeds and other papers, advice with reference to real estate, life insurance and partnership matters, and concerning the adjustment of domestic difficulties of a variety of kinds and the right of municipal employees to receive a portion of their salaries after entering the military service. This work has been dealt with under the direction of a subcommittee by a force of volunteer lawyers who have been pretty continuously engaged upon it. The committee has not undertaken to conduct lengthy litigations or otherwise to perform legal services which promised to be protracted, and especially where the financial condition of applicants has made it suitable that they should employ their own lawyers and pay for their services. It has rather devoted itself to settling the exigent affairs of men called into the service, by giving them reliable, prompt and gratuitous legal assistance. In order that enlisted men should know what the committee offered to do, notices have been inserted in the newspapers and have been posted in armories,

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