member of the Bar can contribute more in a financial way to your entertainment.

We have a committee here, and it has endeavored to plan some entertainment, and we trust that you may feel absolutely free. You meet here in our beautiful Country Club, and it is without the corporate limits of any town. It is near Montgomery, and just at the edge of another municipality— Cloverdale. So you are here in the shadow of the law. The Supreme Court sits near us, as well as the Federal Court, and we welcome the Federal Court here this afternoon. The Judge of the Federal Court lives near here. You are under the eave of all of these courts, and then you are here near two municipalities. We have the Governor of Alabama. I have not read the Constitution since I was admitted to the Bar, but I think he is also Governor of your section of the State. I know he is Governor of Montgomery. (Laughter and applause). He is not here, but he will come later. As I understand it, he is busy with a certain kind of nuisance upon Goat Hill, and he hasn't much time to bother with such as we

are.

And you need not be afraid if your speedometer is off of the car, or if you are here in a flivver. If you exceed the speed limit just a little bit, knowingly, don't be afraid of it; we'll pick you up. It has even been said that the City of Montgomery has a police force too inadequate to outrun a lawyer, and the City of Cloverdale is ideal, in that it has no policeSo you can't be molested unnecessarily.

men.

We invite you to all of these places, and to all that we have, and we hope that you may have a good time. Coming together as you do, and as you should, for the welfare not only of the Bar, but the welfare of your State, we trust that your entertainment may be enough to cause you to come back, and we trust that your deliberations may be serious enough and thoughtful enough, as we are sure they shall be, that you may help the great State in which you live.

The minister in his opening prayer gave us some good thoughts. He used the word "shyster", which we have heard before, but that doesn't apply to us. It means the fellow who didn't come here. (Laughter).

I began to practice in the Black Belt of Alabama, now the Clover Leaf section, I believe they call it, and I think that is an improvement. On one occasion a negro came to my office, and I said to him, "Sam, Mr. Jones says he can't give you but one hundred dollars in compromise of your claim, and he asked me to see what you would do about it." Sam scratched his head a little while, and looked down at the floor. I said, "What will you take, Sam? Will you accept it?" He said, "Boss, dat pends on what you's gwine a-charge me for your chicanery in the case." (Laughter). I didn't resent it, because I knew Sam had been talked to somewhere. But I straightened up and said, "Well, Sam, under all the circumstances, my chicanery is going to be worth fifty dollars. In other words, I'll let you have fifty of those dollars; it is fifty-fifty." Ever since that time I think the lawyers have worked on that theory, and it has been fifty-fifty ever since. (Laughter).

Now, that is no Hambone story. That actually occurred, and I can prove it by a reputable lawyer of Montgomery. I see his honored brother here, one of the members of our I say a reputable lawyer, all lawyers are reputable. I have looked it up in the dictionary. It says one with a reputation. (Laughter). When I looked up the word "reputation" in a large dictionary, I found it had an explanation further down. It says, "One may have a reputation and not a character." It goes on and puts in a semi-colon, and says, "That is, as contradistinguished from character." All lawyers have a character. There is no question about that.

But I must get back to extend my welcome. We are glad you are here. We hope your stay may be just as pleasant as possible.. As I have said, if you exceed the speed limit, we may forget it. We are out here under the auspices of Honorable Forest Crenshaw, President of the Country Club, about whom I might say a great many things if I had the time.

Now, if you see anything that you want, ask for it. If there is something here that you don't see and you want it, ask for that, and there is a bare possibility that some member of the Club might in a limited sense accommodate you.

We are always told, in welcoming talks, to give to the visiting parties the key to the city. Well, we do that, and if you want a key to unlock anything out here, the locker or any place, just call on the President of the Country Club, and we assure you that he has a night key or one that will reach any place. Have a good time, and come again. We want you back again, and we welcome you from the bottom of our hearts. (Applause).

President Leigh:

Gentlemen, another leading lawyer of the State has been chosen to respond to that most excellent address of welcome, and we will now hear from the Honorable W. H. Sadler, of Birmingham.

Mr. Sadler:

Mr. President and gentlemen, I know you must sympathize with me as I stand here and attempt to respond to such a splendid address of welcome as you have just listened to. I think what the gentleman adroitly insinuated was probably the most interesting part of his address, if I understood him correctly. If not, then he has held out to me a false hope.

Speaking for myself, and on behalf of the Bar Association of Alabama, I thank the gentleman for his cordial words of welcome. The sentiments he expressed are in keeping with the fine traditions of this lovable old city. What a splendid place this is for hosts and guests to meet!

"Montgomery, the seat of government of the sovereign State of Alabama, situated as it is between the mountains on the north, rock ribbed and ancient as the sun, and fertile valleys upon the south that feed their thousands upon tens of thousands; upon the banks of the graceful Alabama as it winds its way toward the sea, where blooming flowers, fresh kissed by the morning dew, smile their greetings to a radiant sun. God gave all men all earth to love, but since our hearts are small, ordained for each one spot should be beloved over all, the city whose people, while toiling throughout the day, earn the peaceful repose which is theirs when the blue canopy of the heaven becomes dotted with twinkling stars and forget-me-nots of the angels; Montgomery, we salute you."

Pardon me, gentlemen, for that tirade. (Laughter and

applause). But I suffer from amnesia (laughter), and I got the idea that I was Bill Brandon. (Laughter and applause). But having sort of come to now, I realize that Bill Brandon is not Governor, but somebody else. Let's see: What's his name? Not Steiner. What is that man's name? (Laughter and applause). Well, anyway, it's the man that tried to select a Mayor for Montgomery. You have heard of that, I know. (Applause).

We appreciate the fine things our good brother has said. There is one thing about it, though, that rings with some uncertainty, and leaves us in a state of doubt. They seem to have lost their control of the Supreme Court. He says that, if you once get your stuff here, Mr. Crenshaw won't bother you if you drink it here. But the Supreme Court has recently put some obstacles in the way of getting it here. They say now that the cop can search your car on the way out here. I don't know who wrote that opinion, and I don't offer it as any authority at all, Judge Thomas; but there are those of us who will remember the names of the concurring Justices in that opinion as sure as you are born. (Laughter and applause). It may be good law all right, but it is mighty poor politics. (Laughter and applause).

Not only are we welcome, gentlemen, to a most delightful city, but we meet here at a most interesting time, when the lawmakers, chosen by our suffrage, they must admit, are in session. (Laughter). Now, my remarks, if I should happen to pursue this subject further, have no reference at all to my good friend Senator Ellis over there. He and I have been good friends a long time, and know enough of one another to make everything all right. (Laughter).

I have been very much interested, as all of you have been, I am sure, in this nuisance tax. Now, that thing would be in a muddle but for the discriminating mind of the lawyers in the Legislature. They say it is all wrong to tax all tobacco. It is perfectly plain to anybody that if tobacco be ground fine enough to make it into snuff, certainly, on the face of it, that is not a fit subject of taxation. If, however, it is left coarse enough to be chewing tobacco, then it is equally as plain that that cannot be taxed. Now, no group of men under the sun, except the astute discriminating lawyers, could have so dis

tinguished the case and got the State out of the muddle that they are about to get into. (Laughter).

Not only that, gentlemen, but lawyers are practical folks. They said, "Why, this tobacco tax is going to be an awful lot of trouble to collect; you're going to have to sell stamps and keep an account, and deal with fifteen thousand different retailers throughout the State, and that's just too many.” Ah, it is the practical lawyer that rises up in the midst of that confusion and again saves our soverign State by saying, "Our friends, the simple solution is this: Send one bill to the railroads once a year and you'll solve the whole thing." (Laughter and applause). Yes; I represent a railroad, but not in that capacity. As long as you leave enough of the railroad to pay my salary, I am not concerned with the balance of it. Now, Mr. Reporter, please strike out that last sentence, because the General Counsel might happen to get hold of that somehow.

I had occasion last year, I believe, at the Bar Association in Birmingham to make a few remarks at the banquet. I remembered fairly well what I said, but when the thing came out in print, it showed that either the reporter was a very fine friend of mine, or the man who got up that book was a good friend of mine, because the speech as it came out in the book was perfectly sensible and logical, and free of grammatical errors. Now, I don't know who is going to have charge of getting out the book this time, but I do ask you, please, if these remarks, or any part of them, should find any place in that book, to be as generous and considerate this time as you were on the former occasion.

Gentlemen, I am sure I speak your sentiments when again I heartily thank the people of Montgomery who have, through their spokesman, so splendidly welcomed us to this city. I am sure that our deliberations will make for better results because of the environs under which those deliberations are had.

I thank you. (Applause).

President Leigh:

Gentlemen, Colonel Troy has a few words to say to us. (Applause). I am glad that you applauded as you did, because we all know and love the Colonel.