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PROCEEDINGS.

heartily in favor of the motion that it shall be referred to a committee, and that an effort shall be made to have these improvements incorporated in our Practice Act.

MR. WILLIAMS: To me it occurs that Brother Riggs' criticism on the bringing up of this matter now is not apt. He was personally present when that report was made the other morning, and he is not very dull of comprehension. It seems to me that his objection should have been made then. I do know that the Commission, which is long since dead, had on its membership John S. Miller, Robert MeMurdy, William L. Gross and Walter S. Horton, who I think are pretty good lawyers. I do know that they gave their work painstaking attention for many a month, and that the compensation which was given for expenses did not nearly meet the expenses; that they did not work for fees. But this Association, a couple of times, has undertaken to and did endorse their work; it was also endorsed by the Cook County Bar Association. Now my feeling is that it were well to put the matter in the best shape possible. My memory is, and I mean to be accurate in that, that objections were made, and I know I chanced, personally, having been the humblest member of that Commission, to listen to the suggestions of the Supreme Court; the objections made to it by Judge Cartwright I would say were obviated by the striking out of those two sections. I do know that as a whole it is not objectionable to the members of the Court; I know that from the members of the Court themselves. It is time that in one way or another this be disposed of. It was not a Chicago matter, and it did have the careful consideration, as I said, of John S. Miller and Robert McMurdy and Walter S. Horton, as well as of Judge Gross, all painstaking lawyers who had at heart the best interests of the profession.

PRESIDENT PAGE: Are you ready for the question?

Calls for the question.

PRESIDENT PAGE: The question recurs upon the motion, in the shape of an amendment to postpone, made by Mr. Riggs.

PROCEEDINGS.

All in favor of Mr. Riggs' amendment will signify by saying aye. Not a voice is heard. The noes have it.

made by Mr.

All in favor of Those opposed?

The question recurs upon the motion as Pendarvis, which has been read several times. the motion will signify by the usual sign. Carried. There was nothing said in the motion about how this committee shall be appointed.

MR. PENDARVIS: By the Chair

PRESIDENT PAGE: Let it be by the incoming Chair; he has the responsibility of working with it. All in favor of this committee being appointed by the Chairman for next year, signify by saying aye. Those opposed? Carried.

MR. MATHENY: I have a supplementary report from the Committee on Admissions. John J. Coburn, recommended by Munson T. Case.

PRESIDENT PAGE: The name of John J. Coburn has been recommended for membership. What will you do with the report?

JUDGE HOLDOM: I move the report of the Committee be adopted.

The motion was seconded and carried.

MR. MATHENY: There are some other applications. including that of Mr. Rowe, but these have come in so late that I have been unable to get them to the Committee. They will have to be passed to next year.

PRESIDENT PAGE: If there is no further business before the Association, a motion to take a recess until the banquet this evening will be in order.

The motion to adjourn was made, seconded and carried.

ANNUAL BANQUET.

RECEPTION AND BANQUET.

The annual Reception and Banquet were given by the Association at the Chicago Beach Hotel, on Friday evening, July thirteen, and were in charge of the following committees:

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waiters get out of the room, and the Supreme Court gets through looking at the living pictures, we will start on the speaking program.

MR. STEVENS: Is there going to be anything said that the waiters ought not to hear?

PRESIDENT PAGE: I do not know. I am not responsible for what these men are going to say. In the Congress of the United States, when a man gets a great long speech that they will not let him deliver, he asks leave to print and then puts it in the Congressional record. Now there are on this program five other good speakers besides the toastmaster (laughter), and while I have an elegant speech prepared, I am going to preserve

ANNUAL BANQUET.

(Laughter and

it and ask leave to print after we get through. applause.) I notice that Brother Peck laughs. speech will take as well. (Laughter and applause.)

I hope his

The first speaker on the program is our guest, and I want to assure him, and I believe that all of you will join with me in assuring him, that we have taken great pleasure in having him as our guest today and this evening. I take pleasure in presenting to you the Hon. James Hagerman, of St. Louis. plause.)

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MR. HAGERMAN: Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: If there is one thing that I like about Illinois above another, it is its hospitality. There is another thing; it has the faculty of selecting for its chief and toastmaster, following the example of the savage tribes, the tallest and handsomest man for that office. (Laughter and applause.) There is another thing that I like about Illinois and that is, when you go from the east to the west you have to cross it before you reach Missouri. (Laughter.) And if you come from the west to the east you have to pass through Missouri first.

I have been very much gratified that you put me on the program to respond to the toast of "Guest," with the reception I have received. I have been treated with kindness from the moment that I touched your soil, and during this repast this evening I have had kindnesses which perhaps you have not enjoyed.

Now the difficulty I am laboring under is that the speech I am making tonight is not nearly so good as the speech I made today when none of you were here; I can vouch for that myself. I am without preparation on this occasion, but my heart speaks cut to you all for the kindness which you have shown me.

I came here in part, though, to defend my own state. We recently had a controversy between the State of Illinois and the State of Missouri, which reached the Supreme Court of the United States. The eventuality of that contest was not very pleasing to us Missourians because we were beaten. That was

ANNUAL BANQUET.

the question arising out of the Drainage Canal. Missouri instituted a suit against Illinois to prevent the discharge of the waters of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan into the Mississippi. Illinois defended it with all its might and vigor; the result was that in the end Illinois prevailed. But you must remember that in that contest the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the State of Missouri was right upon the law; that if the law was as we stated it-I mean if the facts were as we stated them, then the law was with us, though Illinois contended very seriously to the contrary. Yet they decider in favor of Illinois upon the facts. And that reminded me that in my early practice upon the borders of this State, but not in this State, I met an old Illinois lawyer who said that the practice had changed since the time when he was a young man; that then the client used to come to the lawyer and state the facts and ask what was the law under those circumstances, and what should be done; but now the client came to the lawyer and said, what facts are necessary to establish a given point. (Laughter and applause.) So it was not upon the law but upon this great ability of the State of Illinois to establish the facts that Missouri was defeated in this great contest. plause.)

(Ap

Now there is an innovation here tonight from what I have ever seen before. I have heretofore, at bar banquets, seen the gentlemen collected upon the main seats and the ladies as a fringe, like a beautiful bouquet, upon the outside. I remember very well in a speech that Mr. Choate made at a bar banquet celebrating the centennial of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1889, in the city of New York. He alluded to the fact that the men were all placed where they ought to be and where the wine was flowing and the fragrance of the Havanas was rising, and he said that the ladies, however, are in the galleries, and they served as a beautiful bouquet for the occasion, and he said that seemed to be an innovation at that time because the men's banquets had excluded the ladies altogether prior to

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