issue. Alumni clubs of lawyers were generally thought to have little interest in the undergraduate chapters. The New York club for a long time thought so itself, but a year ago the officers of the club were elected from the younger members instead of from the "old guard," and, as a result, at the December meeting a committee was appointed to investigate the conditions of the three New York chapters, and their relations with the club. This was due partly to the report that Dwight chapter at the New York Law School had a merely nominal existence with only two members and was threatened with dissolution. The committee conferred with the Dwight Consul, stirred up some of its alumni, enlisted the support of Field chapter and as a result, Dwight held an initiation on March 7th with its few members properly supported and the chapter is in a fair way of being once more successful.

OSGOOD CHAPTER.

That break in our chapter roll, viz. Osgoode chapter at the University of Toronto Law School, seems about to receive some attention. It was installed in 1896 by members of Daniels chapter at Buffalo and was successful with exceptional membership until the Boer War, when practically its entire membership enlisted in the Canadian Contingent and the chapter died. Canadian business is developing rapidly. Canadian alumni are constantly needed as business correspondents and the need will be greater as Canada develops. The BRIEF has continually urged the reviving of the chapter. Delta Chi has a strong chapter at Toronto. Last year Daniels chapter showed interest in the matter and we thought it would do the work, but it did not. Daniels considered the matter at its annual meeting on March 2 without action. However, Fritz v. Briesen, the hustling secretary of the Phi Delta Phi Club of New York is due in Toronto on business and promises to give the matter attention.

We recall that when Bro. Briesen, who is one of the junior partners of the firm of Briesen & Knauth, went to Washington, D. C., to open a branch office in that city for his firm, he started the Phi Delta Phi Club of Washington. Although that club became almost inactive on his return to New York, we trust the results of his Toronto visit will be permanent.

KENT'S BUILDING PLANS.

Kent chapter at the University of Michigan has placed its house building plan on a definite basis by incorporating this year the Kent

Chapter Building Association with an authorized capital of $25,000 and shares of $10.00 each. The incorporators are Judge E. D. Kinne, E. C. Goddard and H. M. Bates of Ann Arbor, C. E. Butterfield of Detroit and George Gardner, Jr., of Colorado Springs. Stock will be sold to subscribers and the house will be owned by the corporation and rented to the chapter. It is only right that the parent chapter of the Fraternity should own the first house and that the members of the Fraternity should support the movement liberally. The Fraternity treasury might well invest in the stock should its funds warrant, but authorization by a convention would first be necessary. However, individuals who can should help the work by subscribing. Bro. Gardner, now at Ann Arbor, the undergraduate member of the board, is actively canvassing the alumni and reports that the first cash subscription was received from Secretary Katzenberger. Communications should be addressed to him or to E. C. Goddard, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

THE NEW CATALOGUE.

The BRIEF announced in the last issue that the new catalogue was in press and suggested that the Secretary be written for copies. The information that caused the announcement was faulty. The status of the catalogue is given by the following excerpt from a letter received from the Secretary on March 8:

The catalogue is not quite the usual general catalogue. It begins with a thirty-three page History of the Fraternity, followed by a Geographical Directory, as you received it. This will be followed by an Alphabetical Index stating one's chapter and year of graduation and the page in the Geographical Directory on which his name and record appears. The price is not yet fixed, but it would be published at a loss if sold for less than $2.00 per copy. I have worked on it for the last three months, and am now working on Missouri and Montana, with the great state of New York to keep me busy for the next three months at least. Then Ohio, Pennsylvania and the smaller states will follow, and I do not see how I can possibly get through with the work before fall, as the Alphabetical Index will take a lot of time, and I cannot find anybody at any price. that will do the work as I would do it or as I want it done.

PHI DELTA PHI CLUB OF NEW YORK.

December.-The December meeting was held at the club rooms at the Aldine Association, No. 111 Fifth Avenue, on the evening of the 18th. Action was taken on several matters affecting the interests of the club, the most important being the adoption of a resolu

tion for the appointment of a committee of five to visit the various chapters in and near New York for the purpose of establishing closer relations between the club and the chapters and rendering active support and assistance to any chapters which might show a falling off in membership or a lack of interest in the work of the Fraternity. It is believed that this action on the part of the club will prove helpful to the local chapters, and will also promote the interests of the club itself, as the latter will be brought more closely in touch with the chapters, and result in an increased membership for the club. A resolution was also adopted authorizing the publication of a club book containing the name and business address and specialties of the members and arrangements made for its issuance at an early date.

The guests of the evening, all of whom addressed the club, were Alexander Tison, Stuart G. Gibboney and Frederick B. Harlow.

Mr. Tison, who is now practicing in New York, was professor of English and American law at the Imperial University at Tokio from 1889 to 1894. He spoke on Japanese law and procedure, and explained how the Japanese had taken up at their University the study of law, securing the services of various professors who lectured on the laws of France, Germany, England and America, and how, from this study of the laws of these various countries, Japan had revised and built up her present forms of procedure.

Both Mr. Gibboney, who now practices in New York, and Mr. Harlow, who continues in Paris, and have practiced in France, spoke of the administration of justice under the laws of France and of their experiences in its practice. Their remarks were most interesting, especially those relating to that part of the French procedure which is so at variance with the practice in this country. The Dreyfus case and the recent Castellane case were discussed by these speakers, and the attitude and feeling of the French public in regard to same explained.

The meeting was well attended and the addresses were thoroughly enjoyed and helpful.

B. P. H.

February.—This meeting was held on the evening of the eighteenth inst., as scheduled, in the club rooms at the Aldene Association. President Alger presided. The general topic for discussion was "The Condition and Improvement of Municipal Courts of the City of New York," the guests and speakers being Julius Henry

Cohen, Chairman of the Citizens Union Committee on Municipal Courts, and Judge Alfred P. W. Seaman, of the Twelfth District Municipal Court. Mr. Cohen, as Chairman of his Committee, presented, at length, the results of the investigation of his Committee and a draft of the proposed bill which is shortly to be presented to the legislature. He emphasized the fact that the Municipal Courts are the most important courts in the city in creating impressions of effectiveness, or laxity of justice, in the minds of the general public. The cases tried in these courts are the most numerous, and in them the foreigner usually gets his first impression of the manner of the administration of justice. Consequently, he argued, the Municipal Courts should be raised to the highest standard possible, and this standard must however be modified by the fact that the courts are an outgrowth of the old courts of the Justices of the Peace and must remain largely local, instead of having one central Municipal Court and court building. Moreover, any legislation must meet the requirements of the political parties, which regulate the size of districts of Municipal Courts so as to elect a judge of the desired party instead of regulating them by the population and amount of litigation. He insisted further (1) that the present jury system was corrupt; (2) that the good judges were overworked, and (3) that more efficient judges must be obtained. Mr. Cohen's outline of the proposed bill showed that it planned, in general, to redistrict the courts of the city, making the districts larger, with two or three judges in each district; with larger court-houses and the courts divided into parts so that wages, landlord and tenant, and contract cases could be heard separately; and the choosing of juries by the Commissioner of Jurors rather than by the Clerks of the Court.

Judge Seaman generally favored the proposed legislation, emphasized the uselessness of the present jury system, and declared that the conditions were the fault of the lawyers themselves. He stated that the physician, the engineer, and men of other scientific professions, dealt with fixed rules and conditions, which they could not change or modify, while the lawyer made his own conditions and rules and could modify them as he wished, when such conditions and rules did not work well, and that, consequently, when evils existed in jurisprudence, the bar was responsible.

A general discussion followed, participated in by Mr. Von Breisen, Mr. Studin and others. The club unanimously endorsed the proposed legislation, as submitted by Mr. Cohen, and its legislative committee was instructed to co-operate in securing its passage.

C. H. T.

PHI DELTA CLUB OF CHICAGO.

Our club is enjoying its most prosperous year and has had an unusual number of special meetings, which have tended to arouse enthusiasm. The prosperity is aided by the fact that the three active chapters in Chicago-Booth, Fuller and Douglas-are active in all that the word implies. We always invite them to our meetings. It stimulates the older members to come into contact with this new blood; the active men, on the other hand, are encouraged and buoyed up by the friendly advice given and interesting experiences related by the old practitioners, so that our dinners are a "love feast." On parting everyone feels that he will not miss another meeting.

More than one third of the sixty judges sitting in Chicago are members of Phi Delta Phi, so our banquets are attended by exceptionally representative men. The club will shortly hold its annual banquest and election. We are looking forward to it with a great deal of pleasure, for it is the one occasion of the year.

CHICAGO, March 7.

G. G.

BOOTH-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL.

The chapter started the school year last September with twelve active members: Bros. Allen, Frake, Stevens, Rich, Adams, Willson, and B. E. Townsend, of the third year class; and Bros. Taylor, Butz, Rickcords, Dean, and C. Barnes, of the second year class. At the annual fall initiation held November 10, the following six new members from '09 were initiated: John Prendergast, B.A. Harvard '06; James T. Fales, B.A. Haverford '06; Robert D. McFadon; Richard Prendergast, B.A. Yale '06; Frederic Ullman, Jr., B.A. Princeton '06; and Charles L. Cobb, B.A. Lake Forest '06; and from '08 we initiated Cyrus L. Garnett, Ph.B. Chicago '06; and Harry Rubens, Jr. Bro. Blu, '07, went to Minnesota to finish his third year. Bro. Noble B. Judah, who took his first year's work here with '07, returned in November, after a year's absence in Mexico, and entered '08.

A number of informal dinners have been held by the chapter during the past winter. At some of these gatherings members of the faculty have been present and have addressed the chapter, and at the general Phi Delta Phi alumni banquet for Chicago, held December 1, our chapter was represented by Bros. Dean, Rich and McFadon. Bro. Francis R. Dickinson, of the class of '06, last June