of the court that there was not a solitary case left in the Clerk's office that was at issue that had not been disposed of by the Supreme Court. (Applause.) Can you ask anything better than that? The practical results show to my mind the wisdom of the adoption of the new rules of procedure, limited as they were, but important as they were, to obtain the results which I am suggesting to you as having been attained in the Supreme Court of this state. PRESIDENT GAST: The by-laws of the Association limit speeches to 10 minutes on any one subject. Does Judge Allen have your unanimous consent to an additional period of 10 minutes? (Such consent was unanimously accorded.) GEORGE W. ALLEN: As frequently with lawyers, much is said before we come to the point; that is what takes up time. I suggest to you, gentlemen of this Bar Association, the importance of coming to the point! (Laughter.) The point I want to make is this: In the nisi prius courts you know the Code provision enumerates the pleadings in a case. I will not take time to mention them; you are all familiar with them. I heard the other day a report with reference to procedure in England. A few years ago I heard a talk about procedure in France; there, it was said, there were no pleadings at all. In England it is said there are but few pleadings. You can all see my suggestion without any elaboration. My suggestion is that you lawyers take up and consider this proposition, that pleadings in cases should be a complaint and answer, and provide that the answer may present questions of law or fact. Under that procedure you would get your cases to trial or hearing within sixty days. As long as you have the motions, demurrers and all those things in court, which you know delay the administration of justice, delay the time when you obtain a judgment in the lower court, you will have this delay of procedure, you will have this criticism of the lawyers by their clients, you will have this criticism of the courts on account of the delays of justice; and, my good members of the bar, you cannot afford it. You want to establish confidence in the people of this country, in the people of this state, concerning the lawyers and the courts. And what do you suppose it will amount to in your business? There is not one of you but would have twice the business you have today. Do not think you could not charge up to your clients sufficient fees; there is equity and justice and propriety in the charging of fees to any client. You would have no trouble of that sort. But that is a matter that should not be taken into consideration in the profession at any rate. The question of prime importance is to avoid these delays in procedure. Now some lawyers will say in criticism of this plan: I want to have these issues settled so that when I come to court I know what I have to try. If you think that, it is a fallacy. All there is to it is that it affords you an opportunity of making your motions; you file your demurrers, first on one side and then on the other side, and it results in the consequence which cannot be avoided, delay in your trial. I want to make this suggestion to you, and I would like to have you take it up and consider it. Do you believe there is anything visionary about this? Is this an extreme that ought not to be considered? I think you ought to take this up and adopt some rules, and ask your Supreme Court to adopt the rules, if they can do it under the statute as you advised them. The Supreme Court only obtains its wisdom from you; you are the ones that are responsible for these things-take them up and consider them. As I view the interests of the public and of the profession, as I view the interests and standing of the courts, I believe this is a very important thing to be considered. I tell you, ladies and gentlemen of this Association, you need evolution in the practice of the law that justice may be done, that justice may be speedily done, that confidence may be restored in this profession, that confidence may be restored in the courts. And I believe it is an easy matter if you will only simplify the pleadings and the practice in the nisi prius courts. I thank you. (Applause.) PRESIDENT GAST: The motion is, in substance, that the bylaws be amended in accordance with the resolution printed on page 7 of the advance pamphlet, and that the report of the Committee be received, filed and concurred in. This motion was carried unanimously, and it was so ordered. PRESIDENT GAST: The next order of business is the report of the Committee on Legal Development, of which Mr. Whitted is the chairman. The report of the Committee was read by Mr. Whitted. It was moved and seconded that the report be received and filed. B. C. HILLIARD: I subscribe, first of all, to the vein which runs through the paper that Congress is not what it used to be! (Applause and laughter.) And I am an example of the desire of the people to make it no better. (Laughter.) I would call attention to this fact, however, in Mr. Whitted's valued contribution: The amendment proposed to the Constitution is much more drastic than was the law that was passed a couple of times by Congress and which in each instance was declared by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. My notion is that lawyers are somewhat prone to find the Supreme Court to be always right, and are entirely too free in their criticism of the people's Congress. The result of that sort of thing is this, that after the Supreme Court has baffled Congress for a few years and declared its laws to be unconstitutional, the Congress then goes much farther than it had ever intended to go, and proposes an amendment to the Constitution which the legislatures of the several states finally ratify, and thus bring about a condition which would obtain in much milder form if the Supreme Court were a little more chary in declaring the acts of the Congress of the United States unconstitutional. I simply throw that in as a thought as bringing about a result which we may deplore. PRESIDENT GAST: The motion is that the report be received and filed. The motion carried unanimously. PRESIDENT GAST: The next order of business is the report of the Committee on American Citizenship, which has been published in full. Judge Hersey, have you anything to present in connection with the report as published? (See Appendix, page 352.) HENRY J. HERSEY: I would like to make a supplemental oral report as Chairman of that Committee. You will find on page 11 of the program the formal report of the Committee, and I hope if you have not all of you read it that you will do so, and think of it quite seriously. The principal work, as outlined in that report of the Committee, this year has been divided into what might for lack of a better term be called pioneering work. There are two departments, namely the speakers' bureau and the publication department, as it were, which is about all we have been able to look after this year. It might interest you to know that section 38 of the by-laws which you adopted here a year ago has been adopted by the Committee of the American Bar Association on American Citizenship, substantially as a model by-law for all state bar associations to follow. So much to your credit in being that foresighted last year. Our Committee has endeavored to work in co-operation with a similar committee of the American Bar Association and to some. extent with the associations in neighboring states. We have not developed as far as has Nebraska, but the first recommendation in our report to which I desire to call your attention, is that the Committee shall be enlarged to consist of one member from each judicial district. Under that system the state bar association of Nebraska has developed most amazingly in the last year, and with splendid effect. Our speakers' bureau has done very splendid work. We have a number of lawyers well-versed in the Constitution, and capable and interesting speakers, who have been speaking to luncheon clubs and other organizations, chambers of commerce, schools, Americanization classes, professional schools, women's organizations, and even in the pulpits on Sundays in churches, on Christian citizenship, all developing this idea. I do not know yet, because they have not all reported to your Chairman, how many such speeches have been made, but I am sure at least 150; I am sure I have made more than fifty myself, and I know others have been quite as active as I have. These efforts have met with a most remarkable response from every audience which our speakers have addressed, so that the work of the Committee is worth while in that line, and which we hope to develop more intensively during the coming year, as I am sure that the Committee will carry on this work which has been started so splendidly. The Committee was handicapped in not having funds for publication purposes. In the state of Nebraska, the state superintendent of public instruction has taken hold of the work of the bar committee on American Citizenship and published at state expense the material that the committee furnished it. They have done excellent work there both on the organization of judicial districts and in the matter of publication. However, finally, our publication work has been supplied. with funds by voluntary contributions from members of the bar, so that each of you, with your programs of this session, received a copy of the Constitution of the United States with Explanatory Notes. Five thousand copies of that pamphlet have been published for gratuitous distribution; and you will notice that the cover is of such thickness and quality as to lead us to hope that it will be preserved in the libraries of the people to whom it is distributed. It is the intent of the Committee to have a supply of these at every meeting where one of our speakers addresses an audience. on the Constitution, so that those who desire to have a copy may have one and keep it. During the last week, Constitution Week, |