standingly believe that they are entitled to better and more efficient representatives, they will get them; but the change will not come from amendments to the machinery of government. Representative government has been and always will be an expression of the public demand, the public choice, and no sort of mechanism will permanently change this rule. FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 1:30 O'CLOCK THE PRESIDENT: At this time I will name the delegates to the American Bar Association, viz: D. C. Shull, Sioux City; J. N. Hughes, Cedar Rapids; I. N. Flickinger, Council Bluffs. MR. D. T. STOCKMAN: At the meeting of this Association one year ago, immediately after the President's Address, Mr. J. O. Crosby submitted the question of the collateral inheritance tax, which was continued at his request, to be taken up immediately after the President's Address this year. I understand Mr. Crosby is not present. I therefore move you, that the subject of the discussion of this topic be continued to be taken up following the Address of the President next year, and the Secretary be notified to inform Mr. Crosby of the action of the Association. The motion was unanimously carried. REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SENATOR C. G. SAUNDERS: In the absence of the President, I was selected Chairman of this committee. I beg leave to report on behalf of the committee, that the next meeting of the Association has been fixed at Burlington, Iowa, on the last Thursday and Friday in June, June 25 and 26, 1914. REPORT OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE SENATOR C. H. VAN LAW: Your committee beg to report the following nominations: For President, John F. Lacey, Oskaloosa. For Vice-President, F. F. Dawley, Cedar Rapids. For Librarian, A. J. Small, Des Moines. I move you that the rules be suspended and the Secretary cast the ballot of the Association for the persons named as nominees for the respective offices. MR. R. M. HAINES: Without any desire to interfere with the report of this committee, I wish to call attention to the fact that for the last eight or nine years, at every meeting of the Association, we have varied from the fundamental law, which provides that the officers of the Association shall be selected without the intervention of a nominating committee. I do not care to raise the point of order at this time, but only call attention to the fact that it is a part of our fundamental law, and suggest that hereafter, or even at the present time the nominations be made from the floor of the convention, so that we may conform with the spirit of the fundamental law. I therefore move as a substitute to the acceptance of the report of this committee, that John F. Lacey be elected as President of this Association for the ensuing year. The motion was duly seconded and carried. MR. D. D. MURPHY: I nominate F. F. Dawley for Vice-President. The nomination was duly seconded and unanimously carried. MR. J. H. MCCONLOGUE: I move you, that H. C. Horack be selected as Secretary of this Association. The nomination was duly seconded and carried. MR. R. M. HAINES: I nominate Mr. Frank T. Nash as Treasurer of The Association. The nomination was duly seconded and carried. SENATOR VAN LAW: I nominate Mr. A. J. Small as Librarian of this Association. The nomination was duly seconded and carried. THE PRESIDENT: The next in order is the Report of the Committee on Law Reform, Dean E. B. Evans, Chairman. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LAW REFORM DEAN EVANS: The printed report of the committee is as follows: To the Iowa State Bar Association: Your Committee on Law Reform submits the following report, which we deem sufficiently important to merit the consideration of this Association. While one or more of the committee are affirmatively in favor of the adoption of each item in the report, and as to some of them all of the committee are in favor of their adoption, we have deemed it prudent to submit this report for the consideration and discussion of the Association without recommendation. I Notwithstanding the negative action of this Association expressed in its session of 1911, and again in 1912, your committee is of the opinion that one of the necessary reforms in our law is an amendment providing that a case shall be reversed by the Supreme Court only when that Court is satisfied that the error on which the reversal is based affected the substantial rights of the appellant. II To amend the statutes so as to provide that an action to set aside the probate of a will must be brought within two years. III The probate of a will should be had upon notice and petition as in any ordinary action; objections to the will and to the probate thereof to be by answer. IV Persons related within the fourth degree should be disqualified to act in the capacity of guardian of property of minors. V In an action for damages based upon personal injuries, when a contingent fee is contracted for, such contract shall be presented to the court and receive the approval of the court before the action is commenced, and without such approval such contract shall be void. VI The interest of all distributees in an estate should be established by a final decree. VII Requests for instructions must be submitted to the court before argument begins. All exceptions to instructions given or refused must be taken before they are read to the jury. No exception, unless so taken, will be considered on a motion for new trial, or by the Supreme Court. VIII In all actions for divorce, if the defendant does not appear either in person or by attorney, the court must appoint the county attorney or some other attorney to investigate the case on behalf of the State, and it shall be the duty of such attorney so appointed to investigate the case carefully, to discover if fraud or collusion exists between the parties, and by answer to report his finding to the court; a fee of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars in favor of such attorney to be taxed as costs in the case. IX When a party demurs to a pleading, thus raising an issue of law for the court, he should either stand upon the demurrer and appeal or waive the question submitted by the demurrer. E. B. EVANS, J. J. CLARK, C. H. VAN LAW, W. E. JOHNSTON, A. N. HOBSON, ROBERT HEALY, Committee on Law Reform. Mr. Dawley favors propositions II and V but is against the other propositions. Mr. Clark favors all the propositions except IV. Mr. Healy is opposed to propositions IV and V, does not fully favor VII, and is opposed to IX. Mr. Van Law is against VII and IX. I think there are one or two reforms that we ought, as a matter of conforming with our actions, unanimously adopt, and instead of calling this the Report of the Committee on Law Reform, we ought to designate it as the annual memorial service, by which we bury every proposition that is submitted to the Bar Association along the line of reform. I am persuaded, after a careful study, having had occasion to go into the civil code procedure in this State every year from the beginning to the end, and to compare it frequently with the codes of procedure of other States, that there are few of the States that have as forcible, direct, and efficient codes of procedure as has the State of Iowa. The Committee on Law Reform submits its report this year with the following sentence in the first paragraph: "We have deemed it prudent to submit this report for consideration and discussion by the Association without recommendations." Some one suggested in my hearing that the committee was led to make the reports without recommendations because of the fear that some of its recommendations might not be approved. That was not the leading thought at all. Last year we succeeded in getting a part of one recommendation adopted and the legislature was persuaded to act in accordance with our recommendation, when some lawyer who had occasion to read the Constitution recently discovered that the question was unconstitutional. We submitted one question last year, with respect to non-partisan election without recommendation and that was almost passed by the legislature, so we conceived the idea of making this recommendation this year as we did. The committee have not been able to hold a meeting at which all members were present. The report is largely brought about by correspondence. We have succeeded in getting a respectable minority of the committee to favor the recommendations. I think there were eighty-seven recommendations submitted to the committee. We have submitted nine herewith. As to the second and seventh recommendations, the legislature anticipated your approval and passed amendments in line therewith. As to the seventh, almost the entire suggestions are embraced in the law passed by the last General Assembly. As to the second recommendation "To amend the statute so as to provide that an action to set aside the probate of a will must be brought within two years," a statute was enacted bringing that down to one year. So I do not believe it will be necessary to consider these two propositions. Coming now to the first recommendation of the committee, |