The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1923-08-30
J. w. Davis Voices Opposi-
ton to Proposed Plan
of LaFOllette.
URGES SOME REFORMS
Wants Senate to Ratify Trea-
ties by Majority and Earlier
Administration Changes.
(By Associated Press Leased Wire)

Minneapolis, Mlnn.-OppOSlIlOn 10
any curtailment of the powers of the
United States supreme court was ex-
pressed by John w. Davis of New
York in his address as president of
the American Bar association at the
opening session of its forty sixth
annual convention here today.
In addition to this stand, which ap-
plies to decisions involving constitu-
tionality of congressional enactments
as well as departure from 5 to ma
jority decisions, the association presl-
dent also advocated the following:
Congress. should come into being
Immediately upon its election and, the
president and vice president should
be inaugurated without any neces-
sary lapses of time.
Would Modify Statutes.
The bar should demand without
further delay the appointment under
congressional authority of an expert
commission to codify the federal sta
tutes. Adoption of conditional
amendment permitting the president
of the United States to veto specific
items in an appropriation bill.
Modification of treaties with foreign
countries by the senate by majority,
vote. instead Of the two-third vote
now required.
Submission of constitutional amend
ments directly to the people of the
several states or to the legislatures
selected after and not before the
amendment has been proposed.
Repeated hope expressed in associa-
tion's resolution last year that way
may be found by which the govern
ment of the United States may avail
itself of the permanent court of in
ternational justice.
The address of Mr.. Davis, who pre-
sided at the opening session OF the
three day gathering was preceded by
the reports of Thomas W. Kemp of
Baltimore, secretary and Fred E. Wad-
hams, Albany, New York, treasurer,
and was followed by nominations for
the general council.
This afternoon, the association met
in joint session with the Minnesota
Bar association to listen to an adj
dress by Pierce Butler, associate JUS
DlC6 u JuS OuIIOQ DbdCCO
court. Tonight the Earl of Birken-
head, former chancellor of Great Bri-
tain, will address the convention.
Curtailment of Courts.
Referring to the suggestions for
curtailing the power of the supreme
court in passing on acts of Congress,
President Davis in his address asked
if wrongs visited upon an American
by the illegal excess of Congress or
legislatures be less open to redress
than those which he may suffer from
courts or sheriffs, or military tyrants
or civilian enemies"
"If this be So" he continued, lin
in any such case the ears of the court
are to be closed against him, it is<not
the power of the court that has been
reduced but the dearly bought right CT
the citizen which is taken away"
He declared that necessitating more
than a majority vote to make decl-
sion effective would be to place the
power with the minority, rather than
the majority. Much of the current
discomfort, he added, is caused per-
haps by the publication of dissenting
opinions which serve to fan the flame
of public distrust."
Certainly, it is not edifying to the
lay mind that an opinion representing
the considered judgment of the ma
iority of any court" he continued,
should be accompanied at the mo-
ment of delivery by an effort to prove
its manifest error"
Wants Ratification Easier.
Pointing to "the practical impossi-
bility of unified party control over
two-thirds of the senate" in discussing
the proposal for ratification of trea-
ties by a majority instead of two
thirds vote, President Davis declared
$50 large a vessel as the United
States is unsafe upon the high seas
unless it can answer to the helm"
at is not easy to see either in prin-
ciple or in policy" he continued, why
one man who votes no, should be
ipso facto considered twice as well
informed and weighty as one of his
colleagues who votes yes"
Granting the president of the
United States permission to veto in
dividual items of an appropriation
bill would concentrate the RESPONSE
bility for income and outgo in much
greater degree than at present, the
speaker said. The present system, he
contended, has done more than all
other countries combined, to make
ours a wasteful government.
I