Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-23
DEAN POUND SEES
LAW CHANGES OF
VAST IMPORTANCE
Effect of Enforcement Com
missions Work Forecast at
Federal Bar Dinner.
HURLEY AND OTHERS
ExT0L WASHINGTON
800 Members of Association, Wives
and Guests Attend Tenth
Annual Event.

The possibility that changes in
fundamental law of far-reaching i'm
portance will develop out of the ex-
haustive study undertaken by President
Hoover's Commission on Law Observ-
ance and Law Enforcement was sug-
gested last night by Dean Roscoe Pound
of the Harvard Law School, a member
Of the commission.
Speaking before the Federal Bar As
ISOLATION on the occasion of the organi-
zation's tenth annual dinner, in the
Mayhower Hotel, Dean Pound said in
effect that law and its administration
must be better adapted to present-day
conditions. He was one of several
prominent men who addressed the ban
Quet meeting.
Secretary of War Patrick j. Hurley,
Charles H. Tuttle, United States attor-
new at New York. and Senator Samuel
j. Shortridge of California, took occa-
sion to pay tribute to George Washing
ton. In keeping with the birthday ami
versary of the first President, all the
addresses touched on Washington s
service to the country. William r. VAL
lance, president Of the association, pre-
sided at the dinner, and Seth Richard
son, Assistant Attorney General was
POSTMASTER. About 800 members, their
wives and guests attended.
Dean Pound developed the thought
that the pioneer spirit pervaded the
early Government. He asserted that that
spirit, characterized by restlessnesS, q
tendency to put everything into politics,
a diStaSte for form and ceremony, finds
expression today in present difficulties.
Conditions Undergo Change.
Conceding that there is much con-
fusion" in current thinking on moral
q f1nf
of difficulty in law observance and law
enforcement "iS that our institutions,
our policy, our laws and our whole at
titude toward them have a background
of pioneer life
Hence they work awkwardly in the
urban industrial society Of today. It is
not that there has bsen a decadence in
the moral fiber of the people," Dean
Pound asserted 1T is rather that
what were virtues in pioneers and in
pioneers of societies are no longer viz
tues In the residents of crowded urban
centers and in industrial societies."
The pioneer spirit. as evidenced by
suspicion of specialization and the
firm belief in the ability of any one
70 do anything, is showing its weak
ness today, Dean Pound said, lin a
general want of cooperation on the
part Of administrative agencies, in
inedectiveness of law making and in
efficiency of administration of Justice
in general i'll adaptation of the law
making and legal for administrative
regime of the pioneer, to the tasks
confronting legislation and adjudication
and administration in twentieth CEN
fury America"
Member of Commission.
Dean Pound is a member of the Law
Enforcement Commission, which, under
Chairman George w. Wickersham, the
former Attorney General, is studying
many phases of enforcement problems.
It is expected that President Hoover
will base some of his recommendations
to Congress on the findings of the
body, and for that reason significance
was attached to this expression of
Dean Pound:
I'm law and administration the
pioneers tendency to put everything
into politics is especially i'll adapted to
the conditions of today. Administration
has come to be a sort of official en-
cheering.
ut is getting done of the things
which must be done through regular
machinery in a highly organized eco
nomic order. Politics, as the pioneer
played the game, Is not an art of get
ting things done. 1t is a battle Of OPP
posing organizations"
T. A. Hoetetler was chairman of the
committee that arranged the dinner.
Music was furnished by the United
States Marine Band Orchestra, Arthur
s. Whitcomb, conducting
Ofdcers Of the Federal Bar Associa-
ton, in addition to Mr.. Valance. are
Edwin A. Neiss, first vice president;
George A. Warren, second vice presi-
dent; Maj Horace T. Jones, third vice
president; Ralph G. Cornell, secretary;
Willis z. Monty. treasurer, and Henry
Ward Beer, president of the New York
branch.