Edward J. Phelps, of Vermont, Chairman of the special committee upon the matter of the " Delays Incident to the Business of the United States Supreme Court," formally presented to the Association two reports—a majority and a minority-and moved that their consideration be made the subject of a special order for Thursday evening. This motion, seconded by Henry Hitchcock, of Missouri, was adopted. W. H. H. Russell, of Missouri, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the Secretary notify in writing, within sixty days, the Vice-Presidents and members of the General and Local Councils who are not present at this session, of their election, and that in the event of their non-acceptance, the Executive Committee be authorized to fill all vacancies. William Allen Butler, of New York, offered a resolution which, when subsequently amended, read as follows: Resolved, That the Executive Committee be requested to inquire into and consider the advisability of adopting a plan of fixing the membership of the Association on such basis as will, in their judgment, best insure the greatest efficiency of the Association, and to report the same, with any suggestions as to the method of proposing and electing members which may seem to them advisable. Seconded by C. C. Bonney, of Illinois. Edward O. Hinkley, of Maryland, said: I should like to offer a few remarks upon this matter. I happen to know a little more than other gentlemen upon this matter of membership. I think we have elected twice as many members of this body as remain now upon the roll. Last year we had 142 new members, and I feel sure not more than one-third will run through this year. I think this is due to the practice of proposing members before they have been spoken to about the matter and their wishes in regard to it ascertained. It is far better that gentlemen should first see their friends whose names they desire to present for election to membership in this body. A gentleman said to me this morning, "My state is represented by a few members only. I could give you the names of from ten to twenty, but upon second thought I have decided to find out, when I go home, if they want to become members, and propose the names of those who do." I told him I thought that would be the better course. As to this question of limiting the number, by way of showing what might be done, suppose this body should limit the number of its members to one thousand, and suppose we should ordinarily expect an attendance of about one-tenth of them, perhaps one hundred would be enough to transact the business. Unless some limit is fixed we shall be put to many inconveniences. The hall must be larger; the preparations members in various ways must be larger. I do not for know how many we can conveniently seat at dinner. One hundred is a good round number, and ordinarily sufficient for social purposes. I suppose the inconvenience arises from the admittance of the younger members of the bar into such bodies perhaps a little too soon. Our present rule is that they must have been five years at the bar. If We find we are increasing too rapidly, we might raise the time to seven years-or more, if necessary. Putting it upon the basis of representation, suppose we take in round numbers 350 to be the whole number of the members of Congress, taking both houses, and suppose we multiply that by three-1,050 members. Something like that might be resorted to to make a rule limiting the number of members in this body. The rule in our by-laws providing for a representation here from local Bar Associations admits about fifty or sixty, if all the states are represented, which would increase the whole number of members by so many. This is a subject requiring our almost immediate and earnest attention. The matter has been brought to my notice by several members, and one gentleman, who just bade me good-bye, said he felt a great interest in it. I told him at our next meeting undoubtedly the matter would be brought up, as I saw there was such a feeling prevailing. I am glad one of the gentlemen of the Executive Committee has brought the matter up. I have had no consultation with him, but I heartily concur in his views, that the subject is one very proper to be considered. Bedford M. Estes, of Tennesse, said: I think a matter of this importance ought not to be acted upon without consideration. It should be postponed, and made the special order for to-morrow, in order that we may consider it before we take action upon it. To be sure, if it were referred to a committee, it might not bind the members of the Association, but it would be an entering wedge. I can see that there ought to be limitations thrown round our membership, but it should be such a plan as would commend itself to members of the bar throughout the country. I do not think a system based upon congressional representation is a good plan. If this resolution is simply referred to a committee to consider and report upon limitations for membership, without specifying any particular method, I might think more of it; but we cannot act upon it at so short notice as an Association. The difficulty suggested by our worthy Secretary does not seem at present to be troublesome. This hall is capacious enough for many times our number, and, as far as attendance is now concerned, it would be better to offer some inducement that we might have more. So far as membership is concerned, we ought to assume that no member will present the name of a gentleman for membership with whom he has not conferred, and who would not be a worthy member to associate with us. In order to get the sense of the Association upon this subject, I move that the matter be postponed and made the special order for to-morrow morning at the same hour. Seconded by James M. Dudley, of New York. William Allen Butler, of New York, said: I am solely responsible for the resolution offered. I did not speak to any member of the Executive Committee about the matter, but it has occurred to me that we should have some basis, not of exclusion, but of limitation, for the purpose of filling our numbers to a certain point, and keeping them full. I have no objection to so amending my resolution as to comply with the suggestion of the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Estes. The resolution was then amended so as to refer it to the Executive Committee. Mr. Estes withdrew his motion to postpone the consideration of the matter, and seconded the resolution. E. F. Bullard, of New York, concurred in the resolution as now offered. He thought it would be well to give the Association the character and dignity of a representative body in some way; that members should be elected in a representative capacity. If the Association could at all times succeed in getting about one hundred to one hundred and fifty or two hundred members to attend the annual sessions, that would be enough to carry on the business properly, while the great usefulness of the work of the Assocation would be promulgated by the publication of the annual reports. Mr. Butler's resolution was then adopted. Thursday Evening, August 10. The Association was called to order at 8 o'clock by the President, who said: The reports of the special committee in reference to the matter of delays in the Supreme Court of the United States, which were laid before the Association this morning, and made the special order for this time, are now before the Association for consideration. Henry Hitchcock, of Missouri, offered the following resolution : Resolved, That the conclusions presented in the report of the majority of the Select Committee on the Relief of the United States Courts are approved by this Association, and the said report is hereby adopted. Seconded by James M. Dudley, of New York. W. H. H. Russell, of Missouri, said: I rise to a point of information. I desire to know whether it is the ruling of the Chair that the Chairman of the committee will have the close of this debate, or whether that portion of the committee making the majority report. The precedent established by the rule in Congress is that the Chairman of a committee reporting, no matter whether there is a majority or minority report, has the close of the debate, and I take it, therefore, that Mr. Phelps has the right to close the debate on the subject of the two reports. That is the reason why I rise to ask the information of the Chair. Henry Hitchcock : I would state that the motion just presented by myself was done after consultation with Mr. Phelps. I understood it was acceptable to him that the question should be raised in this way. As to any question upon the order of debate |