The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-04
LAWYERS OF GEORGIA'S BAR.
J. W. PARK ELECTED PRESIDENT
OF THE ASSOCIATION.

President-The Subject OF Relief
for the state supreme Court, che
Most Important One Before the
session-SeveraI Plans Avoiding
the Necessity Of "A Constitutional
Amendment Proposed.
Atlanta. Ga, Oct. 3.-The bar associa-
ton elected the following officers Tor the
ensuing year. and then adjourned to meet
again next year al a date and place 10 be
fixed by the executive committee:
President-JOhn ". Park Of Greenvihe-
First Vice President-Pope Barrow of
Savannah.
Second Vice President-Burton Smith Of
Atlanta.
Third Vice President-F. D. Peabody Of
Columbus.
Fourth Vice President-C. c. Smith Of
Hawkinsville-
Fifth Vice President-samuel McWhor-
ter of Lexington
secretary-John W. Aiken Of Carriers
vile.
Treasurer. D. Harrison Of Atlanta.
Executive Committee-H. r. Goetchins
of Columbus, T. A. Hammond of Atlanta,
4
GreenviIle.
Probably the most important work OF
the meeting was in regard to securing the
much needed relief to the supreme court,
the amendment to the constitution in
creasing the number of judges having been
defeated at the last general elections.
The court must have relief OF some SORT,
however, and the lawyers propose TO get
il from the legislature without amending
the constitution if possible. Papers bear
ing upon the subject were read by w W.
Gordon, Jr., of savannah and w 4. W I'M
Dish of Columbus, Hon. Washington Des-
sau. L. D. Harrison OF Atlanta,
Associate Justice Lumpkn and others
discussed the matter, Mr.. Harrison NOV
ing a committee to formulate a report
and carry it before the legislature ms
Fleming of Augusta W. r. Hammond of
Atlanta, II. n. Perry of Gainesville w:
Il. Hill of Macon and +. d. PEABODY OF
The prevailing sentiment among the
lawyers is opposed to the establishment
Of a new court intermediary between the
supreme court and the lower courts.
Most of the lawyers agree that THIS plan
Is impracticable under the constitutional
rights Of the citizens to go to the supreme
court as well as undesirable Tor Other
reasons. The two propositions that are
most favored are to limit the jurisdiction
of the supreme court TO cases lnVolNlhs
$500 and upwards and in criminal cases
when the fines and Imprisonment are
heaVy, or 10 increase the power OF the
judges of the lower courts IN the matter
of granting new trials 50 that the SUI
preme court docket will be purged OF
. great amount of this sort of work;
work that now makes il more of a court
of appeals than a court for the correction
OF errors.
The report of the committee on griev-
ances submitted by Washington Dessau
of Macon was particularly severe i'm de-
nouncing the practice existing among GER
tain lawyers Of soliciting damage suits
against corporations. The report goes
10 show that better class of lawyers In
the state are against this practice. ana |
will do all in their power to suppress
II. 1t is said the report had it's origin i'm |
the numerous applications that were made |
TO persons in Macon 10 bring suits against |
the Southern railroad on account of the |
some weeks ago.
Another important report was that
from the committee on Jurisprudence !
made by W. b. Hin of Macon. The re- |
port dwelt on the duty of the society to
furnish free to the poor and dependent
of securing their legal rights The need
of reform shown especially in the
case Of the poor who come in contact /
with legal officers who hold the posi- /
tions of lowest rank with whom the
temptation is great to abuse the power
vested in them. illustrating this state
OF things, attention was called to the !
transactions between he pawnbroker /
and the luckless customer in the deal |
ings of the sewing machine agents and |
of the sellers OF furniture on weekly or
monthly installments. in the hard bar
gains of small money lenders, where as
a "A
charged and collected, in all of which the
poor and helpless are often overreached, |
and when the screws Of the law are APP
piled to enforce these unequal contracts
legal oppression frequently results. The
report recommended that the district at
tOrney of any city be required TO repre-
sent the poor in addition to his other
duties, his salary being increased so that |
his entire time could be given up to this
work.
Several other reports and papers were
read among them one from Secretary
John w Aiken on eX-Justice Logan II.
Becky as a poet, whom he described as
"a son of the mountains catching in early
youth an inspiration from their blue
lights which probably only those felt who
live within their shadow, an inspiration Of
the ideal and the beautiful which makes
one think the unspeakable and turn to
poetry in the hopeless effort to tell what
he feels. Marrying the law and devotng
himself to this chosen spouse through a
long and active life, until, when the shad-
ows are lengthening fast. he voluntarily
youth, i'm order, he fondly hopes, to
chase the more swiftly and catch the more
quickly a phantom which. like a mirage
in the desert. has danced before the deu-
ded vision of the wise for ages past, only
TO slip from their empty grasp, the phan-
tom of financial truth"
Col. p. w. Meldrim of Savannah was
on the programme for paper to-day, but
on account of crowdng the work into
two days, he did not read il. The paper of
H II. Perry was also left over for next
year.
A breakfast was given at the Capitol
City Club this morning in honor of W.
B. Hornblower, the guest of the Georgia
Bar Association