PROCEEDINGS, MONDAY, JULY 21ST.

President Vose called the convention to order at 2 o'clock.

Rev. W. E. Lake offered the invocation as follows:

INVOCATION.

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we gratefully confess our dependence upon Thee and seek Thy blessing. In Thee we live and move and have our being. Thou art the source of every good. We lift our thoughts and hearts unto Thee at the beginning of this Convention to praise Thee for all good that it has accomplished in the past, and to seek the advancement of every purpose of good and the frustration of every evil influence in the days ahead. We are here to take our place in life and to do the best we can, and Thou art the judge of all, but Thou art also the advocate of all who place their case in Thy hands, and Thou art the Counsellor of all. Do Thou be our guide and counsel during these days. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, but whose thought is in the law of the Lord. May we have Thy blessing upon us. Bless every one here and every interest represented. Advance the interests of all good in our land and nation. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.

President Vose: We are very fortunate today in having as our guest to deliver the welcoming address, Congressman Baker of this state. Congressman Baker has the floor. (Applause.)

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY CON

GRESSMAN BAKER. Congressman Baker: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen-I am not sufficiently versed in the constituency of the Commercial Law League of America to know whether ladies and gentlemen both are members. I know this much, that if they are not, they ought to be. (Applause.) I am indebted for the distinction of greeting you here to two circumstances, either of which if well illuminated, would boost me particularly to glory; one reason is that I consented to the proposition when I was asked to speak, that brevity is the soul of wit; the other is that the Governor of the state was deputed to hail you today, but he did not materialize, so I am here to receive you. I am glad that I have a helper because I realize that it would certainly be beyond the capacity of any one individual alone to welcome you to this splendid City of Cape May. And do you know just what I mean when I say the splendid City of Cape May? It is splendid in its history, splendid in its location, unmatched in its catering to the pleasure and to the health of this continent to a greater extent and more acceptably than any other place on the Atlantic coast. Yet I am

not a citizen of the City of Cape May, but I am of the County of Cape May, and, therefore, I know whereof I speak, and I particularly congratulate you on your exhibition of strong mentality, your good taste and capacity when you decided to come here to transact business and to indulge in the diversions which the rapidity of the age in which we live makes a necessity to every one. Just a word on this subject of speech making. I do not believe there ever was a nation and I might say, ail the other nations combined, that indulged so much in that thing as we Americans. Why, we even talk to ourselves, you know. And have you ever thought about that thing, people talking to themselves? What an advantage people of that kind have! We are prone to say of such people that they are suffering from an exaggerated ego, but can you be sure of that? Aren't we really a little envious and jealous of those people who really take pleasure in talking to themselves? Look what a cinch they have got against anything like time hanging on their hands. They have a perennial fountain to which they can return at any time for resuscitation. It is indeed a wonderful thing to be able to entertain yourself by talking to yourself. I have heard those people say, as doubtless you have heard them say in their defense, that they liked to hear somebody talk who had something to say, and was really interesting, and when one has come to a condition like that, don't you see that he is unconquerable and that he can live a long and happy life whilst the rest of us are worrying for the time that hangs on our hands? If we had only learned to talk to ourselves, how easily we could get the better of that thing.

This speech making has some amazing phases about it, some things that are simply astounding. For instance, you remember about Mark Antony; we are told that he said to the Romans, "Lend me your ears." "Be silent that you may hear." Wasn't that a stunning thing for a man to do who was seeking to placate a people? You and I would say that the man was mad to do such a thing, but we would be altogether wrong about it. He knew his business. He was a master of the art of talking. And when he told them to lend their ears, they, recognizing the master in Mark Antony, speedily, directly lent him their ears; and what did he do with them? He talked to them about Caesar and they were so delighted and enthused with his exordium that they picked up the stones of Rome and hurled them at Brutus and Cassius and Casca, and drove them from the city and established the Roman Empire just because Mark Antony demanded the loan of their ears and they lent them to him. That was a piece of speech making, and if one could be such a master as was Mark Antony, we might found a few empires, but those people do not happen very frequently. But, do you know that,

ever

say

from that small acorn, as we say now in the schools, so mighty an oak grew up, and you would say that that could not happen again ever. But let me tell you that there are miracles just as ridiculous and tragical today as then. For instance, this king business that we hear so much about. Take the Balkan Serbs, the two dynastic houses of Servia, founded on hogs; they each of them raised more hogs than all the Gadarenes dreamed of, and that is the way they made the big noise and prepared themselves to be crowned and greased with the oil of dominion and do such things as brought discredit upon their subjects and resulted in the situation that you see today in Balkan Servia. We say there is nothing new under the sun and we realize it, we demonstrate it as we go along, except as you can gather from a whole continent such an assembly of ladies and gentlemen as are here to promote the high arts, the real emotions, of advanced civilization. You have come across a continent, you have traveled further than Ulysses ever even began to travel. For what purpose? To consult with each other, to deliberate, to advise, and at the same time to build up the strength of your body by the diversions that you have. And you have come absolutely to the right place. I say it in this sense now. Perhaps I can a word to you that will divert your attention to the subject of why Cape May is a place so desirable. Do you know that there are very few, if any, counties under the American flag as ancient in their civil organization as this County of Cape May? Do you know that it has been a civil organization as a county for 239 years? Do you know that if you compare it in matter of time, in the revolutionary days, and the progress of the world, that it may cause you considerable surprise? Why, when this county was established, organized, Charles II of England sat on the throne. The prince of the House of Hohenzollern had not even matriculated as king. It was the first prince of Brandenberg that then dominated what is now Prussia. Louis XIV had not passed through even one-half of his long reign. It was 30 years before he ended that glorious and ridiculous dominion which he perpetrated so long upon the people of France and upon Europe. The Bourbons had not yet even come to the throne of Spain. In Russia Frederic the Great had not yet materialized. In France Louis XIV was ruling as the despotic monarch. In Austria Maria Theresa was not even born when this county received the accolade of civil organization. You perceive the ancientness of this place, of this county, born of the sea, this place where liberty has always existed. At that time Johann, the last king that ruled in this region, lived, but subject to the chartered dominion' which Charles II conferred upon those to whom he dedicated the immediate administration of rule here. But we lived, this county lived, located, discovered by Cornelius May and named after him. Through various reigns of English kings and queens this county existed. James II, William and Mary, William and all the house of Stuarts ruled here, and they were succeeded by the unBrunswick for speakahle dynasty

whom the Americans had So little love; George I, George II and George III ruled here for many years until our fathers took their matters in their own hands and settled the principle that you people are doing so much to promote, the right of representation in their affairs which King George denied. And then came independence urder a long line from 1776 under the presidents of the confederation. I speak of it simply to call your attention as to how many have held supreme rule here, and it is a measure, a guide to the great extent and the tremendous length of the history and the importance of this County of Cape May. She rose in her glory. There was a little incident occurred here in 1778 in this sparsely settled region that illustrated the fact that that loftiest thing among men, that spirit of defiance to imposition, that resistance to imposition, lived here; for, when Valley Forge closed and Monmouth, with its red blaze was opening, when our fortunes were at their lowest, when liberty trembled in the balance, when there were few who believed that independence would be fully established, then in the beginning of June, 1778, eighty-seven men-free men-men throbbing with the love of liberty, men who knew that liberty was going down to its death unless quickly rescued, men who knew that everything was against them and that they had nothing to hope for but confiscation or death, still these eighty-seven men in Cape May County took the oath of defiance to the king and devotion to the republic which they were trying to build. Amongst such people have you come. It is their descendants who rule here, and you are, indeed, among free men. But look at what happened. With the accomplishment of the purpose of the Revolution, with the establishment of independence, with the acknowledgment of the freedom of the individual states and the making of the constitution of this government began a history that was tremendous in what it has already realized and what is held in store for it in the future. The County of Cape May to which you have come had been in existence for more than 100 years before the constitution of this country was framed; more than 100 years had it lived as a civilized community. So I say to you that you are on sacred soil. I was going to say something further to you that I really believe would be interesting. I am told that my time is up, and it just shows how forgetful one can be, and how egotistic they may be, for I had been warned that brevity was the one thing sought. I have forgotten it all and have been going on until now I am told at this time to quit. I welcome you. I am glad to see you. I know you will have a good time, so good a time that never when you are able will you fail to return again to the City of Cape May. (Applause.)

President Vose: We are greatly indebted to the Congressman for covering this history, going back to the time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. Will you permit the Chair, Mr. Congressman, to venture this prophecy-that your speech (Applause.) has been your making

There is present evidence of the power of this League right here today. We have the presence of Senator Shafforth of Colorado. Last year he addressed us as a mere governor only, but by virtue of the speech he delivered we elevated him to the position of United States Senator. (Applause.) I will ask the Senator to simply bow his acknowledgment to this applause. (Applause and voices of "Speech, Speech!")

ADDRESS OF SENATOR SHAFFROTH.

Senator Shaffroth: Mr. Président and Ladies and Gentlemen-You enjoyed very much your visit last_year to Colorado. I remember that I appeared before you, and I remember on that occasion you selected a fine hotel to stop at and I see you have that weakness still in coming to Cape May. I am glad to see that your organization is progressing, and that it has such a large attendance. I have no doubt it is a great factor for good in the legal profession. I have noticed your program here, also some of the subjects that are discussed, and I must say that an organization of this kind cannot help but be for good in every community in which you gentlemen live, and in every community where your influence extends. Men who are in a profession like the law have a great influence upon communities and upon the nation at large. De Tocqueville, I believe it was, said the lawyers were the aristocracy of the United States. There can be no doubt that they wield an enormous influence, because, as your President has said, you evidently did a good job for me when you sent me to the United States Senate. I find that there are in the United States Senate some 60-odd lawyers and in the House of Representatives I think there are 267 lawyers. You can readily see what a powerful influence the legal profession has upon the making of the laws of the nation. That same ratio, I think, prevails in the legislatures of the various states of the Union by which we can readily see the influence of the individual lawyer is great. But when you have a combination such as you have in this association, of course it is for the betterment of each and every individual in the association, and you establish ethics that makes the profession more honorable by reason of these gatherings and by reason of your association. Why, men who are in middle life remember how loose it used to be for lawyers in practicing law, and how advice was given that was not ethical and charges were made that were outrageous, and in that way there came to be a disregard for the lawyer. He was considered as not of that high professional standing that we know that under the influence of these associations he has come to be. I was once prosecutor in Denver, Colorado, and as an illustration of this matter of ethics, I want to give you what occurred in a case upon which I was engaged. There was a man charged with forging a deed of trust, and he took the acknowledgment before a lawyer and he failed to get his paper transferred for value received, but was caught in the act and arrested by the police of the City of Denver, and brought up for trial. It so happened that when the case was tried

in the lower court, a justice of the Police Court, who should appear as defending him but the notary who took the acknowledgment? But he was the main witness for the state, and consequently he was placed upon the stand. He was a young Irish lawyer by the name of John Čurran Keegan, and he, of course, was somewhat witty, and when he was upon the stand he pretended that he did not know much. He said it was very dark when the man came there, and when he came in and said his name was so and so he took his word for it and took the acknowledgment, and he said, "1 cannot identify this man possibly." Well, they took a straw bond and the defendant got out of the state. One day I was prosecuting in the district before a man who afterwards became my law partner, Platt Rogers, and this man Keegan came to me and said, "John, I know where that rascal is." I said, "What rascal?" He said, "The man that signed that name to that deed of trust." I said, "What about him?" "Well," he said, "the rascal never paid me my fees." I said, "I can't arrest a man or have him tried because he doesn't pay your fees." "No," he said, "I know that, but he is guilty, I know he is guilty." I said, "Where is he?" He said, "He is out of the state and I want you to get a requisition and send after him.” I said, "I don't like to put the county to the expense of sending for a man unless the testimony is pretty clear. Come down here and tell me just exactly what you know about it," and so he did. Of course, the man was guilty. I knew that before he told me. So I concluded to get out a requisition for him and send for him.

He was brought back and his case was set for trial about two weeks off, and just the day before the trial was to take place I thought I would go over to see my lawyer who was our principal witness, and see whether he was going to stick to his tale, and so I went into his office and there were five or six men standing there, and I said, "I have over to see you about that case." "Yes, I am glad you did. Do you know, that that man sent word to me that he would give me $50 to defend him." I said, "John, you can't afford to do that." He says, "Yes, that is just what I told him; I ought to have a hundred." ter,`

come

(Laugh

Nów, my friends, the man that made that statement did not think there was anything wrong in it at all. He did not smile; his friends who were around him did not think there was anything wrong about it, but the fact that a community or an association of lawyers would not tolerate that for a minute shows how the morals and the ethics of the profession have been improving and growing better and better.

And now, I hope that your association will extend further; I hope it will proceed in higher and better lines. I notice from your program here that on one occasion you adopted a scale of charges. I think that is right. I think the disrepute under which lawyers have labored for some time has been owing to the fact that one lawyer would charge one price and another charge another price for ordinary matters in

the legal profession, and thereby clients would in some way get the idea that they were being cheated. I am glad to see that this association establishes rules. Everything that you do is for the interest of your profession, higher standards are made, and consequently you cannot have anything but still further upward movement. I thank you for your kind attention. (Applause.)

President Vose: We are obliged to you, Senator Shaffroth. That is as clever a speech as the one that you had worked on three months and delivered last year.

Now, if there is any doubt in our mind whether we are welcome or not, it will be resolved in favor of the affirmative. Mr. Ogden, the president of the Cape May Board of Trade, is here with a two and a half minute speech all uncorked. I present to you Mr. Ogden of Cape May. (Applause.)

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT OGDEN OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. Mr. Ogden: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen-I am very glad to be here this afternoon with you men, representative men from many parts of the country. I am going to live just in the present. I am glad to welcome you to what we believe is the queen resort of the Atlantic coast. I am glad to welcome you and have you enjoy its pleasures, its beautiful strand, its matchless beach, its bathing and all the privileges that are here. I come to welcome you to this town and to wish that you men while you are here may have the very best time that you have had at any convention. Permit me to cut this short now and simply to say on behalf of the City of Cape May that I wish you all great pleasure and so much so that you may decide when it is convenient for you to come again to the East, that you may find Cape May a welcome place. (Applause.)

President Vose: Colonel Napier was to respond in chief to the addresses of welcome. The colonel is not here, but 'he has wired us and said that litigation had taken him for ten straight weeks and was running into this week. I think in view of that that we ought really to excuse the colonel from coming up from Atlanta and delivering this speech and I have so wired him with your permission. It is a fine thing when a lawyer gets a case of that sort, and due recognition should be made. We have, however, from the Sunny South a genial soul and a willing one, who stepped right forward when he was invited to deliver this speech, although this is his first convention, and said, "All right, I will do it." Mr. Wright Willingham of Rome, Georgia. The greatest Roman of them all will step forward. (Applause.) RESPONSE TO WELCOMING

DRESS BY WRIGHT WIL-
LINGHAM.

AD

Mr. Willingham: Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen, and Fellow Members of the Commercial Law League of America-I am inclined to the opinion that the way to perpetuate my fame is to now take my seat, after

the cordial response that has just been given to the speaker who preceded me; but while I am sure that that would come within the requirements of this audience, I do not know that I will be carrying out to the letter the command that you have laid upon me; therefore, I shall proceed, but I trust the President will feel at liberty to tell me to stop whenever the hour arrives.

President Vose: The Chair will do

So. (Laughter.)

Mr. Willingham: Mr. President, Ladies, Gentlemen, Fellow Members of the Commercial Law League of America-Delightfully domiciled within the palatial confines of this superb hotel, within the sound of the wild waves of the matchless sea, as they beat against the shores of the illustrious State of New Jersey; in the presence of so many beautiful, accomplished and utterly irresistable women, and with our hearts already warmed by the countless manifestations of hospitality which have marked the greeting of these generous people since we crossed the border line of this good state, ripening into charming culmination through the words of eloquent welcome spoken by the distinguished speakers who have preceded me; it would be treasonable were we to do otherwise than entertain fee ings of gratitude and appreciation for those who have so successfully planned for our entertainment. And it is now my privilege to make profound acknowledgment for this audience of this charming reception.

Mr. President, it seems to me that this association is typical of the spirit which rendered possible the creation and maintainance of this Republic.

The wildest flight of the imagination could scarcely conceive of more heterogeneous elements than were represented, for instance, by these men who now compose this audience, say, one week ago. Each man a sort of autonomy all his own, operating, a potential factor, perhaps, in his own provincial environments; but thousands of miles apart; with interests as widely divergent! But hark! the call of the President is sounded, and a thousand men rush to arms. They come from the golden shores of California, from the good State of Maine, from the plains of Texas, the mountains of New Hampshire, from the inscrutable walls of Wall Street, and even from the unfortunate (now) boundary lines of New Mexico, where, we are told, that the lion roareth, and the whangdoodle mourneth with peculiar pathos at present; because the Mexican Zu-zus are availing themselves of the absence of the Secretary of State, who feels it his duty to absent himself from his post, in order that he may deliver lectures to the benighted citizens of Possum Trot, Nebraska.

The press is my authority for the Secretary's subject, which is "The Making of a Man."

I apprehend, my friends, that the unfortunates occupying the border line of the United States and those good Americans in Mexico, are more concerned at present in the preservation of the lives of the men they have already turned out than in learning the art of making some new ones.

But, back to this organization for a