Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1908-08-14
REGARDING Mr.. MEREDITH.

Sir,-On my way home (to Taze-
well) and in Lynchburg, where 1
am now, L have been frequently ask
ed what figure was cut by the decla.
ration made 10y Mr.. Wyndham
Meredith, president of the Virginia
Bar Association during its recent
meeting at Hot Springs, that he
would support Judge Taft as the Re-
publican nominee for president; and
what was lis effect on the lawyers
who compose that association. |
generally replied in my language re-
ported 10 you from that place in
your issue of the 9Th inst that ~
thought the announcement was Ill
timed and improper under all the
circumstances, and that it tended TO
place the Bar Association in very
awkward and delicate position.
These inquirers were not SO much
interested in how or for whom Mr.
Meredith, as one individual, would
vote as they were In the report,
which seemed TO have been current
from some source, that he reflected
the sentiment of the assembled law
yers. OF course, all fairminded peo-
pie admitted that Mr.. Meredith has
a right to vote for whom he pleases,
and an equal right to join the popu-
lists. the Socialists, the Prohibition
lists or any other party he pleases,
but they thought it strange that he
should make his confession of faith
while presiding actively in the eX-
alted position as president of the
Virginia Bar Association.
/ am sure that L could not enlight-
en- these anxious inquirers, for |
was astonished and am myself per
picked, as well as humiliatted. |
knew Mr.. Meredith to be an accomp-
lished gentleman, schooled in all the
amenities pertaining TO such n gent
leman, and that he would know that
by his action he could not hope To
influence a single member of that in
dependent and intelligent body of
men, but that if his action could by
them be possibly construed as such
an intention the lawyers would in
dignantly resent IL.
The people of Virginia know that
the Bar Association Is, and has al
ways been, strictly nonpartisan on
all subjects except rs TO the profess
sion of law, as il pertains 10 the
ethics of its practice, the admins
tration of justice, the standard of
pTobity and honor of the lawyers
By the constitution of our assoc alton
we are limited to this.
Whatever may have been Mr..
Meredith's object in his announce
ment ut the time he made ii, he hit
our association a hard lick, and the
lawyers so feel. Probably no similar
association in the United States has
been more popular and better attend
ed than the Virginia Bar Associa-
tion. / have attended every one of
its meetings since the initial one,
except one, and / now declare that
| believe its unbroken success has
been due TO its unswerving fidelity
TO its organic purposes, its unaffected
social features and its non partisan
practices. The last was the first meet
ing at which / ever heard of politics
cutting any figure, and few more
such would be disastrous and resolve
our association into a political
club.
L must say now that L do not be-
ileve the honorable gentleman, our
president, EXPECTED the construc-
tion to be put upon his action which
in many instances has been-for no
one knows better than he that his
announcement, while in the active
working of the association as its pre-
sident, would not influence the stern
members of that great body any more
than if it had been made, as il
should have, by him as "A private
citizen.