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The Green Bag

Prince Farrar and Anna Girault. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1871 with the degree of A.M., and studied law at the University of Louisiana, being admitted to the bar in 1872. He became assistant city attor ney in 1878, and city attorney in 1880. In 1882 he was selected by Paul Tulane as one of the trustees for the fund which he created for the establishment of Tulane University, and has always been one of the leading factors in the development of that institution. Mr. Farrar has always taken a leading part in public affairs, his most notable work in that respect being in the anti-lottery campaign. He was one of the organizers of the National Democracy in 1896, which opposed the Bryan free silver platform, and made a notable address at the Indianapolis convention. He delivered a notable address before the Uni versity of Virginia Alumni in 1902 on “The Legal Remedy for Plutocracy." He was one of those invited by President Roosevelt to take part in the great Conservation Congress.

mittee, of which Judge Staake is chairman. and report later during the sessions of the Conference. The report of the Committee on the Torrens System and Registration of Land Titles, Pro fessor Francis M. Burdick of the Columbia

CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS

The following officers of the next Confer ence were elected: Hon. Walter George Smith of Philadelphia, president; Hon. J. R. Thorn ton of Alexandria, Louisiana. vice-president; Hon. Charles Thaddeus Terry of New York City, secretary; Hon. Talcott H. Russell of New Haven, Conn., treasurer. On Friday morning the report of the Com mittee on Marriage and Divorce, Hon. E. W. Frost of Milwaukee, chairman, was received. The committee presented two tentative bills, one "Relating to desertion and non-support of wife or children," and the other “Relating to and regulating marriage and marriage licenses." The desertion bill was first con sidered. Its purpose is to raise family deser tion to the grade of an extraditable crime (a felony now in several states, a misdemeanor in many others, and only a civil offense in the remainder), and to punish it by imprison ment at hard labor at the discretion of the court, with the right to suspend sentence upon the offender giving bond to support his family. The bill as drafted included illegitimate as well as legitimate children, but this was stricken out, after which the bill with minor amend ments was adopted finally by the Conference, and will be presented by the commissioners to the legislatures of their respective states at their next session. The Conference then went into committee of the whole for consideration of the marriage and marriage license bill. The main purpose

The Twentieth Annual Conference of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws con‘ vened on August 25, President Walter George Smith in the chair. Twenty-four states and a delegation from Porto Rico answered the roll call, forty-four commissioners in all. The President read his annual report, giv ing a full review of the results of the past year. calling special attention to the Bill Re lating to the Rights and Liabilities of Common Carriers, the Warehouse Receipts Bill, the Bills of Lading Act, the Child Labor Bill, the Desertion and Non-Support Bill, the Bill Relating to Marriage and Marriage Licenses and the Business Corporation Bill, all of which had been formulated by the respective com mittees on those subjects. He also referred to the active oo-operation in the purposes of the conference by the National Civic Federa tion, and urged the conference to have prepared a proper worlmien's compensation bill. In the afternoon the report of the Committee on Insurance, Hon. Talcott A. Russell of New

Haven, Conn., chairman, was postponed till 1911 for consideration. No report of the Committee on Vital and Penal Statistics being presented, Commissioner Aldis B. Browne, of Washington, D. C., one of the committee, was

directed to confer with the Executive Com

Law School of New York City, chairman, was

then considered, and, after discussion the committee was directed to address each commissioner, asking him to take up the matter with his state legislature along the lines of the laws of Louisiana and New York. A motion to abolish the Committee on Bank ing was referred to the Executive Committee. Upon consideration of the report of the Committee on Purity of Articles of Commerce, Walter E. Coe of Stamford, Conn., chairman, a motion to refer the report back to the com mittee was adopted. The Bill to Make Uni‘ form the Law of the Incorporation of Business Corporations was then taken up. but the dis cussion of section 1 was so prolific of amend

ments that the further consideration was post poned until Saturday.