we encourage them; and, shall delegates from such chapters be recognized by conventions and have the same standing as other delegates? Shall the petition of the Shiras Law Club of the Western University of Pennsylvania Law School for a charter, be considered favorably or not? Is it not wise to have the constitution amended so that the conventions, and not the chapters, will in the future act on such petitions? In what way shall the Fraternity extend aid to Gibson, Miller and Conkling chapters? Perhaps the last does not need it, but the first two certainly do. Shall we try to make Phi Delta Phi a lawyer's fraternity, as well as a law student's fraternity; and if so, shall conventions be held in the summer months when alumni could attend; and arrange for such papers and addresses as will appeal to the practicing lawyer?

Speaking of the Shiras Club, we have just received a catalogue of the Pittsburg Law School of the Western University of Pennsylvania, of which institution the school is a part. The University gives instruction in Arts, Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dentistry. The Engineering course is especially good. There are 822 students in all departments, 69 of whom are in law. The law school was started in 1895. It is a three-year-course school. More than half of its students are college graduates, and the school occupies the old buildings of the university in the center of town. Several Pittsburg Phi Delta Phi men have written recommending that a charter be granted. The law school is perhaps small, but it seems to be of a good grade. All in all, the Shiras petition is well worth considering.

A WORD TO THE CHAPTER AND THE ALUMNI

EDITORS.

A new set of chapter editors begins duty this fall and we take this opportunity of saying a word to them. When one is writing chapter letters for the BRIEF, two things should be kept in mind: firstly, that the letter is to be read by the fellows of the Fraternity, and, secondly, that those fellows are either law students or lawyers. The Chapter editors of last year did well

on the Fraternity news but they missed the second point almost entirely. We want the letters this year to cover both the Fraternity and the legal side of chapter life. Of course, we wish to know the conditions of the chapters, etc., but we also wish fuller reports of those chapter meetings at which legal addresses are made. If these addresses are too long to publish in full, summarize them and tell the other chapters what views were held. Tell them also what your moot courts are doing; the cases under discussion, arguments, etc. Don't make the letters wordy by trying to cover too much space. "Boil things down" and put in the meat of the matter. We want a letter from each chapter, each quarter; and to get up the right kind of letters, the chapter editors must keep notes. We repeat "Boil things down"; get the letters terse, newsy, and to the point; remember that you are writing the letters to a fraternity of law students, most of them of age, too; tell happenings in the fewest possible words; write to interest the fellows and not to fill the space and you will find that "Chapter Letters" will be the most readable part of the BRIEF. To alumni editors, our advice is bear down hard on the legal news. The alumni news is getting better and better with each issue but don't confine efforts to such items as this: "Bro. John Doe, '99, has opened an office for the general practice of law in the Temple building, Cosmos, Texas." Tell something also, if possible, of interest about "Bro. Doe." Has Bro. Jones or Bro. Smith, or Bro. Brown had an interesting law suit recently? If so, tell about that law suit and how it was handled. Has the alumni editor had any odd suits or met with odd points of law? If so, tell about such suits or points. If there are any special decisions or freaky legal things done in your locality, publish them. Remember that you too are writing to a fraternity of law students or lawyers and the aim of the BRIEF is to interest its readers. And before we stop let us suggest right here to the chapter editors as well as to the alumni editors that the BRIEF needs subscribers and that one of the best ways to serve the Fraternity is to get the name of a member on our subscription book. You meet many whom we cannot reach and a word from you will make them subscribers. Please speak the word.

PHI DELTA PHI JUDGES, CLERKS-OF-COURT, ETC. Many instances have come to our notice where it might have been to the advantage of a Phi Delta Phi lawyer had he known that the clerk or the judge of the court before which he was appearing was also a member of the Fraternity. Small courtesies and favors, and at times suggestions-especially when one is appearing in a strange court-are many times greatly desired and if one knows that the one from whom he must ask the favor or courtesy belongs to our Order a common footing is established toward furthering such courtesies. Very few of our alumni wear pins and still fewer know the ins and outs of the catalogue sufficiently well to know how many Phi Delta Phi men are connected with any particular court. For these reasons, we intended to publish in the BRIEF for this quarter as full a list as possible of Phi Delta Phi men in official positions. The alumni editors of the several chapters were asked to give us such aid as they could in preparing the list. We added what we could to their returns and sent the results to secretary Katzenberger for final shaping. The list is now received from him. It consists of twenty closely type-written pages and some six hundred names, and in its present condition is entirely too bulky to appear in this issue of the BRIEF. It will be condensed, corrected in the light of the November elections and published in the next BRIEF. In the meantime, we trust that any recent changes which affect such a list will be reported to us.

THE FRATERNITY AND RECENT BAR ASSOCIATION MEETINGS.

Members of the Fraternity took a rather prominent part in the various legal gatherings of the past summer. We have undoubtedly missed the names of many who addressed such meetings, but the gatherings and names and addresses of those we noticed are as follows: Ohio Bar Association, Judge Stewart, Swan, of the Ohio Supreme Court, on "The Education of Lawyers"; Illinois Bar Association, Judge J. B. Cossoday, Harlan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, "John Scott

and John Marshall, or Lord Eldon and Chief Justice Marshall"; Prof. Harvey B. Hurd, Booth, of Northwestern University Law School, on " Statutory Revision"; Georgia Bar Association, Prof. Charles Noble Gregory, Harlan, of the University of Wisconsin Law School, on "Lawyers and Their Making "; Pennsylvania Bar Association, Hon. John K. Richards, Swan, on "The Constitution and the New Territories"; Michigan Bar Association, Prof. B. W. Thompson, Kent, of the University of Michigan Law School, on "The Appointment of Judges," Judge Claudius B. Grant, Kent, of the Michigan Supreme Court, on "Judge Cooley"; The American Bar Association, Prof. Chas. Noble Gregory on "The State of Legal Education in the World," Prof. E. A. Harriman, Booth, of the Northwestern University Law School, on "Ultra Vires Corporation Leases"; Prof. H. B. Hutchins, Kent, dean of the Michigan University Law School, on "The Law School as a Factor in University Education"; Annual Meeting of the London (Eng.) Society for the Extension of University Teaching, Prof. A. V. Dicey, Choate, of Oxford, on "Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century "; meeting of the American Social Science Association, Washington, D.C., Prof. Isaac F. Russell, Field, of the New York University Law School, on The Domain of the Written Law"; and Christopher G. Tiedeman, LL.D., Tiedeman, on "Suppression of Vice; How far a Proper and Efficient Function of Popular Government."

The list of the delegates present at the American Bar Association meeting who formed the Association of American Law Schools, contained the names of many members of Phi Delta Phi.

Professor Gregory, Harlan, presided at the meeting. Prof. Jas. B. Thayer, Choate, was elected president, Professor Bryant, Harlan, dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School; Prof. W. S. Patlee, Dillon, dean of the University of Minnesota Law School; Prof. James Barr Ames, Choate; Prof. Geo. C. Chase, Story, dean of the New York Law School; Prof. L. G. Kinne, McClain; Prof. E. E. Barrett, Fuller, dean of the Chicago Law School, etc., took prominent parts.

The list might with care be extended considerably, but we trust that as it is it is sufficient to show that Phi Delta Phi is developing as it should.

CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP.

In one sense, the chapters of the Fraternity are fortunate in that as a rule they have no rival organizations to contend with. It enables them to select the best men in each class irrespective of other considerations. We have observed, however, the strong tendency upon the part of chapters having no rivals to contend with, to restrict their membership unduly. Phi Delta Phi never was intended to be a select social club, it was intended to be a fraternity of educated lawyers, and the restrictions which would naturally govern membership in a purely social organization, should not obtain among our chapters. Of course we do not mean to say that members should be selected without reference to social qualifications, but such social qualifications should not form the principal criteria of desirability in selecting new members.

THE FRATERNITY AS A BUSINESS EXCHANGE.

We are not acquainted with the total membership of the Bar Association of the United States. It has pleasant meetings which no doubt tend to widen the circle of acquaintance of those who attend them, and possibly to afford to them some gain in knowledge from hearing the papers which are presented at the meetings read and discussed. It probably has not occurred to many of our members that Phi Delta Phi forms in effect a Bar association, which is at the present time larger and is undoubtedly more select in material than the organization to which we refer. It may well form a subject for discussion at the present time, whether or not it will not become advisable in the near future to hold conventions or meetings of our entire membership,

['The Sept.-Oct. Am. Law Rev. (Vol. 34, No. 5), p. 741, states the membership in round numbers to be 1,500. The membership of the Fraternity, as shown by the January BRIEF, is very near 4,500.-ED.]