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15. To Sigmund Zeisler, expense incurred by Committee on

Membership in securing new members..

16. Salary of Secretary and Treasurer last half of 1898.... 17. Expense of Secretary attending Annual Meeting July, 1898

1 00

25 50

100 00

18 09

18. Marcus Pollaski, admission fee returned on withdrawal of application for membership.....

5 00

19. Clayton E. Crafts, admission fee returned on withdrawal of application for membership....

5 00

20. Edward Hoffman, delivering reports of 1898 to Springfield members

50

21. American Express Company, delivering Reports 1898 to
608 members

22. American Express Company, express charges on Reports
according to bill of items attached to voucher.......
23. Express charges and telegrams according to itemized
bills attached to voucher...

24. Salary of Secretary and Treasurer for first half of 1899
25. Expense of Secretary in attending meeting of Execu-
tive Committee at Chicago, June 7, 1899..
26. Frank Simmons, stationery, items according to bill at-
tached to voucher..

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ANNUAL MEETING AND BANQUET, JULY. 1898,

27. Kate S. Holmes for reporting proceedings of Annual Meeting, July, 1898

71 50

28. To employes at Chicago Beach Hotel, for services at meeting, July, 1898..

100

29. Jesse Holdom, chairman committee, excess of expense over receipts of annual banquet 1898 according to bills attached to voucher

Total expenditures

SUMMARY.

$353 49

277 80

$350 SC

$1,140 21

Total receipts, including balance carried forward from last year.....$2,343 27 Total expenditures

.$1,140 21

Balance on hand June 30, 1899..

.$1,203 06

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES H. MATHENY,
Secretary and Treasurer.

PROCEEDINGS.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., JUNE 30TH, 1899.

Mr. J. H. Matheny, City.

DEAR SIR:-In answer to your inquiry I would say that at the close of business at this date, there is on deposit in this bank to the credit of J. H. Matheny, Tr. Ill. State Bar Asso., the sum of $1,203.06.

Yours truly,

CHAS. L. ABELL, Assistant Cashier.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: Gentlemen, you have heard the report of the Secretary and Treasurer. I believe it has been the custom of the Association to appoint a committee to examine this report, and to report with their action, has it not? MR. MATHENY: Yes, sir.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: What action will you take upon this report?

MR. MATHENY: I move it be so referred.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: It is moved and seconded that this report be referred to a committee of three to be selected— by the chair?

A MEMBER: By the Chair.

Which motion was adopted.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: The chair will appoint the committee later.

JUDGE GROSS: The next order of business, as I observe, is the appointment of a committee to nominate officers for the ensuing year. I move you, sir, that the Chair appoint a committee of five to perform that duty and to report to this Association at some convenient hour on to-morrow.

Which motion was seconded and adopted.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: The Chair will appoint the several committees as soon as the Association meets after dinner. The next in order is the report of the Committee on Law Reform. The Chair will take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. Adolph Moses, chairman of that committee.

PROCEEDINGS.

MR. MOSES: Mr. President, this bulky report will not be read by me in full; I want to say this now to disabuse your minds. (Applause.) It has already been discredited by the address of the President to some extent.

The report will be found in Part II.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: Gentlemen, you have heard the report, what action will you take on it?

MR. GREGORY: Mr. President, as I understand the recommendation of the committee, it is that the matters touched upon in the report be referred to the next Committee on Law Reform; I will therefore move that the thanks of the Association be tendered to them for their very able and comprehensive report, and that it be referred to the Committee on Law Reform to be appointed at this session, for further consideration.

MR. MOSES: I second the motion; it ought to include the order for printing-it has already been done, however.

MR. ORENDORFF: Is that an amendment to the motion?
MR. GREGORY: It will be printed, any way.

GEN. MCNULTA: I move to amend by adding, "ordered printed." It is already printed, as a matter of fact, but there is no order of record for the printing.

JUDGE GROSS: Nor is any order necessary. Under our bylaws the Executive Committee is charged with the duty of directing what portion of the proceedings, and what public utterances which are made before this Association, shall appear in the printed record. Of course, this report will appear in that record.

GEN. MCNULTA: The amendment not being necessary, Mr. President, I will withdraw it.

VICE PRESIDENT WOOD: That is the opinion of the Chair in regard to all matters in regard to printing; while the order of the Association would be advisory yet, under the constitution and by-laws, as I understand it, the matter of printing is left with the Executive Committee. The motion is that the thanks of the Association be tendered to the committee and

PROCEEDINGS.

that the report be referred to the Committee on Law Reform to be appointed.

MR. ROSENTHAL: Mr. President, the Committee on Law Reform will not report this year, at the present meeting; it will go over, if I understand it right, to the next yearly meeting. Now, there are questions in here that might demand immediate action, like the calling of a constitutional convention, and other questions which ought to be discussed here and acted upon and pushed, and it ought to be done so as to have it before the people and be ready at the next session of the Legislature. The time between the meeting of the State Bar Association and the election of members to the Legislature is very short, and a good many of our suggestions cannot be brought at that time before the different members in the different counties, and there are such recommendations in here which I think ought to be discussed now; I think those ought to be pointed out, either by the chairman of the committee or by some member here, and be discussed here at our afternoon session, or to-morrow morning. I think there are questions in here -while I do not oppose the reference of it to the Committee on Law Reform, still that shall not prevent us, or ought not to prevent us from taking up certain questions during this session for debate and resolution.

JUDGE THORNTON: It will be observed from the report as read that very few of the bills prepared by the committee, if any of them, were noticed or went to the Legislature at all. Having had some experience in regard to this matter early in the history of this Association, I would suggest the further amendment. I recollect very well when the bill organizing the Appellate Court, was prepared by Judge Puterbaugh and Judge Gillespie, and myself. We attended the Legislature in person and met with the members until we got the report and got the bill in such condition that it passed. Preparing bills and giving them to the committees, or having them presented to the Legislature amounts to nothing at all unless you have a

PROCEEDINGS.

committee who will, in person, go to the Legislature and stay there until the law is passed. Therefore, I move to amend the motion now made, so that the Committee on Law Reform, or some committee, have the duty to attend the Legislature in person and prepare the bills and urge their passage and stay there until that is accomplished. We have a great interest at stake in this as lawyers, and I know personally that the Appellate Court bill, which is a great relief to the Supreme Court, and has been to the bar of the state, never would have passed but for the personal attention given to the law by the members of this Association, not only those I named but others also.

Objections were made by some of the members, to its constitutionality. Judge Puterbaugh and Judge Gillespie went in turn before the Supreme Court and obtained in confidence the opinion of the Supreme Court in regard to the law, and urged that upon the committee, and you will find that these laws will never be passed without such work. Take an illustration: The constitution requires that the Supreme Courtwhich has not been done for some years-shall report to the Legislature such changes in the law as have occurred to them in the administration of the laws. During the governorship of Governor Beveridge, the Supreme Court, of which I was then a member, was officially called upon by the Governor to prepare bills in accordance with the constitution. Judge Lawrence, a very scholarly gentleman, and Judge McAllister and myself were appointed a committee to prepare several im portant bills in pursuance of that provision of the constitution. We did so, transmitted them to the Governor, they were transmitted by him to the Senate, referred to a committee and nothing was ever heard of them again. Now the Supreme Court has a duty imposed upon it to prepare these laws; the Legislature pay no heed to it, and you never can accomplish anything in the world in getting these reforms, many of those in this report being necessary, unless we have a committee from the Bar Association to be there during the

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