Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-02-15
Passed TO Be Enarossed

| Congregational (Abyssinian) church OF
| Portland, and to authorize said corpora
| ton to convey certain real estate.
| H. D. 1885, An Act to Authorize the
city of Portland. to pension Dora b. NC
Intosh. widow OF Charles E. Mcintosh
police officer of said city, shot in per
| formance of duty.
II n 137 An Act to amend Section 70,
| CHAPTER 50 of the Revised Statutes. re-
lating to the making of false reports by
| trust companies.
! s d. 1877. An Act to punish the giving
of checks or drafts on any bank or other
depository, wherein the person so CIV
ing such check or draft shall not have
sufficient funds or credit for the pay
ment of the same.
S. D. 138 An Act concerning indus
trial banks defining the same. and pro-
viding for their Incorporation, powers.
supervision and control.
S. D. 139 An Act to amend Chapter
4l6 of the Private and Special Laws of
1907. relating to the schools of the city of
Augusta.
! (On motion by Mr.. Swift Of Kennebec,
tabled pending its passage to be en-
crossed.
II. d. 14o An Act to extend and amend
! the charter of the Fairfield and Show
hogan Railway Company.
Orders of the Day
The PRESIDENT: Under orders of
the day, the President will lay before
the Senate the matter specially assign
ed for today, the report of the commit
| on, or hill An Act amend
Section 27 of the Chapter S4 of the Re
vised Statutes of 1916 relating to ap-
plication for admission to the Bar of
| this State.
Mr. HOLT of Cumberland: Mr.. Pres
ident my reason for having this laid
on the table, this unfavorable report of
! the judiciary committee on this act re-
lating to admission to the bar, was that
l might go on record here in favor of
! the act, and although we have listened
to a message containing a lot of figures,
| ask for your Indulgence for a few
minutes in order that l may give you
my reasons. 1 recognize, of course, the
force that should properly belong to any
report from any committee of this Leg
islature; and yet l have the temerity
to oppose this because l believe in it
| absolutely, and | think the committees
recommendation should be given its
property weight, but we must all reai-
ize and admit that no committee is in
fallible. Now the substance of this act
is that those who apply for admission
to the bar shall as an educational quail
iticatOn have a High school education
or it's equivalent. The act provides
and | speak simply of the substance of
the act, because l am not concerned in
detailS-proVideS that those who fur
nish diploma from a High school or
school of equivalent standing, or in case
/ they have not attended a High school
it is not necessary under this act that
they shall have spent the time in a
! High school. If they have not then they
are allowed to take an examination pre-
Scrlbed by the board on the general sub
jects which they would have had in High
school. and if they pass with sufficient
| rank to admit them to our State Uni
versity, the University of Maine, then
they are deemed to have fulfilled
this qualification Now it might
/ he said that all restriction upon
admission to the profession, the
legal profession and the medical profess
sion, are obstacles in the way Of oppor-
tunity and liberty and in derogation of
the democratic right. But / think it
must be clear to all of YOU that there
must be some restriction. Take it. fo-
instance, in the medical profession 1t
is very clear that we must have some
restriction else the public would suffer
Now in the legal profession it is clearly
important that we should have men with
some training before they are admitted
l would not shut the door of opportunity
to any man, boy or man in the State OF
Maine, to be admitted to the bar, ana
If this act did that for a moment
should be utterly opposed to It, But !
they are carrying on their examinations
and are seeking to have those who are
qualified admitted, just so the legal pro-
( fession should have some reasonable re-
quirement. Now. then, it simply comes
down to the question, Is this a reason
able requirement? Because if 1t is not
/ it should not be enacted Now the bill
itself states that the High school re-
quired is the Glass A High school, and
referring to the statute it prescribes that
Class A High school shall include schools
maintaining at least one approved course
OF study through four years of Sc weeks
each and of standard grade, and shall
employ at least two teachers, provided
the town. precinct or union maintaining
such school shall appropriate and expend
for instruction therein at least $3.50 an
nually exclusive of all tuition received; :;
and also says together with approved
laboratory equipment" Now. as I said
/ in the beginning. that high school is
simply the one mentioned in the bill.
J If it is necessary to include some 9TH
er high school, the Glass B high school
which requires the town to expend at
! least $500, they could readily he put
in. | have looked up the number of
high schools of this class which is
! mentioned in the bill and find that at
present there are, according to the
last report. 196 in the State, and at
present they estimate there are over
200 But 7 cali attention again to the
fact that it is not necessary to have
the li@h school education provided the
man will take the test and will pass an
examination sufficient to admit him
to the University Of Maine Now it
max be said. as an objection to this
bill. that there are some men who have
/ bppD admitted IN the har of thic Storo