her generous trustfulness. It often happens that a wife makes a mistake of that sort, and for that reason our Constitution says a wife's mistakes must not operate so utterly to her detriment. She ought to have the benefit of what the Constitution intended.

THE PRESIDENT: election of officers. ident.

Afternoon Session.

Election of Officers.

The business in order is the nomination and
The first officer to be elected will be a Pres-

MR. FLOURNOY. Mr. President: I rise to place in nomination Judge John J. Jacob, of the county of Ohio. I believe that eulogistic remarks are rather contrary to the spirit of our Constitution, and the gentleman I present needs no eulogy at my hands. His life in this State has given him a standing among us that entitles him to the highest honor we can bestow.

JUDGE JACOB. Mr. President: I feel very grateful for the compliment paid me by Mr. Flournoy and I don't feel disposed to decline any burden imposed upon me by the Association, but allow me to suggest, and I think it is worthy of consideration, that the President of the Association should probably come from the body of the bar. All the gentlemen here present are aware that I am not now an active member of the Bar, and I think it would be better to follow the precedent that has been established, and select as officers of the Association some gentlemen in active practice and connected with the Bar itself. I hope, therefore, that my friend Flournoy will withdraw that nomination. I think the Association will at once see the propriety of the suggestion made by me, and the impropriety, probably, of selecting any other than an active member of the Bar.

MR. RUSSELL. Mr. President: I rise to second the nomination made by Mr. Flournoy. I do not know that it is necessary that a nomination should have a second, but I desire to call the attention of the Association to some reasons that are antagonistic to those that Governor Jacob has just suggested. While it is true that a judge upon the bench is not an active member of the

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profession-is not a practitioner-yet when he joins the Bar Association he comes down to the level of the active practitioners, and gives us poor fellows who are not on the bench, a chance to get even with him occasionally here, which we may not ever have elsewhere. Seriously, for my part I see no reason in the world why the occupant of a judicial office should not be a more useful President and perhaps a more useful judge, on account of be-. ing President of the Bar Association, than if he were not. Certainly there can be no reason why a judge should not also be President of the Bar Association, any more than it should constitute a reason why he should not be a member of the Association. There is certainly nothing about the position that would be at all in conflict-nothing to make the one antagonistic to the other in any sense of the word. If this Association were an association of commercial travelers, or laborers banded together for the purpose of advancing the cause of labor, if its object were the mere pecuniary benefits that some associations seek for their members, I could understand the objection; but our purposes are not like that at all. We come to consult upon matters concerning the people of the State, and not ourselves particularly, and we have no sort of concern with those matters which are of merely a pecuniary nature. We do not fix fees nor try to raise prices for legal services, and won't I hope try to keep anybody out of the profession by any sort of arbitrary rules. Even if we should, I do not see that it would be any objection to the Judge's serving. I therefore hope that the objection will not be pressed, and earnestly desire to vote for Judge Jacob for this position.

MR. EWING Spoke in support of Mr. Russell in his remarks upon this question, and moved that the Secretary be directed to cast the unanimous ballot of the Association.

THE PRESIDENT: The Constitution provides that officers shall be elected by ballot, and I rather think any other mode of election would be unconstitutional.

MR. EWING: Can't that rule be suspended? I move the rule be suspended that the nominations be closed and the Secretary directed to cast the ballot.

MR. PRICE. Mr. President: Where we have but one candidate

it seems to me a ballot is entirely unnecessary, unusual and probably unheard of, unless the gentlemen expect to vote for persons not in nomination. I suppose they have a right to do that. It seems to me the motion of Mr. Ewing is in order-to direct the Secretary to cast the ballot. Now if there is a twothirds vote for that, that will settle it.

THE PRESIDENT: The Constitution provides that a majority of the votes cast shall be necessary to the election of officers, including the election of the Executive Council, and that such election shall be by ballot. Now there is no provision in the Constitution for suspending any of its provisions, except in the 7th section, that I can see just now, and that provides that “no action of this Association of a permanent nature or recommending changes in law or the administration of justice shall be had until the subject matter thereof shall have been reported upon by the appropriate committee to which the same shall have been referred, unless this regulation shall be suspended by a twothirds vote of the members voting theron." It strikes me that the election will have to be by ballot.

MR. GALLAHER. Mr. President: I wish to add my humble tribute to the gentleman who has just been placed in nomination, and if I shall have done nothing else during this meeting to represent the sentiments of the people south of the Little Kanawha, I am sure I do so in joining hands with these gentlemen in seconding the nomination of Judge Jacob; but at the same time it seems to me we shall save time by carrying out what the Constitution requires with reference to the election of officers by ballot.

Ballot taken and resulted: J. J. Jacob, 19 votes; J. D. Ewing, 1 vote.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Jacob having received a majority of the votes cast, is declared President for the next year. The next officers to be elected is one Vice President from each Judicial Circuit represented in the Association.

Who Entitled to Hold Office.

MR. FLEMING. Mr. President: Before we enter upon this election I would ask whether those members who have heretofore paid their initiation fees, but have not sent in their dues,

are eligible as officers? Can they perform any duties or exercise any privileges until those fees are paid? That would be a very material question affecting these Vice President-whether you will get one from each circuit.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that is very plain. The 18th section of the Constitution provides that "The annual dues of members shall be three dollars, to be paid yearly on or before the first day of the annual meeting of the Association, and no person shall be qualified to exercise any privilege of membership, who is in default."

MR. AMBLER: May I be allowed to say that this question of Vice Presidents is very largely a matter of courtesy, and we might elect them anyhow? I should think unless the suggestion came to us in some official way, we wouid not know whether they have paid their dues or not, and I for one would not be careful to inquire about that just now.

MR. C. W. DAILEY. Mr. President: It seems to me the position of Mr. Ambler is certainly correct. We assume that all members of the Association comply with the provision of the Constitution, and it is useless for us to be inquiring, when a gentleman has been placed in nomination, whether he has paid his annual dues?

MR. PRICE. Mr. President: Is that a proper construction of the Constitution? Does not a member by failing to pay his dues-is he not ipse facto expelled from the Association. It does not amount to depriving him of his membership, but he has no right to discharge the duties of a member.

A VOICE: I suppose from that he cannot attend the banquet?

MR. PRICE: Whether he can discharge a duty is a different thing from exercising a privilege.

THE PRESIDENT: I should take it that any one who has not paid his annual dues could not exercise the privilege that you have just now been exercising, by taking part in the proceedings of the Association. It might be that a Vice President would have to preside-some one of these Vice Presidents-and that he would be ineligible. Whilst I think we ought to be as liberal as possible at the outstart of the Association, still, it seems to

mne if we have a Constitution we should stand by it. However I have no doubt but all these gentlemen will pay their dues as soon as the Secretary informs them. It has been an oversight, I guess, on their part.

MR. GALLAHER. Mr. President: My understanding is, from very intelligent authority surrounding me, that everybody has paid up.

MR. C. W. DAILEY: I rise to a point of order. What is before the house?

THE PRESIDENT: The election of Vice Presidents.

Election of Vice Presidents.

Several nominations were made.

MR. GALLAHER. Mr. President: Would a motion be in order now?

THE PRESIDENT: No, sir; no motion will be in order until we get through with this election.

MR. RUSSELL. Mr. President: I move to lay the nominations for Vice President on the table. It seems to me our experience here to-day has shown that the office of Vice President is not a very desirable one to occupy and exercise the functions of, and I really think it is a very idle matter for us to try to fill in 13 or 14 Vice Presidents in the way in which we are doing. Section 19 of the Constitution provides that "this Constitution may be altered or amended at any annual meeting, on the recommendation of the Executive Council, by a vote of a majority of the members present, or without such recommendation by a vote of two-thirds of the members present." It seems to me that what we want is one Vice President-that we should elect that one Vice President with a view to having him preside at the meetings and exercise the functions belonging to the Presidential office in case the President should be unable to exercise them. We don't want the names of 13 gentlemen-which is an unlucky number -brought forward here as Vice Presidents of an Association which musters about 30 at its annual meeting. It really seems to me, seriously, to be little better than absurd to have 13 Vice Presidents in this Association. What we want is one Vice President. Still, I never canvassed the matter at all until all these