same to you tonight, but you have exposed yourselves to the punishment, and you must stand it in this temperature. If we could have had this meeting at Murray Bay, we would not have had any such heat.

I am addressing the Bar Association-I am delighted, however, to see the ladies; but they must understand that if they would assume the powers and privileges of men, they have got to meet some of their duties and stand the heat and burden of the day.

(Mr. Taft then proceeded to read his address. See Appendix, page 418.)

The Secretary:

President Kellogg having been obliged to leave the hall, has asked Governor Baldwin, of Connecticut, a former President of the Association, to preside for the remainder of the session.

The Chairman:

We will proceed with the regular order, which I understand is the consideration of the reports not disposed of at the previous session.

The Committee on Legislative Drafting.

William Draper Lewis, of Pennsylvania:

The committee was appointed to consider whether some efficient agency could be devised to provide legislatures with scientific and expert assistance in framing legislation, and to report on existing methods of furnishing such assistance, together with any recommendation as to the part which the Association should take in the matter, if any.

After careful investigation of the subject, the committee believes it is entirely practical to establish in connection with any legislature a permanent agency capable of giving expert drafting assistance for all bills introduced; and they urge the Association to place itself on record as favoring such an agency as the most practical means of bringing about scientific methods of legislation.

The committee recommends the adoption of the following resolutions:

"Resolved, That in the opinion of the Association, an official legislative drafting and reference service, when properly organized and directed, forms an efficient agency tending to prevent the enactment of unconstitutional, obscure and otherwise defective statutes and to secure the utmost brevity and simplicity consistent with accuracy in the language of statutes, and we hereby recommend the establishment and generous support of such service at Washington and in those states not now having such service.

"Resolved, That the Committee on Legislative Drafting be continued, with instructions to prepare for submission to the Association, if further investigation shows such preparation to be practicable, a legislative manual or code containing a collection of directions or suggestions for drafting laws, and model clauses for constantly recurring statutory provisions and problems, and that the committee be further directed to report what, if any, changes in existing legislative procedure, or procedure in connection with the initiative, will tend to the improvement of our statutory law, and that for these purposes the committee be authorized to co-operate with other organizations or individuals."

This will materially assist the efforts that are now being advocated by a prominent member of the Association, Senator Root, to establish at Washington such a service.

The second resolution calls for the continuation of the committee. It has been found by nearly every one who has studied the question of scientific drafting, that the great need in this country is a code of model clauses and of standard directions to draftsmen. Whether framing such a code is, or is not, practicable, we are not yet convinced. But we believe that if it is it will be of inestimable service, and that there is no more useful work of a constructive character which the Association can undertake than to assist, if possible, in the formation of such a code. Hence, we have asked to be continued and to be directed further to investigate the subject. In order that there may be no misunderstanding, however, if the Association passes the resolution, all that can be expected of the committee, in spite of the promise of a large amount of voluntary work on the part of some of its

members, would be to report next year a more systematic and well thought-out plan for the creation of such a code, and the part which the Association should take in the matter. If you see fit to continue the committee for another year, we believe that we should be also instructed--and if time permits, directed -to inquire whether any changes in legislative procedure in this country will tend to produce from our conditions what the English apparently have succeeded in working out from their conditions, namely, a legislative procedure which insures a careful examination of each bill of importance. Finally, as in several states the initiative has become part of the Constitution, the committee would like power to inquire whether there is not some agency which can improve-not in substance, but in formthe legislation which results from the initiative.

These resolutions deal with different subjects the first 19 the resolution committing the Association to an approval of the establishment of a drafting bureau, and I will first move the adoption of that resolution.

The resolutions were then sucessively adopted.

(See Report in Appendix, page 622.)

The Secretary:

Several matters were referred under the rule to the Executive Committee, in whose behalf I now have the honor to make the following special report:

SPECIAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Referring to the resolution offered by Judge Parker, of New York, the Executive Committee recommends the adoption of the following minute:

The American Bar Association looks with hearty approval on the proposal to commemorate the soon-coming close of the century of peace between Great Britain and the United States, believing that it will add new strength to the prevalence of law and justice in the dealings with nations with each other and further the general acceptance of the principle that international disputes should be settled by pacific means where such settlement is reasonably possible.

To this end the President of the Association is directed to appoint a committee of five, of which he shall be ex-officio a member and the chairman, to co-operate with the General International Committee already in existence which has immediate charge of the preparations for the proper celebration of this centennial, and take any other action which they may deem appropriate to bring this world-wide subject to the attention of the American Bar.

The minute recommended by the Executive Committee was then adopted.

The Secretary:

I have this further report to make on behalf of the Executive Committee. It refers to a resolution submitted by the gentleman from Wisconsin concerning the relations between the United States of America and Mexico and the course of our national administration in that matter.

The committee reports unfavorably upon that resolution, because it is deemed outside of the province of the Association to deal with political or diplomatic questions.

The report of the Executive Committee on the above resolution was then approved.

The Secretary:

I further report specially on behalf of the Executive Committee concerning a resolution submitted relating to the re-hearing of a case lately pending in the Supreme Court of the United States between an individual and a life insurance company.

The report is unfavorable to the adoption of the resolution, because the resolution is deemed outside of the province of the American Bar Association as an intervention in private litigation. The report of the Executive Committee on the above resolution. was then approved.

(For subsequent amendment of this report see page 71.) W. A. Ketcham, of Indiana:

This morning there were three recommendations with reference to the report of the Committee on Jurisprudence and Law

Reform, one of which was adopted and the others passed over until after the address of Mr. Taft, for the obvious reason that it might embarrass him if they had been unfavorably acted upon. Mr. Taft having been relieved from his position of potential embarrassment, I understand that the consideration of these matters is now in order.

The Chairman:

Does the gentleman from Indiana offer any motion?

A. T. Clearwater, of New York:

If the gentleman from Indiana will give way for a moment, I desire to offer the following resolution supplementary to the recommendation of the Executive Committee relative to the celebration next year of the Treaty of Ghent, an event referred to by Lord Haldane in his address:

"The American Bar Association, unreservedly approving the views of Lord Haldane relative to the war between Great Britain, Canada and the United States, which terminated in the Treaty of Ghent, and believing with him that the nearly 100 years of peace which have succeeded the signing of that treaty is the prelude to a deepening, and yet more complete, understanding of each other by the peoples of those countries, and to the cultivation of those ideals which are natural to that group of nations, hereby requests the Congress of the United States to adopt ample measures for the international celebration of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in the belief that its suitable commemoration by the three great nations which it involved will tend to the cultivation of the spirit which will work for the elimination of the causes of war."

A committee has been appointed in England, which embraces all of the British Islands; a committee has been appointed in Canada and a committee has been appointed in the United States, but up to this time the members of that committee have borne the expense of the preliminary arrangements. It is very evident that this celebration is going to be, as it should be, a vastly more important celebration than was originally contemplated, and it is now proposed to erect some suitable memorial upon the Canadian frontier—