mission of the lawyers to aid in molding public sentiment rather than flying political kites with weather-vane pennants attached, to discover perchance which way the wind blows.

When it is proposed to threaten the courts with extinction and their members with punishment when they follow their honest convictions as trained lawyers simply because they uphold an unpopular law enacted by the constituted authorities, surely the time has come when the patriotic members of the legal profession should at least be willing to agree, to "view with alarm". The cry of the demagogue that we fear to trust the people is not sufficient answer. The American people are to be trusted upon all occasions provided they can be given all the facts and will take the time and opportunity to properly and thoroughly inform themselves upon the question at issue. One of the great troubles with the average lawyer, is, he believes himself an embryonic statesman, sure to grow and expand into great glory when fully understood. He fears, because of that lurking ambition, to give honest expression to his opinions upon many questions concerning which he is best informed.

Necessarily the members of the bar of this State, as well as the members of the bar of any other State, will disagree about many questions of public importance involving special legal learning, but experience and observation gives abundant foundation for the belief that a thorough discussion by the bar of this or any other State of any such question would result in an expression of opinion well worthy the sober consideration of the people at large. Every thoughtful man believes in progress whether industrial or in politics, but as liberty does not mean license, so progress does not mean revolution.

Only through respect for the teachings of experience and through loyalty to due process of law can government of the people, by the people, for the people continue upon the earth.

The lawyers of this country owe the cause of liberty and popular government a great duty, and their influence can be best exerted by proper union and coöperation.

We owe it to ourselves and the great profession to which we belong and which we love, to protect it and its high ideals from

within and from without. We owe it to the Government under which we live and prosper, for our own sakes and for the sake of posterity, for the greatest good of the greatest number in the years to come, to apply ourselves patriotically and diligently to the proper solution of all great questions and particularly those concerning which of necessity we must be specially informed.

With the hope and belief that every action of this convention will be attuned to some such high ideal, I again bid you a hearty welcome to our midst.

THE PRESIDENT: The next number this morning is the response to the address of welcome, by Senator John Hammill, of Britt.

RESPONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME

SENATOR HAMMILL: Mr. President and Members of the State Bar Association: I believe it was Josh Billings who said he could make an impromptu speech if he was given a week in which to make preparation for the speech. I might be able to do that myself if I had been given an opportunity to make preparation. I cannot complain but what I had sufficient time, but I am supposed to respond to the address of welcome by the man who just preceded me when I had no opportunity to see his speech, or what was wrapped up in his mind.

Nevertheless, we are glad of the opportunity of being at Cedar Rapids. In behalf of the Iowa State Bar Association, I desire to express to Mr. Grimm and the members of the bar of Cedar Rapids our gratefulness to them for these kind words of welcome. We are grateful not only to the bar, but to the citizens of Cedar Rapids for the welcome which they have given us. Only a short time ago I was present in your city at the State Convention, and the welcome which you accorded the delegates at that time, was an assurance that our welcome at this time would be pleasing and profitable. At that time your citizens were around with their automobiles taking the various delegates out to see your beautiful city, and I note the invitation you have extended to the members of the bar at this time which indicates that you will again take the members of the bar out over your beautiful city. One need only to travel over your city to be

impressed with your beautiful homes, splendid schools and magnificent churches and good business buildings, and one is soon convinced that you have one of the most progressive cities in the State, and I can assure you that we are glad to be with you on this occasion.

We have assembled here for various purposes; we have assembled to discuss matters of importance to the lawyers and judicial affairs of the State, and it is highly important that we be cautious and careful in our deliberations. This fact was never more forcibly brought home to me than in my experience in the Senate. No recommendation was given more weight by the Judicial Committee than the recommendations of the State Bar Association. This fact convinced me that the members of this Association should consider all questions and problems before them and weigh them carefully and reach conclusions which are just and right, in order that the confidence which the people of the State and the members of the Legislature have in our judgment should not be betrayed, and in no better way can this be done than by a frank and open discussion of these problems at this time. The more we discuss them, the better we will understand them, and in a better position we will be to advance the profession of the law and the judiciary.

True, at this time much criticism is being offered of judges and decisions. I think a great deal of it is unfounded. Perhaps here and there, there may be some criticism urged against some particular judge, but I believe, taking the judges as a whole, there are no higher class of men holding any position anywhere than the judges we have. Sometimes when the lawyer is not successful he feels that the decision of the judge which has been adverse to him is wrong and that he ought to have won his case. But, as he goes on and makes further study, and gets away from the prejudice that perhaps was created on account of the interest he had in his client, and takes the case to the Supreme Court, and there it is adverse to him, he usually finds the decision is right.

I do not believe in this agitation now being made against the judges. We find men, as was stated by the gentleman who extended you your welcome here, who make criticism of judges

and decisions. Some of it is coming from men of wealth; men whose property rights and personal liberties have been protected in the courts, and they are criticising the courts without any just foundation for their criticisms, and the principal reason for their criticism is, a lack of knowledge of judicial decisions and the administration of our law. These men criticise the courts because some particular decision has been against them. No doubt if a proper analysis could be made of that particular decision, it would be found to be right and that the individual, in his opinion, was wrong. We sometimes find lawyers, and occasionally a judge, criticising the courts and the administration of justice, and they are not doing it so much because they think the decision is bad, but because of their desire to cater to public clamor for some advancement along some line and not for the good of the judiciary or the public generally. I hope the time may never come when our judiciary will be in the hands of the ordinary office seeker. Suppose you would apply the rule of the recall to some of the judges who are called upon to enforce the liquor laws in some of our counties, what would happen to them? There is no question in my mind but that some of them would be recalled, yet every one of us would have to admit it was their duty to enforce the law.

I must not in this response to this welcome assume to advise you, for others more fitted than I have been assigned that duty. In conclusion, let me assure you, we appreciate your words of welcome and your hospitality and we will try to so conduct ourselves that when we leave your city your good opinion of us will be continued, and that we will stand as high at the close of the session in your admiration as we did in the beginning. I thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I am pleased to see so many members of the Iowa Bar present at our opening session this morning. The session bids fair to be a very successful one, and the attendance, I am satisfied, will be quite large, as I know a considerable number who will arrive on the trains later in the day.

Before proceeding with the regular business of the Association, I think a few announcements should be made. The Honorable

William Renwick Riddell, Justice of the King's Bench Division, High Court of Justice for Ontario, will deliver the Annual Address to-morrow. It is my understanding that he will arrive here this afternoon about 3:20, and with your permission, I will appoint Chief Justice Emlin McClain, Honorable J. L. Carney, of Marshalltown, and Honorable Carl F. Kuehnle, of Denison, as a committee to meet the Justice and escort him to the hotel and later to this meeting.

The banquet will be given to-night, at the Montrose Hotel, at 7 o'clock. I wish to say, because the Local Committee cannot with becoming modesty say it, that that committee is going to give you about a three dollar banquet for $1.50, and the local bar are bearing a very considerable part of the expense. We have a splendid program, both of addresses and music, and I am sure every one of you will be charmed and delighted, and that you will treasure this evening in your memory for years to come. I will ask the Chairman of the Local Committee, to make such announcements as he cares to at this time.

MR. CHAS. R. SUTHERLAND: It has been planned to have a sufficient number of automobiles at the Montrose Hotel at 4 o'clock, and we hope to be able to accommodate every member of the Bar Association and take you a ride around the city, which will last for an hour, perhaps, and then we will go to the Country Club, where there will be an informal reception from 5:30 to 6:30, after which time it is planned to return to the Montrose Hotel for the banquet at 7 o'clock.

THE PRESIDENT: The first order of business is the report of the Committee on Membership, by Mr. Albert T. Cooper, of Cedar Rapids. Mr. Cooper has given a good deal of time and attention to this work and he is to be commended for the able manner in which he has discharged his duties.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP

To the Iowa State Bar Association:

Your Committee on Membership beg leave to report that they have received written applications in due form from the follow