414
THE GREEN BAG
shall be resolved to nominate candidates, the said Joint • Committee on Nominations shall cause to be circulated the necessary petition for such nomination to be filed with the proper officers in order that the candi dates may have a place upon the official ballot; and it shall select the party symbol and designation under which the said ticket shall appear on the official ballot when this shall be necessary under the form of ballot then existing, and do all other things necessary in the premises. The rules govern ing the voting at such adjourned meeting shall be made by the said Joint Committee." This section of the by-laws' was adopted in the committee which framed them after long and animated discussion, and was at once the most important and carefully debated provision which' they contain. While it was thought most desirable to' keep the Association out of politics in every way, it was recognized that the whole system which it is designed to develop and protect centers in the judiciary, and that it could not decline the responsibility of asserting itself in behalf of a pure and enlightened bench, should occasion arise. The founders of the Association had in mind the recent failure of the Judicial Nominators' Associa tion of 1906, which did not receive the sup port of the bar because of the unpopular and undemocratic manner in which the move ment was organized, but carried its worthy candidates down to ignominious and unneces sary defeat. They therefore decided to place a sword in the hands of this young champion of the bar, that it might strike effectually, should a supreme occasion arise, when the politicians, disregarding its pro tests, should attempt to degrade the bench by unfit nominations. A protest from a bar association which has behind it the entire bar of the county of New York, which stands ready to enforce it by an independent campaign, if necessary, is not apt to be disregarded by either political party. The section is so framed as to safeguard the Association from any attempt
on the part of small cliques to use the Association in a political campaign for personal ends. Its successful working will depend upon the creation of a general sentiment among its members that they should be lawyers before they are politicians in all matters affecting professional interests. But the reader will ask, why was not all this attempted to be carried out by means of the historic organization known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York,w,hich has occupied the field since 1867? Why form a new Association? The answer is that the old Association has never been able to reach more than a comparatively small, though very influential, part of the bar. Of the twelve thousand practicing attorneys in this county but nineteen hundred are on its list of membership. It partakes of the nature of a social club, and its doors are by no means thrown open indiscriminately to the rank and file_of the bar. Its membership dues are $50 a year, and its library and club house are situated too far from the Court House and business center of the city (about three miles) to be generally available. Its policies have always been negative' policies, and it is not con structive, but critical merely, in its aims. Its studied conservatism has been at the expense of popularity; and it cannot be said that it has proven effective on many occa sions in influencing public opinion. Many abuses have grown up during its time seriously affecting the administration of justice in the city, the correction of which it has left to others. Its membership has always been of the most distinguished • character; and it has been governed wisely, within its limits, by a clique of very eminent gentlemen who are sometimes spoken of as the " Old Guard of the Bar " and who have been the soul of many reform movements outside the Association. Their control with in the Bar Association has been too abso lute to diffuse general interest in its affairs, its important meetings are poorly attended because debate is discouraged, and this is
