very often those persons are charged with such offences technical along the line of the law, but in reality of so trivial a nature that when they are brought before the Court after an imprisonment of several months in a jail, a place that we provide only for the temporary care of prisoners, the Court suspends sentence upon them. The matter was laid before the Association and a committee was appointed, as I say, three years ago, to consider the matter. We have done so and we have felt that the proper way to secure and correct this evil is to lay the matter before the several Bar associations of the State and let the members of the Bar cure it. The Magistrates feel that it would not come with good grace, that is, that it would not be the best course for it to come from them. The District Attorneys' Association, which considered the matter at its last meeting at Rochester, took the same view, and said this is a matter that the whole citizenship of the State is interested in, and the Bar should be the one to urge the correction of it if there is to be one, and with these preliminary remarks I would like to offer this resolution:

WHEREAS, It is claimed that in many of the Counties of the State, the terms of Court and the sittings of the Grand Jury are held at long intervals (at times more than five and six months intervening between such sessions), during which time persons charged with criminal offenses are held by Magistrates to await indictment and arraignment, and

WHEREAS, It is claimed a large number of persons. charged with crime desire to plead guilty, but cannot do so until after indictment, which cannot be obtained in such Counties for such long periods, thus entailing hardship to the accused, whose fault may only be technical, as well as an unnecessary expense to such Counties; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Committee on Law Reform be requested to investigate and report to this Association at its next meeting, the extent of the alleged injustice, and also a remedy, if, in its opinion, such is necessary and desirable."

Adelbert Moot, of Buffalo:

Mr. President, I second that motion. This is a very important matter. Most expert authorities on subjects of this character say that the penal institutions of this country, especially our industrial farms and institutions of that character, are among the foremost in the world, but they say that our jails are among the worst in the world, excepting no country whatever, and are simply schools for crime. This brings the matter up in a practical way so that poor boys and girls who are unable to get counsel and unable to get relief, shall not be compelled to be put in these schools for crime for weeks or months just because there is no method by which they can plead guilty and have the suspended sentence that they should have and be relieved from such environment.

The motion was duly put and carried.

Carlton E. Ladd, of Buffalo :

Mr. President, at the request of Mr. Simon Fleischmann, of Buffalo, I desire to file with the Secretary the following notice of amendment to the Constitution:

NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE

CONSTITUTION OF THIS ASSOCIATION

Notice is hereby given by the undersigned that they will, at the next Annual Meeting of the New York State Bar Association to be held in 1915, propose the following amendment to the Constitution:

Article V of the Constitution is hereby amended to read as follows:

The President, or (in his absence) one of the VicePresidents, or (in the absence of all of them) one of the members shall preside at all meetings of the Association.

The President shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee.

No person shall be eligible to hold the office of President more than one term.

SIMON FLEISCHMANN,
JOHN BROOKS LEAVITT,
M. F. DIRNBERGER, JR.
JOSEPH H. MOREY,
WM. L. MARCY,
JOHN W. RYAN,

H. W. POTTLE,

William Vanamee, of Newburgh:

FRANK GIBBONS,

BRADLEY H. PHILLIPS,
EUGENE L. FALK,
LOUIS E. DESBECKER,
IRVING L. FISK,

A. T. CLEARWATER."

Mr. President, I wish to give notice of an amendment to the Constitution to be submitted at our next meeting. The proposed amendment transfers from the joint committee, consisting of the Executive Committee and the Committee on Law Reform of fifty-four members, to a much smaller committee the duties of proposing topics to be brought to the attention of the Association for discussion and consideration. This amendment is the outgrowth of a resolution offered last year by Judge Clearwater, under which a committee. appointed this year by the President took under consideration several topics suitable for discussion at this meeting. They finally settled upon the subject of the Workmen's Compensation Act passed only last month, although some members thought that as the act had passed so recently it should have a fair trial and that a year should elapse before any discussion should take place by this Association. On the other hand, other members thought that inasmuch as

the law was passed under unusual conditions with the distinct intimation that any defect in it might easily be remedied at this session of the Legislature, now, if ever, the just influence of the Bar should be felt and exercised in respect to those amendments. This view prevailed in the deliberations of the committee, with the result that with the kind and able co-operation of the chairman of the Workmen's Compensation Committee, Mr. Campbell, we shall have this morning a discussion by eminent experts upon that subject which cannot fail to be most illuminating and instructive. The text of this proposed amendment is as follows:

NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO
THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS
ASSOCIATION

To the New York State Bar Association:

We, the undersigned, being at least ten members of this Association, hereby give notice, pursuant to Article XXIV of the Constitution, that, at the next meeting of the Association we shall propose the following, as an amendment to the Constitution:

་

Strike out of Article XVIII of the Constitution the following words : ' and shall prescribe such subjects for consideration at the Annual Meeting as said committee shall deem advisable.''

Insert in Article XVIII of the Constitution, after the fourth paragraph thereof, the following words:

"There shall be a Committee to be known as the Committee on Plan and Scope, whose duty it shall be to suggest matters to be brought to the attention of the Association for discussion and consideration.

"Such Committee shall consist of the President, the Secretary, the Chairman of the Executive Com

mittee, the Chairman of the Committee on Law Reform and such other members as may be appointed by the President.

WILLIAM VANAMEE,
CHARLES A. Boston,

WOLCOTT G. Lane,
F. M. DANAHER,
JAMES T. CLARK,

JOHN D. TELLER,

JOHN M. BRAINARD,
FREDERICK D. COLSON,
EUGENE D. HAWKINS,
CHARLES D. BEAN."

To this is prefixed the notice in conformity of the provisions of the Constitution and to it are appended the ten names provided for by the Constitution. Of course, no action is possible at this time. There is, however, Mr. President, a proposed amendment to the Constitution, notice of which was given by Mr. Ewing last year which now comes up for passage. The amendment is this:

"At the beginning of Article XX of the Constitution insert the following words as a part of said Article XX, to wit:

.

"Any member hereafter disbarred for any cause from the practice of law in this State shall forthwith upon such disbarment cease to be a member of this Association."

Of course, the propriety of this is so obvious that it would scarcely invite any discussion. I move the passage of this amendment.

The motion was duly seconded and carried.

Charles E. McCarthy, of Troy:

Mr. President, as a question of information, I would like to ask what the effect of that resolution would be on a life member?

The President:

I should decide, if I had to, it would drop him from the Association. I think we had better leave that.