ADDRESS BY HON. HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND

Ottawa, September 3rd, 1920

Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, Lord Cave, Mr. Minister, Ladies, Brothers in Law, Fellow Taxpayers:

The Chairman has made my task, welcome as it is, even more difficult for me because of his generous words. Fortunately I remember that my personal sovereign, like every other good American wife, will keep me humble; so that I shall not be unduly uplifted, as my Scotch ancestors used to say.

Now that the 18th Amendment has abolished the 19th hole (laughter) in the United States, when I go to New York and look around for the American Quarter, among the foreign signs and find almost everybody else looking for the American dollar, I also find that many of my friends think that the best thing in New York is a ticket to Montreal (laughter); and when I came up to my summer home in Quebec two months ago, for my first vacation since 1917, instead of one long train at 7:45 in the Grand Central Station, there were two long trains for Montreal. (Laughter) But, Mr. Chairman, there are nobler reasons for coming to Canada, to the land of the Northern Star, whose dominion stretches from sea to sea, whose ideals and example now shine to the uttermost parts of the earth. What an example! What wonderful things you have done since we last met together in Toronto.

Our dear Vice-President, Hon. Isaac Campbell, in a most eloquent address in Winnipeg some months ago, told the fact, the unique fact, that in one block of 240 feet in Winnipeg and on one side of the block there dwelt three men who had received the Victoria Cross in the great war. (Applause) Fiftythree Canadians won the Victoria Cross in the great war. (Applause) Whatever we may think of other decorations, the whole world knows that the Victoria Cross is for merit. And that, Sir, is typical of the new Canada, the Canada that has come to national consciousness, the Canada that has taken her place beside the older nations of the world, the Canada that lost her life to save it, in behalf of liberty and justice.

And a very good reason for coming to Canada at this time, Sir, is this great meeting of the Canadian Bar Association, which has made such marvelous progress in such a short space of time. The Nestor of the American Bar Association, the Treasurer, Mr. Wadhams, tells me I do not remember

it, of course that the year of our creation was 1878; but I can well remember twenty years after that time, and I make bold to say in his presence that the American Bar Association had not made in twenty years, proportionately to the population of the country, the same progress which the Canadian Bar Association has made in five years. (Applause.) It did not have at that time the same representative membership. It did not have at that time the same public confidence, the confidence of the Bar, and it was very far from having that recognition by the general public and that recognition by the general government or by the governments of the particular states which the Canadian Bar Association has from the Canadian public, from the Dominion Government and from the governments of the provinces. But then, Sir,

we had no Sir James Aikins (hear, hear and applause), and we never have had. If we had only been fortunate enough to have Sir James Aikins in the United States -and would that we had him, or even a man like him!-as the first President of the American Bar Association, I venture to say that he would be the President of the American Bar Association to-day. (Applause.) And as a member of the Canadian Bar Association, through your favour-an honour which I prize very highly-I want to congratulate ourselves and the Dominion of Canada that Sir James has consented to go on in the office which he has made, and which he has made famous. (Applause.) And I should like to say, since I think he has just left the room, that I think it very fortunate that you have elected Mr. Coleman as Secretary and Treasurer of the Association. (Applause.) We all know about the man behind the scenes, who thinks of everybody and everything except himself, and who works hard to bring about the success before the

scenes.

This meeting, of course, is high water mark. I do not see how it could be improved, and yet I have no doubt that next year Sir James and the rest of you will improve it. The only possible improvement that I could think of would be to bring this entire company to the Capital of the United States. We came to Montreal in 1913, and I think it is about time that you returned our visit. (Hear, hear.) We shall not be able of course, to show you such a climate, or such weather, or such hospitality, but what we can do we shall be only too glad to do. And let me say, that if you do not all come, I sincerely trust that you will send next year, not one representative, however distinguished, but a delegation representing all the provinces at least one from each province to the interest and instruction and advantage of the American Bar Association. May I say when I am speaking of hospitality, that we value very greatly, we who are your guests, the hospitality which you have shown to the ladies. The ladies of the com

mittee of the Carleton County Bar Association, Lady Borden as its convener, Lady Aikins, and Her Excellency the Duchess of Devonshire, have shown the greatest courtesy and consideration and have given the greatest pleasure to the ladies who are with us.

I have seen much civic hospitality. When I was working out my term of ten years at hard labour, I enjoyed the hospitality of New York and Chicago and Richmond and Charleston and Atlanta, and other cities, and we have been keeping open house in Washington for a great many years, for the forty-eight states and the territories and dependencies and such distinguished Canadians as we were fortunate enough to get from time to time, but I never have seen anything to surpass the gracious and delightful hospitality of Ottawa. (Hear, hear.)

I appreciate very much the presence of Lord Cave to-day. Those of us who listened to his admirable and delightful addresses will never forget them, and I shall never forget his courtesy in attending here to-day. The address of your new Ambassador to Washington from Great Britain, who has already made so favourable an impression with us, so thoughtful, so thought-provoking, will be a memory in all our minds. And as an American or as a fellow-American, for I count you all as Americans let me also say that we are proud to have been represented officially from the American Bar Association by the best beloved ex-President we have ever had in the United States. (Applause.) And now, as I am Scotch by descent(I speak golf, although I do not play it) - you will let me say also that I was very glad to meet and to hear my fellow Presbyterian the new Prime Minister of Canada, to see what an upstanding, clear-minded, straightforward, courageous man he is. I say that, of course, without any intention to trench upon party politics here. I am not trenching upon party politics at all.

Our presidential campaign seems to be at the boiling point. In fact, the pot seems to have boiled over into Canada. I shall make no reference to it except to say that if you could only tell me how the twenty-seven million voters added by the 19th Amendment to our enormous electorate will vote, I could tell you who would be the next president of the United States. (Laughter.)

I may be permitted perhaps to make one other entirely non-partisan observation about our presidential election, which you as lawyers will appreciate better perhaps than the public, and that is, that it is of immense importance, regardless of all other questions, in that during the next four years from the 4th of March next, in all probability, four of the nine judges of the Supreme Court of the United States will retire. Four

of them are over seventy and have served more than ten years, and therefore under our law are entitled to retirement upon full salary the salary not being as full as it ought to be; and in all human probability they will retire. Therefore the next President of the United States, whoever he is, will have the opportunity of determining by his appointments the policy of the Supreme Court of the United States, which passes, as you know as Mr. Taft told you upon the acts of the other departments of the Government and has far more to do than our people understand with the whole course and destiny of the country. You at once see the tremendous importance of that fact.

And that, Sir, naturally suggests to my mind the presence here of, I am told, sixty of your learned judges. That in itself, the presence of those gentlemen, is of the highest significance as to the present character and standing and the future prospects of this Association. Mr. Wadhams will correct me if I am mistaken, but my recollection is that it was not until within the last ten years that any considerable number of judges ever attended a meeting of the American Bar Association. We value, of course, their presence greatly. We know that it conduces to the better administration of justice. We know that it conduces to that improvement of judicial procedure which is one of the objects of the American Bar Association. Therefore I can understand perfectly what it means for you gentlemen to have with you, and with you in a gracious and familiar and not condescending way, these Olympians who sit in the seats of the mighty, to whom most of us have to look up and respectfully pray-most of the time. (Laughter.)

Now, Sir, we come to Canada for many other reasons, weighty reasons. Commerce of course that interwoven fabric of exchanges; bank exchanges, industrial exchanges, commercial exchanges; like a seamless robe cast over these two portions of what is really the same people. And learning; we come here to learn. We come even to your universities to learn; and we prize the graduates of your universities. The McGill man or the Toronto man, not to speak of the others, has the open sesame, side by side with the Harvard man, or the Yale man, or the Princeton man, or any other college man, to the opportunities of our country. And you have sent us notable men who have enriched our life-men like Franklin K. Lane, the greatest man in the Cabinet of the present administration. Unfortunately he is no longer there. He would have been President of the United States in all probability if it had not been for the constitutional limitation requiring native birth. And such men as William Osler, who was the leader of his profession in our country before he went to England; and such scientists as Alexander Graham Bell, whose home is in Washington and who is our very cherished friend.

for

We would be very glad indeed to borrow for some years, any one of the ten vacancies that have occurred or are to occur within the next twelve months in ten of the leading university presidencies of the United States, either General Sir Arthur Currie or Sir Robert Falconer, from your institutions of learning. (Applause.)

But, Sir, we come here, I suppose, chief of all, for what some of us call recreation, and what some of us call re-creation -and I prefer the latter word. We come here, Sir, for recreation of body and mind, as I came here, Sir, two months ago, to our little place, "Esperance," at Cap a l'Aigle, Murray Bay, in the County of Charlevoix, in "the ancient province," "the beautiful province," which is dear to my heart, where from 1911 I have been a taxpayer and just as much a voter as I am in the District of Columbia, where we have that taxation without representation, with no suffrage, for which, I believe, our ancestors fought a war with a German King named George, in which we were supported by every first-class statesman in England, and he was supported by Lord North. (Laughter.) We have always felt that we were in very good company. with Burke and Fox and Sheridan and Wilkes and Barre, and Pitt, Lord Chatham, the greatest of them all. And there, in that lovely spot, in that wonderful air, we have gotten back the resilience which we had lost, having had no vacation since 1917, and you cannot wonder that we are grateful for such opportunities.

A notary at La Malbaie, having transacted some little business for us in the transfer of a small piece of property, sent in his modest bill, astonishingly modest bill, and he had itemized it, very kindly, although it was so small. One of his items was, "Vacations and troubles," -a small amount. Just for curiosity, I asked: "Monsieur, what are 'vacations and troubles' in this connection?" "Well," he said, "whenever I leave the office to go over to the Palais de Justice to look at the records, I vacate my office: that is a vacation." (Laughter.) "And, Sir," he said, "you remember what troubles we had with that habitant over this matter, and therefore, you understand." But, Sir, I want to say that my vacations have seemed without troubles in that enchanted spot.

And what we come for, also, is the re-creation of the spirit, getting out of our accustomed circumstances, getting out of our own, inevitably in every case, narrow ways of thinking, into another country, where we have, as Burke said of foreign contemporary criticism, the judgment of posterity, and where we breathe, as we do here, an ampler and diviner air.

As your Chairman has said, I came on my first visit to Canada, in 1905, and came to Ottawa, and here got my first glimpse of the real life of Canada. Like every American boy,