New Britain herald., 1930-08-20
Fight on Floor Looms When Executive Con- mittee Declines Action President Sims Opens Meeting With Address on Law Reform.

Chicago, Aug 20 P}-Prohibition has tossed bombshell into the an- nual meeting of the American Bar association.
 The executive committees action in refusing to withdraw a member ship referendum on the Wet-dry question portended serious debate as Henry Upson Sims, the president, formally opened the fifty-third con- vention today.
 Leaders of the opposition, or ganized yesterday, were prepared to take their fight on the referendum to the convention floor. Their argu- ment, it was disclosed, was that pro- 1ibition is now a question of na tional policy and not a legal matter that should come before the Bar as- sociaton.
 Two Separate Questions
 The referendum, authorized by the executive committee last Janu- ary consisting of two questions, went to the 3n,00O members through the mails. They were:
 Do you favor a referendum on the repeal of the eighteenth amend ment?
 Should the American Bar asso- citation go on record as favoring the repeal of the eighteenth amend mcnt?"
 There are separate envelopes for the replies. If the first question shows a majority unfavora ble to the referendum, the second set of en- velopes will be burned unopened. If favorable, the executive committee will open the second set some time this fall and announce the result. Action Believed Unanimous It was understood that the action of the executive committee yester- day in refusing to withdraw the ref ertndum was unanimous.
 Some of tse leaders of the dele gates opposed to the poll are Judge Andrew A. Bruce, of Northwestern university; Judge John Weston AL len, of Boston; Judge Frederick F. Faville, of Des Mones. Ia; and George Wilson, of Quincy, H., prominent Anti Saloon league leader.
 4 discussion of the work of Presi- dent Hoover's law observance and enforcement commission by George W. Wickersham, the chairman, was on the afternoon program.
 Sims Discusses Law Reform
 The convention was opened by the presidential address of Henry Up- Son Sims of Birmingham, Ala, who discussed technically the relation of constitutional limitations to the reform of the law.
 The reform of judicial adminis- tration, he said, might be termed the dominant problem before the Ameri- can people. It is not. however, the social impulse but the social need that must be put into law. he added.
 Any legislation he said, with in the appropriation sphere of its action is constitutional if reasonable under the conditions of time and place to which it is made applicable, and conceivably directed to advance the public good.
 "A good deai has been said and written to the effect that during the last few years there is a constant conflic in the courts of the nation between proponents of what are re- ferrcd to as human rights and pro- ponents of what arc referred to as property rights
 The supposed obstacles of import ant constitutional limitations found in legal decisions, he said, may real ly be regarded as guarantees of the Eoundness of future legislative ela- boration of the system Of rights and the organized bar may proceed with put hesitation to the systematic re- form of the law.