G. A. FINKELNBURG, St. Louis, Missouri.
WILBUR F. SANDERS, Helena, Montana.
CARROLL S. MONTGOMERY, Omaha, Nebraska.
OLIVER E. BRANCH, Manchester, New Hampshire.
JAMES J. BERGEN, Somerville, New Jersey.
THOMAS B. CATRON, Santa Fé, New Mexico Territory.

J. NEWTON FIERO, Albany, New York.

JOHN L. BRIDGERS, Tarboro, North Carolina.
JAMES M. AUSTIN, Ellendale, North Dakota.
FRANCIS B. JAMES, Cincinnati, Ohio.
HENRY E. ASP, Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory.
CHARLES H. CAREY, Portland, Oregon.
FRANCIS RAWLE, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
DAVID W. YANCEY, Manila, Philippine Islands.
HENRY E. YOUNG, Charleston, South Carolina.
C. O. BAILEY, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
HENRY H. INGERSOLL, Knoxville, Tennessee.
R. WAVERLY SMITH, Galveston, Texas.
P. L. WILLIAMS, Salt Lake City, Utah.
ELIHU B. TAFT, Burlington, Vermont.
ROBERT M. HUGHES, Norfolk, Virginia.
E. C. HUGHES, Seattle, Washington.

W. W. VAN WINKLE, Parkersburg, West Virginia.
EDWARD W. FROST, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
JOHN W. LACEY, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

PROCEEDINGS.

St. Louis, Thursday, September 22, 1904, 10 A. M.

The Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws convened in the Federal Building, St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday, September 22, 1904, President Amasa M. Eaton in the chair, and the following other commissioners being present:

Charles F. Libby, Portland, Maine; Frank M. Higgins, Limerick, Maine; Hannibal E. Hamlin, Ellsworth, Maine; Robert W. Williams, Tallahassee, Florida; John Garland Pollard, Richmond, Virginia; W. O. Hart, New Orleans, Louisiana; J. R. Thornton, Alexandria, Virginia; William H. Staake, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Thos. J. Kernan, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Francis B. James, Cincinnati, Ohio; Wm. E. Cushing, Cleveland, Ohio; James Barr Ames, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Walter S. Logan, New York, New York; Talcott H. Russell, New Haven, Connecticut; Peter W. Meldrim, Savannah, Georgia; John R. Hardin, Newark, N. J.; also Albert E. Henschel, New York, Secretary of the New York State Commission, and Secretary of the Conference. Other members attended the Conference later. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed and their reading dispensed with.

The President, Amasa M. Eaton, of Rhode Island, delivered the annual address.

(The Address follows these Minutes.)

The President: The election of officers is in order. What is the pleasure of the meeting?

Charles F. Libby, of Maine: I move that a committee of three be appointed by the chair to nominate officers.

The motion was seconded and adopted, and Messrs. Libby, Williams and Pollard were appointed such committee.

The President: The next business in order is reports of I will call first upon the Executive

standing committees.

Committee to report.

The report of the Executive Committee was read by William H. Staake, of Pennsylvania, its chairman.

(The Report follows these Minutes.)

On motion, the report was received and placed on file. The President: Is any action needed, Mr. Chairman, on any of the recommendations made in your committee's report?

William H. Staake, of Pennsylvania: I would state that the only matters which would be covered by the adoption of the report, I take it, would be, first, that the committee be empowered to prepare suitable by-laws for the Commissioners as well as for the Executive Committee; secondly, that arrangements for the meetings of this Conference should properly be in the hands of the Executive Committee, and that the executive officers, the President, Secretary and Treasurer, should be added to the committee; third, that a committee be appointed to prepare a suitable minute for adoption by the members of the Conference in connection with the deaths of Judge Brewster and Mr. Dale. I think, sir, I will move that the recommendations made in the report be adopted.

William E. Cushing, of Ohio: I should like to ask a question of the chairman of the committee. I see that the Conference already has rules printed in its report. Was it your recommendation that the Executive Committee be instructed to prepare a substitute for that set of rules?

William H. Staake: The thought of the committee was this. These rules have no reference to the duties of the Executive Committee at all. Also, in comparing the rules of this body with the rather more complete and detailed by-laws of the American Bar Association, it did seem that there was room for improvement in these rules and regulations, and the thought was that the committee might between now and next year submit something which would incorporate all of these rules,

and, in addition, specify what are the duties of the Executive Committee and so on.

The President: In other words, the committee would revise the existing by-laws?

William H. Staake: Yes.

The President: Was it your intention that a constitution should be framed?

William H. Staake: No, sir; simply by-laws.

The question was then put on the motion to accept the report and adopt its recommendations, and it was adopted.

Charles F. Libby, of Maine: The committee appointed to nominate officers is ready to report.

The President: Gentlemen, we will hear the report of the Nominating Committee.

Charles F. Libby: The committee beg leave to report recommending the election of the following officers:

For President: Amasa M. Eaton, of Rhode Island.
For Vice President: Walter S. Logan, of New York.
For Secretary: Albert E. Henschel, of New York.
For Assistant Secretary: J. Moss Ives, of Connecticut.
For Treasurer: Francis B. James, of Ohio.

The report was received, the ballot was thereupon cast, and the officers were declared duly elected.

The President appointed Talcott H. Russell, of Connecticut, to prepare a memorial upon the death of Judge Lyman D. Brewster, and William H. Staake, of Pennsylvania, to prepare a memorial upon the death of Richard C. Dale. The President then called for the report of the Committee on Commercial Law.

Francis B. James, of Ohio: The Committee will later on have its report ready, but for the present will submit the following communication from the American Warehousemen's Association:

AMERICAN WAREHOUSEMEN'S ASSOCIATION.

Organized October 15, 1891.

Incorporated November 18, 1897. OFFICE OF SECRETARY, 32-42 EAST 42d STREET, NEW YORK.

1140 Fifteenth Street, September 22, 1904.

To the Honorable Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, St. Louis, Missouri.

GENTLEMEN:-The Board of Directors of the American Warehousemen's Association, recognizing the necessity of the codification of the laws relating to warehouse receipts, now in force in this country, and the enactment of the resultant code by the legislatures of the several states of the union, have authorized me, as Chairman of their Committee on Laws and Legislation, to place the matter before your honorable body, in the hope that you will agree with them that such a codification is required, and to donate to you for the purpose of bearing the necessary expense of such codification the sum of $1500 to be expended under your auspices.

Inasmuch as your honorable body has already had the subject of uniformity of state laws relating to warehouse receipts before it, and has, after consideration, expressed itself in favor of action toward its attainment, it would appear useless for me to enter into argument as to the necessity for the codification recommended, or for the ultimate presentation of the code to the legislatures of the several states for adoption.

Your attention is respectfully called to the fact that the association has, in furtherance of its object, obtained through the Department of State full information in regard to the methods of use, and the value, of warehouse receipts in the principal foreign countries of the world, published in pamphlet form as Special Consular Reports, Vol. XXV, under the title "Stored Goods as Collateral for Loans," and has had compiled for its use the warehouse laws of the several states and the decisions of the courts on warehouse questions, under