On the 30th day of November a meeting of literary men was held at New York City in memory of Mark Twain. It was attended by over 5,000 people who sought to honor the memory of the great American Humorist. Addresses were made on the occasion by Dean Howells, Joseph H. Choate, Henry Waterson, Champ Clark, Joseph Cannon and other celebrated writers and orators.

The Library of Congress is the third in size and number of volumes it contains. The National Library of France being the largest, and the British Museum the second in size and number of volumes.

The Constitutional Convention of Arizona, after adopting a Constitution, adjourned on the 9th day of this month.

The State of Oregon at its last general election adopted an amendment to its constitution, giving the voters of that state the right to express themselves on their preference for President and Vice-President before the National Conventions of the various political parties are held. It is a novel but a good provision.

On the 10th day of this month (December) Justice Harlan completed 33 years of service on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Only three others served longer: Chief Justice Marshall, Justice Field and Justice Joseph Story.

The population of the United States has increased from 74,565,906, in 1900, to 90,000,000. This present population would increase the number of Representatives in the lower house of Congress from 391, the present number, to 461. The ratio now being one Representative to 194,182 voters. This increase in the number of House Representatives is almost an assured fact for two reasons: First that a number of the older states have not increased their population and consequently would combine against a law increasing the number of voters to a representative, as they would lose representatives. The states that would lose representation

by enlarging the ratio would be Maine, Vermont, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska and Kansas. And secondly the southern states having suffrage laws against illiteracy would combine with the northern states against tampering with the present ratio.

HUMOR.

A colored man was brought before a police judge charged with stealing chickens. He pleaded guilty and received sentence, when the judge asked how it was he managed to lift those chickens right under the window of the owner's house when there was a dog in the yard.

"Hit wouldn't be no use, judge," said the man, to try to 'splain dis thing to yo' all. Ef you was to try it you like as not would get yer hide full of shot an' get no chickens, nuther. Ef yo' want to engage in any rascality, judge, yo' better stick to de bench, whar' yo' an familiar."

We received a few days since a poem from a firm of bright young lawyers recently located in Grove, Okla. We trust it does not express their individual situation, but the poem is interesting, and reads as follows:

The office is cold and damp,

No light to see, no oil in the lamp,
Letters on the table, nearly all duns,
For he who frolics must pay for the fun.
The landlord is coming to collect the rent,
I'm clean broke, havn't got a cent.
My pants are ragged, my cheeks are thin,
It's all going out and nothing coming in.
Sixteen books are all I possess,

A batterd old chair and a rickety desk,
Just one client, and he's in jail,

And can't get out for the lack of "cale".

The practice of law is simply great.
You open an office and trust to fate,
But if the clients don't come, I must go.
For one can't live by eating snow.

THE

OKLAHOMA

LAW JOURNAL

VOL. 9.

EDITED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

D. H. FERNANDES, GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA.

January, 1911.

No. 7.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

By Hon. T. J. Womack, President of the Oklahoma State Bar Association, as delivered on the 28 day of December 1910, at the annual Bar Meeting in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Gentlemen of the State Bar Association:

You are to be congratulated on this the Fourth Meeting of our Association under the sovereignity of Statehood.

The welcome we have received, the cordial and magnanimous hospitality so lavishly and generously bestowed, distinctively bespeaks not only the spirit of the Bar of this city, but is a reflection of good feeling, sentiments and aspirations of the Bar of the State.

If we are to accomplish the purposes for which this Association was formed, "to advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice, and, in the enactment of wise and useful legislation, uphold the honor of the profession of the law," it is logically certain that all other professions, calling, or vocation will share equally with us in the results.

To accomplish these purposes, more is required of the members, than to meet, listen to the annual address of the President, hear the reports of the various committees

discussions thereon, and with rapt attention give heed to the studiously and carefully prepared papers upon the subjects assigned. The vitalizing force necessary to accomplish these purposes must be put in action. Means must be devised and made effectual whereby the mature, well developed and crystalized thoughts contained in the 'reports of committees and in the papers read, may and will be utilized by the departments of State government. The science of jurisprudence cannot be advanced beyond the ideals and conceptions of those selected to administer it. High ideals and noble impulses in the mind of the lawyer does not effectuate these purposes. Thought and suggestion expressed in words, fails of purpose without action.

Bracton defines jurisprudence to be "the knowledge of things divine and human, the science of what is right and what is wrong." Coke defined the common law of England to be "a science social and comprehensive. To be social, in the sense here used, is to be united in a common bond of nearness and intercourse. To be comprehensive it must be clear and simple. Without a profound knowledge of things 'divine and human' how can the lawyer, or judge, rightly and justly determine 'what is right and what is wrong?" The lawyer and layman alike are creatures of environment. The conception of right and wrong is based upon the knowledge of things 'divine and human." Without such knowledge the advancement of the purpose first laid upon us in our constitution is impossible.

It is equally as essential in order "to promote the administration of justice" that the lawyer possess, in the highest degree possible, a profound knowledge 'of things divine and human" and of 'what is right and what is wrong. Armed with a goodly measure of this knowledge, the duty of promoting the administration of justice opens to his vision a wider field of activities. To quote from an address of a former President of the American Bar Association, "We are called by the very nature of the duties we assume to stand for others than ourselves; to defend their rights when assailed or threatened, and

to forget ourselves in the struggle for that which is entrusted in our keeping." To stand for others than ourselves and be united in a common bond of nearness and intercourse with our fellow men, we are called upon as lawyers, to give the community at large that superior knowledge "of things human and divine" and of "what is right and what is wrong" that every true lawyer ought to possess. By such action only can we "promote the administration of justice." The legislative, executive and judicial departments of organized society would be helpless and futile indeed, without such knowledge. Every grave question affecting the administration of justice has in all ages of civilization been referred to the lawyer for his counsel and advice. This necessity must be so, for he especially, perhaps as much as the sociologist, or publicist, is the constant student "of things divine and human" and "of what is right and what is wrong.' To accomplish these ends and 'advance the enactment of wise and useful legislation, "it is quite as essential that the lawyer's proper sphere should permeate every human endeavor; and thereby disseminate, to the greatest possible extent, the knowledge "of what is right and what is wrong." Especially should this be true and examplified in practice by the lawyers of this State. The reason of which is not far to seek. The great diversity of citizenship, resourses, business interests and social relations, demand of this State, and especially the members of this association, a grave and studious consideration of their duties and responsibilities. No field of endeavor furnishes so broad a scope, incentive so great, and opportunity so ample, to the true lawyer to apply the principles underlying and furnishing the deeper reason for the purposes for which this association was organized.

In this state, under conditions so very different than those existing in the past, or may in the future, we are carving out a system of local self goverment widely different than that of our predecessors and neighbors. We are following no beaten paths. We are hewing out of these heterogeneous conditions and environments a goy