The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-12-28
UPPER VALLEY
ENTERTAINS ROYALTY

Hood River citizens. members of the
Commercial Club and their wives and
friends, who were the guests of the
Upper Valley Progressive Association
at the Parkdale hall Wednesday night
Of last week, returned to this city on
the Midnight Limited of the Mt. Hood
Line with strong praise Of the citizens
Of the Upper region because Of their
royal hospitality. Indeed. it was a
successful meeting. Mingling in the
Parkdale Assembly hall over the store
of K. j. Mclsaac in that thriving little
town, the citizens and their wives,
before and after the delightful lecture
given by Judge Stephen A. Lowell, OF
Pendleton, who told his listeners of the
evolution of modern day law. discussed
the topics of the day and became bet
ter acquainted
Judge Lowell was introduced by John
Godsbury, president Of the Upper
Valley commercial and publicity or
ganization. 1T is, indeed, a delight
for us to have with US tonight jurist,
whose fame as an orator is not only
known in Oregon but outside the bOr-
ders of the state, said the Upper Val
ley orchardist, proprietor of the
&c wan and G'wof Ranch. Judge
Lowell, f" be told the audience, "wIll
probably be a candidate from this state
for the United States Senate.
The East Oregon lawyer preceded
his lecture with tribute to the Hood
River Valley. There may be many
corners OF this republic of ours where
/ Q hg OF 20 .f SC he
said, 'but there is not a spot within
its borders where the people do not
know of Hood River. A statesman of
one of the Middle Western states said
not so long ago in addressing an as
semblage of representative citizens
| If were a member of the legislature
of Utah, one Of the first things that
would do would be to erect a statue to
Brigham Young. Not that | am q
Mormon ard admire MIN for what he
has done for his religion, not that
admire his personality, but. for the
great work he has done toward solving
agricultural problems. If | were a
member of the legislature of this state,
one Of the first things that would
want to do would be to introduce a bill
to erect a monument to the citizenship
of Hood River community because OF
the fact that it has worked out so idea
system of agriculture and horticul.
ture.
Judge Lowell then proceeded to tel
his hearers of the development of law
in the early days, of its evolution dur.
the height of the civilization of ancient
nations. Law has rarely kept pace
with progress, he said, ''it is trutf
interesting as well as marvellous thai
the human race on the whole is very
similar to that of 1000 years ago
Great changes and reformation for the
most part have to be brought about by
the steadfast hammering Of few anC
eventually by an uprising snd blood
shed. Law finds its foundation il
justice. The greatest judicial charac
ter the world has ever known, was
Moses, and the Decalougues he re
ceived on Mount Sinai have been in
cucated into laws for all time.
To-day we have two great system:
of law. the Civil and the Common
Law. The former prevails in all Euro
pean countries and the latter in al
domains of the English speaking people
except Scotland and Louisiana. The
Civil Law has come down from mOdifi
cations of the laws made by Justinian
of the great Roman Empire, and tnC
codes of Napoleon. Rome was a great
nation of law. Athens was noted fol
its beauty and art, the Hebrew fol
theirrelgion and Egypt for its super
stition."
''As the Romans piled their con
quests the people of the island were
the only that refused to bow down tt
the Roman law. The laws of England
are based on the experience of its peo
| pie extending back over ages. They
were long unwritten, for they werl
laws before men knew how to write
As civilization advanced reporters tool
down the decisions and they have beer
handed down as precedents. The rules
of the Common Law have been Eng
land richest heritage to her colonies
so great has become the number
Of our written decisions today that al
precedents they have become burden
some. A number of years ago Dude!
Field, of New York, conceived the ide,
of modifying the laws of that state an(
thus simplifying them. The greater
number Of the states have now FOL
lowed suit 1t would be a wise move
for the United States to appoint {
board of MODIFICATION to modify tht
laws for federal use.
After my 25 years experience as {
lawyer, | still believe that the jury
system of the Common Law is tht
greatest bulwark of liberty that WI
English speaking people have. NJ
lawyer with a just cause, | believe
ever goes before jury and makes {
sincere and honest plea in vain.
''The ordinary citizen looks on The
Lawyer as a necessary evil. Indeed
some of the labor organizations have
classed Us with the bankers and saloon
men. There are four classes of law