REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL EDUCATION AND ADMISSION TO THE BAR. To the American Bar Association: The Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar begs leave to submit the following report: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published in June, 1910, a report on Medical Education in the United States and Canada. The report not only dealt with the conditions of the medical schools in the United States and Canada, but also attempted an analysis of the problem of medical education. It attracted widespread attention throughout both countries. The teachers of medicine and the practitioners of medicine alike recognized the importance of the investigation which had been carried on under the auspices of the Foundation and there was an almost immediate suggestion that the Foundation continue its work by a study of medical education in leading European nations. The Foundation adopted the suggestion and in January, 1912, there was published a report on Medical Education in Europe. This second report supplemented the first and dealt with medical education in the German Empire, Austria, France, England and Scotland. The first report was intended, among other things, for the specific use of the medical schools in the United States and Canada, and it aimed to describe and to discuss in detail the conditions prevailing in each of the one hundred and fifty-five medical schools then existing in the United States and Canada. The investigation into the conditions of the schools was minute and discriminating. It extended over a very considerable period of time and is understood to have cost a very large amount of money. The medical profession believes that the report was well worth the expenditure and that it accomplished great good and accomplished certain most desirable results that could not well have been secured in any other way. Your committe was convinced that it was most desirable that a like investigation should be made into the condition of the law schools of the United States and that a careful study should be made of the whole subject of legal education and admission to the Bar in our country. We knew that this Association did not have the money which would be required to carry on such an investigation as ought to be made of existing conditions. It thought that the greatest possible service could be rendered to the law schools and the Bar if the Carnegie Foundation could be induced to undertake the work and do for legal education what it did for medical education. The committee, therefore, in February of this year addressed to the President of the Carnegie Foundation, Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, the following communication: "This communication is addressed to you by the American Bar Association's Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, and has attached to it the signature of each member of the committee. "The committee was greatly impressed by the investigations made a few years ago under your direction by the Carnegie Foundation into the conditions under which medical education is carried on in the United States. That the medical profession and the entire country was placed under lasting obligation to your organization because of the service that was then rendered is acknowledged by all who know the facts. "The committee of the Bar Association is most anxious to have a similar investigation made by the Carnegie Foundation into the conditions under which the work of legal education is carried on in this country. There is an imperative need for such an investigation, equally searching and far-reaching with the other, and one equally frank and fearless in its statement of the facts which the investigation may reveal. "It is to be hoped that, if your organization decides to adopt the suggestion the committee makes, your investigation will not be confined to the law schools, but may be extended to the matter of admission to the Bar in the various states of the United States, with a view of making known to the entire country the facts relating to this important subject. "This committee has not at its disposal either the funds or the time needed for the comprehensive investigation that is so much to be desired, and it appeals to you, therefore, to undertake the task, and assures you of its readiness to cooperate with you so far as possible, should you conclude to comply with this request." The committee was at once informed by Dr. Pritchett that the Carnegie Foundation would be very willing to comply with the request and the arrangements have already been made and the work is now under way. The Foundation has explained that it intends that the study shall cover not only the examination of all the law schools of the country, of the various curriculums of study and of their libraries and facilities for teaching, but that it hopes to bring under consideration the relation of the legal profession to the administration of the law and to the obligations of the social régime. An effort is to be made to trace the evolution of the legal profession in the United States and its relation to legislation and administration and of the relation of the number of lawyers to the amount of litigation and the cost of the legal process. Your committee, in inviting the Carnegie Foundation to make such an investigation as it is now engaged in, has not intended to shirk its own responsibility and it has no idea of renouncing its own efforts. The purpose is to supplement those efforts and to avail itself of an agency provided with all the necessary means to conduct a far-reaching and critical examination into conditions which your committee had neither the time nor the money at its disposal to enable it to make. The committee has no doubt that the action it has taken will meet with the heartiest approval of the Bar Association and that the Association will feel, as the committee certainly does, most grateful to the Carnegie Foundation that it has entered upon the study proposed to it. HENRY WADE ROGERS, Chairman, LAWRENCE MAXWELL, SELDEN P. SPENCER, ROSCOE POUND, WILLIAM DRAPER LEWIS. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCIAL LAW. To the American Bar Association: Your Committee on Commercial Law reports as follows: I. BILLS OF LADING. On August 21, 1912, the United States Senate by a unanimous. vote passed Senate Bill No. 957 (Pomerene Substitute) relating to bills of lading in interstate and foreign commerce, which was set forth in the report and supplemental report of your committee to this Association last year. The bill died by the non-action of the House and the adjournment of Congress. On April 28, 1913, Senator Pomerene introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress Senate Bill No. 1654 entitled "A Bill Relating to Bills of Lading in Interstate and Foreign Commerce." A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit A. Pomerene Senate Bill No. 1654 is identical with Senate Bill No. 957 (Pomerene Substitute) with a few slight changes. These changes are explained in Senate Document 41, Sixty-third Congress, first session, hereto attached and made a part of this report as Exhibit B. These changes were most carefully considered and removed objections that had been made to Senate Bill No. 957 (Pomerene Substitute). In addition to the indorsements given to Senate Bill No. 957 (Pomerene Substitute) set forth in Exhibit B, Pomerene Senate Bill No. 1654 has been indorsed by the National Industrial Traffic League, the Council of North American Grain Exchanges and the American Bankers Association. II. BANKRUPTCY. There have been introduced at the first session of the Sixtythird Congress the following bills relating to bankruptcy: (a) Clayton H. B. No. 130.-On April 7, 1913, Mr. Clayton introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 130 to repeal the Bankruptcy Act. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit C. This bill should be defeated. (b) Blackmon H. B. No. 3986.-On April 23, 1913, Mr. Blackmon introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 3986 to repeal the Bankruptcy Act. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit D. This bill should be defeated. (c) Sims H. B. No. 5684.—On May 29, 1913, Mr. Sims introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 5684 to repeal the Bankruptcy Act. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit E. This bill should be defeated. (d) Clayton H. B. No. 135.—On April 7, 1913, Mr. Clayton introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 135 to amend Section 24 of the Bankruptcy Act relating to the jurisdiction of the Appellate Courts. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit F. Your committee desires more time to consider this measure. (e) Kinkead H. B. No. 5151.-On May 15, 1913, Mr. Kinkead introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 5151 to amend Section 14 of the Bankruptcy Act relating to discharges in bankruptcy. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit G. Your committee desires more time to consider this measure. (f) Dent H. B. No. 5894.-On June 6, 1913, Mr. Dent introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 5894 to amend Section 17 of the Bankruptcy Act relating to discharges in bankruptcy. A copy of said bill is attached to and made a part of this report as Exhibit H. Your committee desires more time to consider this measure. (g) Byrnes H. B. No. 4301.—On April 25, 1913, Mr. Byrnes introduced at the first session of the Sixty-third Congress House Bill No. 4301 to amend subsection n, of section 57, of the Bankruptcy Act relating to extension of time to present claims. A |