REPORT OF JOHN MARSHALL MEMORIAL COMMITTEE.

To the Virginia State Bar Association:

John Marshall Memorial Committee is gratified to report that an opportunity has at last presented itself of obtaining and preserving the residence of the Great Chief Justice in Richmond in memorial of his life and services to the Commonwealth and the country at large. It has long been desired that the title to this residence might be acquired by this Association and the residence itself maintained as a Mecca for lawyers. It was at one time hoped that it might be made the permanent home of this Association and be used as a lawyers' club. In 1907 this proposition was presented to the American Bar Association by a special committee having the same chairman as this committee, and the endeavor was made to raise a fund of One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars for the purchase and maintenance of the property, but the proposition was defeated, and your committee has realized that it was practically impossible for this Association to have carried out the plan. But now the ladies of Virginia have determined to preserve the building and the property is about to be turned over by the City of Richmond to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The special nature of the work done by this Association is known to all of us. In its petition to the City Council of Richmond the Association says: "Should this petition be granted, this Association pledging its ability to justify a trust committed to it, will undertake to restore and furnish the building, as nearly as possible, as it was when occupied by its builder and owner, to collect books and manuscripts relating to Marshall's life and period, and to accumulate portraits and relics valuable through their perpetuation of his memory. The Association will, if

given the opportunity, keep the doors of the Marshall Home open to Richmond visitors and all others, and will arrange to receive as free guests the school children of the city, thus affording them an opportunity to study the character of a great statesman and citizen and gain an incentive for emulating his virtues." In order to carry out these plans, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, through its President, Mrs. J. Taylor Ellyson, is making an appeal to the lawyers of the United States for financial aid. The Bar Association of the City of Richmond has contributed the sum of $500.00, and the State Bar Association is asked to contribute $1,000.00, to be paid in one, two, three, or four years as may be most convenient. The Association does not intend to confine its appeal to Virginia, and in a letter to the Chairman of this Committee, Mrs. Ellyson, says: "Upon the generous action and interest of the Virginia Bar Association will depend our appeal for assistance to the National and State Associations. Many of the prominent lawyers outside of Virginia are deeply interested in the preservation of the John Marshall House and I am quite sure that the Bar Associations throughout the country will follow in the lead of Virginia." Your committee earnestly endorses the appeal of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and recommends that this Association contribute the sum of $1,000.00 for the acquisition of the John Marshall House as aforesaid, to be made in four annual payments of $250.00 each.