Page:North Dakota Law Review Vol. 1 No. 10 (1924).pdf/7

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BAR BRIEFS
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sufficient facts to ‘enable them to truthfully verify the cause of action or defense that they represent in the true spirit of the law that permits their so doing. The practice of verifying pleadings upon information and belief merely for the purpose of delay, when the truth of allegations sworn to has not been carefully ascertained, is unprofessional and a violation of the duties of an attorney as provided by law."


NORTH DAKOTA REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION


The representatives from North Dakota at the American Bar Association this year selected the following officers:

General Council—Lee Combs, Valley City.

Vice—President-Aubrey Lawrence, Fargo.

Local Council—Benton Baker, Bismarck; John Knauf, Jamestown; W. A. McIntyre, Grand Forks; John Keohane, Beach.


GOVERNMENT RESTRAINED


In closing his masterful address on the above subject at the annual meeting of the Association Judge Stone of Minnesota said:

“Please do not misunderstand my position. It is not one of opposition to constitutional amendment, as such. Insofar as our constitutions, in addition to expressing indisputable fundamental law, set up the machinery of government and specify details of operation, they should of course be amended whenever experience offers something better. But insofar as they restrain government in the interest of the individual and, in our case, limit federal control in the interest of that of state and community, it is obvious, and should always be remembered, that they are no more susceptible of repeal or substantial amendment than the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount.

“And THERE is the open door of opportunity for the American Bar. There is so much we can do in our daily walk and conversation to bring home to our fellow citizens the spirit and purpose of American constitutionalism. There is so much we can do to bring back American representative government, government by the whole people through true, carefully selected and courageous representatives, rather than by a temporary majority or aggressive and organized minority through mere messengers, with rubber stamp minds, who register by their votes political expediency rather than political wisdom. There is much we can do to explain the purpose and operation of our constitutional guarantees and the manner of their enforcement—all in the interest of the citizen and operating in HIS favor and against HIS goverment. You will find some, moved by evil and seditious intent, preaching that our government was designed to deprive citizens of liberty through centralized power, particularly that of wealth, when the plain fact is that the primary design of our constitutions is to prevent the possession by government, whether tem-