The Washington herald., 1921-05-31
LAWYERS ATTACK
VOLSTEAD ACT AS
EVILFOR COUNTRY
Salary of Judges Consid'
cred by Committee on
Judicial Reform.

Stirring denunciation of the Vol
stead act as an important factor
towards federal aggrandizement OF
state rights: a plea for greater SAL
aries for federal judges; a diversity
of opinion on the remodeling OF
present legal procedure-these were
important Developments of the sec
ond meeting of the Committee on
Judicial Reform. which dined last
night in honor of Attorney General
Harry Daugherty in the Shoreham.
Due to illness in the family. Secre-
tary Daugherty was unable to be
in attendance. but conveyed through
Wade Ellis. former attorney gen.
eral of Ohio. a pledge to support
the findings of the committee.
Many senator's and representatives
were among the guests.
Senator King. OF Utah. ripped a
hole through the Volstead act. de-
claring that II was but one of the
many ways in which the federal
government was taking the rights
and duties of the state. He said
that cases under the volstead act
should be cared for by the state
judicial system: that corporations
should carry on their litigation in
state courts where they have their
assets and business interests, not
their charter.
Urges More Pay.
Justice Martin T. Manton. Of the
circuit court of appeals of southern
New York state. made plea for
more salary for federal judges.
An undercurrent of satire. in
which many of the speakers were
involved. strengthened by di-
versity of opinion. gave the appear
ance of the ballroom the atmos-
phere Of congress. The subject was
the PRONUNCIATION of modern inn
provements of the present judicial
system.
Representative Little. of Kansas.
defended the works of congress
sionaI committees in their efforts to
clarity the code He advised that
he was heartily in accord with any
movement to give a larger salary
to judges. but reminded that, SEN
ators and members of the lower
house were in the same pecuniary
category. Representative Campbell.
of Kansas. replied to Little's state
ments. and disagreed in that Wash
ington should depart from the
method of passing upon or Great
ing legal instruments which should
be within the prerogatives of the
state.
Senators Speak.
Former Senator Hoke Smith. of
Georgia: Senator Reed, of Mis-
souri,; Attorney Pogue, of Cincin-
matt. spoke Informally and briefly
A P. Andrews, of Raleigh, n. c.,
judges throughout the country were
greatly underpaid- He declared that
In the District of Columbia. the rate
a case to each judge was slightly in
excess of IS. an amount, he said
which hardly rivaled the pay of a
juror. He also gave an example OF
the inadvisability of passing on Vol
stead cases in the federal courts
that of the moonshine court in North
Carolina Over so per cent of the
cases brought before this particular
court have as the issue the posses
sion of liquor. while, he said. II a
civil case in the thousands was to
he contested, there would be anRb-
noxious delay. Caught with a half
pint in the pocket gains immediate
attention. he declared.
Judge Richard Bird. Of Wichita,
Rans.. asked for the humanization
of the federal judicial procedure. not
in the judges individually or coll
lectively. but in the laws themselves.
He added that a lawyer, efficient and
learned in the state Jurisdiction. be-
comes a child in the complex federal
system. To this Senator King re-
piled. saying that the adverse was
the case