Mr. Cox: I desire to introduce a resolution extending a vote of thanks to Mr. Vance for his very fine address before the Association this morning.

The President: It is moved and seconded that the thanks of the Association be extended to Mr. Vance, and the Secretary is requested to communicate this resolution to Mr. Vance. Unanimously carried.

Mr. Feimster: I desire to offer the following resolution:

That the Bar Association of North Carolina extend to the retiring President its sincere thanks for the able and patient manner in which he has handled this meeting, and to the efficient stenographer for her services.

The President: I desire to return to the Association my thanks for this resolution, and take this occasion, in closing the Seventeenth Annual Session of the Bar Association, to again express to the members the appreciation which I have for the great honor which you conferred upon me in electing me President of your Association. During my administration I have endeavored to do what I could to elevate the standing of the profession and increase the influence of the Association, and I hope we may continue to grow and grow and eventually reach that point of influence and power in the State to which we are entitled, and which I am sure we will reach.

It is moved that the Association express thanks to Judge W. P. Bynum for the magnificent address made by him, and that the Secretary be directed to communicate with Judge Bynum.

The President: I believe that has already been done, but it won't hurt to do it twice.

Unanimously carried.

There being no further business, on motion, the Association adjourned sine die.

BATTERY PARK HOTEL,

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA.

The President:

WEDNESDAY EVENING, August 4, 1915.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I greet you at this, the Seventeenth Annual Banquet of the North Carolina Bar Association, and I congratulate our Association upon this brilliant assemblage of the beauty and chivalry of North Carolina.

We are all justly proud of the Old North State and of her great Governor, and I take pleasure in presenting to this audience Hon. Locke Craig, Governor of North Carolina, who will respond to the toast, "The State." (Applause).

Hon. Locke Craig:

Mr. Toast Master, Fellow Members of the North Carolina Bar Association, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is rather a difficult task to attempt to make the first speech on an occasion like this. Judge Boyd suggests to me the fact that because it is a cold water banquet it makes the difficulty all the more serious, and there is a good deal of truth in what he says, for when people are at a certain stage of intoxication everything goes, good or bad, and I sympathize with Judge Boyd on this occasion very deeply.

To attempt to make the first speech reminds me of a story I read some time ago of two colored men in front of a blacksmith's shop, as to how to stop a mule from braying, that was disturbing their religious conversation, and one suggested to the other that the best and only way to stop the mule was to tie a stone to his tail. "Well, Sam," says Ephraim, "that may be very good, but all I have to say is 'let him that is without sin tie the first stone.'" So it seems to me-(applause and laughter)-so it seems to me though I do not mean to compare this audience to the mule that I can find myself in somewhat the same difficult situation in which Ephraim found himself.

They have given me a great subject here to respond to. I am afraid it will be like the old Methodist preacher who got up and said that he had a great speech, but that it had caved in on him. The State: I suppose it means the State of North Carolina, because there is no other State for us. (applause), never has been, or will be. The State is not a geographical conception, it is not how much territory we have, -that does not constitute the strength of a State,-it is not how many animals we have, whether they be four-legged animals or two-legged, without feathers, according to Plato's definition. That doesn't constitute a State. The little State of Greece was of more service to the world, of more importance to mankind, of more significance to men, than all the realms of Mithradates; the little country of Palestine, no greater than North Carolina, has been of more importance to man and done more to change the current of human thought and the destiny of the world than all the empires of the Czar. It is not territory and not numbers of men that constitute a state; the strength of a state, the real conception of a state, is the moral conception; the true conception is the spiritual conception. As I heard a gentleman express it-as the British were approaching, a citizen of Boston was asked didn't he fear the capture of the city. "No," he said, "Boston isn't a city or town, it is a state of mind,—and so is every state that is worthy of the name of state, that is worthy to guide the destiny of men and influence them. It is a moral conception, and that moral conception is not indefinite, it is not vague. What is the function of a State? The function is not primarily to make people happy. That was Plato's idea, but not ours. It is not primarily to preserve the relations and adjust the relations between men-that was John Locke's idea when he wrote the Constitution of North Carolina—but the primary of a State, the sole function of a State, is to do justice to man. I do not mean to administer justice; I do not mean to limit that statement to the administration of justice; to courts of law; I do not mean to limit that statement to the administration of justice according to written

constitutions or to statutes, but to administer justice to its citizens in the largest sense of the word, and to all its citizens; that justice that stands for wisdom, that justice which prefers righteousness to the approval of the powerful or the clamor of the multitude, that justice which guarantees his right to the humblest citizen of the State and to the highest citizen of the State; and if North Carolina stands for justice to its citizens, its industries and its people, if it has the courage to stand for justice and assert justice everywhere and at all times, it will be a State which will wield great influence on the destinies of the world, just as every other municipality that recognizes this idea of justice, that conception of right, that determination to have justice came to a race of men thousands of years ago and led them out of bondage, made them a race of warriors; it exalted them to the highest state, and they gave the moral statutes to the world. It shed light on Greece and drew shapes of ideal beauty and became the instrument of sublimest thought. It planted here a seed of a mighty tree, and it is for us to preserve it. With us here, we have a boundless territory of this nation of ours, stretching from ocean to ocean, but territory counts for nothing; a number of men count for nothing, unless inspired by this spirit to have justice and do justice. The State is in the home; it is in the bosom of man; it is in the sanctuary of the home where woman presides (applause), and I do not believe that the highest conception of the State is fulfilled by the woman's taking possession of politics. (Applause.) I believe that North Carolina will stand for this ideal of home and will stand for this ideal of justice against the clamor and against the tyranny of the powerful as she has in the past, and it is her destiny to stand in the future for this ideal of justice, the sanctity of the home and the highest development of her manhood, and then all these things will be added unto us. The destiny of the State is not to build mills, railroads or palaces of marble, but the ultimate object of the State is to build men and cultivate men, and there is a sentiment in the human bosom that will respond to justice and demand justice; de