of the gentlemen whose statistics have been read here to-day may have had some influence on the result. Without going any further with this discussion, I hold in my hand a petition signed by six hundred lawyers of the city of Buffalo, asking for this legislation. They are not all politicians, and they do not all want to be appointed district judges or clerks. I claim five hundred and ninetyseven, out of the six hundred, sign it uninfluenced by any personal consideration except to have the district divided, because they believe it to be for the interest of litigants. I hold in my hand also a petition signed by two hundred lawyers of the city of Rochester, leaders of the Bar there, of the same character. I would like to read you the names, and you would recognize them as your brethren, who certainly wouldn't go into this thing if they didn't feel it was the right thing to do. I hold in my hand a petition from Niagara Falls and Lockport, and the Chautauqua and Alleghany district, the entire western part of the State. This matter was discussed thoroughly in the public prints, and the bill proposed here was printed in the papers and circulated, and this has been discussed at the Special Terms and other times and places where lawyers came together. Sometimes we have come to the District Court and found we had to sit around for several days, to wait until some Indian, who has sold six cents worth of fire water, or some white man who has sold the Indian six cents worth of fire water, was tried. Mr. Cuneen and myself argued a case at the last Circuit Court, involving an assessment-roll of upwards of $300,000, which had an important constitutional question involved, and we had to wait four days before we could be heard, and we were forced to come in and argue the case, and go without our lunch. Our stomachs cry aloud against that sort of thing. The reason We we had to do it was so they could go on and try the Indian case, and do their criminal work, and not keep their grand jury and petit jury waiting. Notwithstanding the clerk of the Circuit Court furnished these statistics, and seems to be opposed to the bill, the gentleman that appointed him, the Hon. William J. Wallace, was yesterday in Washington favoring this bill before the Judiciary Committee. I think the members of the Bar Association will be inclined to follow Judge Wallace rather than the clerk. The question of expense has come up. I want to answer that in two ways. They say it will cost $100,000. Let it. The statistics we furnish here, and which are not furnished by this clerk, but which should properly come from the United States Marshal's office, will show in traveling expenses alone of witnesses and attorneys, that more than $100,000 will be saved by the creation of this district. show you on our circular one case, I won't mention now, that will give you some idea how those expenses mount up, of carrying witnesses from one end of this district to the other. There are some things about this bill that I do not know about. I have only been consulted about the matter in the last ten or twelve days, although I have always been in favor of dividing this district. The question of how the courts should be held, and what times and places, and how they should be held in the remainder of the district, that is left, which will also have about a million and a half population, that is a detail of the bill that I don't pretend to know. That is a detail the committee, of course, will manage. If any judge has any comment to make on that, all he has to do will be to write a note to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and explain why they do not want the terms held at the times and places named, and they can be changed. All we ask you to do is not to postpone this thing, and jolly it along as our friends from Utica, where the clerk's office is located, desire, but we want it passed; we want the sentiment of this Association; we want to back up Judge Wallace by this Bar Association. The Bar Associations of the city of Rochester and of Buffalo are in favor of this thing. We want the State Bar Association to say they think it is a good thing. I would be glad to have the Secretary read our memorial. Mr. Wilcox: I ask Mr. Becker to withdraw his request for a moment only. Mr. Becker: Certainly. Mr. Wilcox: I ask the privilege of the Chair merely to say a word in favor of the motion, as I am obliged to leave the meeting immediately, and cannot get back before the vote is taken. I hope I may be regarded as favoring Mr. Becker's motion. This is a matter which interests not only the lawyers of western New York, but our clients, and not only clients who live in western New York, but those who come from long distances, who have interests there of very great magnitude. I am anxious not to go into any elaborate discussion of the question, and, therefore, I speak specially of the questions that are familiar to myself. I happen to personally represent very considerable insurance interests, some of which are centered in London and other English cities, which do a large amount of insurance on our lakes, and I know those interests are very greatly affected in their dealings, not only with Buffalo but the whole marine interests of our lake, by the fact that the facilities for conducting marine litigation are growing to be so bad. Formerly Buffalo has suffered by having busi ness of that kind taken away and done at Detroit, Toledo and other cities. The facts are, as will be shown when this memorial comes to be read, the conditions are now changed, so that the business cannot be done to advantage in Detroit any longer, and the natural and proper place to do it is in Buffalo, and I can testify as a matter of fact we very greatly need the United States District Court, not merely a clerk's office, but a court in Buffalo, where we can try our cases speedily. There is one statement which has been made by my friend, the clerk, for whom I have the highest esteem, and which my warm friend, Judge Coxe, has repeatedly made to me on this subject, that I want to bring to the attention of this Association. It is that any marine cases or patent cases which can be tried in this district could be tried speedily if the parties agreed to try them, and if they could agree upon a date, and write to the judge to fix the time, when his other engagements would permit him to do so, he would fix a time, and he has said to me he would come to Buffalo and try cases. We would like to have him come and live there, and do business there; no man that we love more; but the fact is, as you know, as every practising lawyer knows, those conditions never existed. You never can get both sides of a lawsuit to agree, almost never to agree upon a date in advance, and bring together witnesses from remote places, and present them to a judge and get him to fix a time in such a way that you can bring things to a head. The opportunity of compelling the trial of a case in Buffalo is You can absolutely wanting. Terms of court do not exist. not put a case on the calendar and force it to trial in the ordinary way, and without that you cannot try your case. I know cases have drifted along term after term, where one party was ready at one term and the other party at another, and they never get ready at the same time. That is so per fectly well known that we do not bring cases in that court. Constantly we bring cases in the State court which we would like to take in the Federal courts, and cases are sent out of this State that ought to be tried in the western district of New York. The statistics presented here, although they sound very serious, are entirely fallacious. If the business of the court is diminishing, it is diminishing because the facilities for doing business are so poor, that lawyers are discouraged, and do not bring business in that court. The real way to increase business for the accommodation of clients is to have a division of the district, and a court that will be constantly sitting at the proper center of the district, which is at Buffalo, ready to do business in the proper way. I thank you, gentlemen, for allowing me to say what I have to say at this time, and I am sorry I have to withdraw. The President: The Secretary will read the memorial referred to by Mr. Becker. The following memorial was then read by the Secretary: IS IT DESIRABLE THAT THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK BE DIVIDED AND AN ADDITIONAL FEDERAL DISTRICT This is one of the questions proposed by the Committee on Law Reform of the New York State Bar Association for discussion at its annual meeting, to be held in the city of Albany, on January 16th and 17th, 1900, in connection with the report of the committee, and immediately following it. Each member who will not be present at the meeting is earnestly urged to write a letter to the Secretary of the Association, to be read at that meeting, stating his |