Vol. 1 OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of Organized Detroit, Michigan, July 9th and 10th, 1926 DECEMBER, 1926 Greetings! MY FELLOW REFEREE: It is with a great deal of pleasure that I say a personal word as this Report of the Proceedings of our Conference goes out to you. The record of this important meeting will, I know, interest you at once. Aside from any connection which you or I may have had with this Conference, this record would immediately challenge our attention. It is more than the collection of printed pages, than the report of addresses, splendid and illuminating as they are, it marks an important step in the movement to improve bankruptcy administration and to raise the standard of bankruptcy practice. Much has already been accomplished in this great movement. Our Federal Judges, under the leadership of Chief Justice Taft, have taken a deep interest in the matter and, as you know, about a year ago promulgated the new General Orders. Numerous organizations, including the American Bar Association, the National Association of Credit Men, the Commercial Law League and others, have co-operated to help bring about the much needed and salutary amendments to the Bankruptcy Act which have just taken effect. It is now certainly "up to us," as the active administrators of the Bankruptcy Act, to do everything within our power to assist in carrying on the good work already so well begun. The conditions certainly demand thoughtful consideration and the active effort of every Referee. With nearly 45,000 bankruptcy cases each year and total liabilities of three-quarters of a billion dollars with less than a 10% return to general creditors, we have a terrific economic waste that, were it to occur at one time or in one place, such as the wrecking of a big business institution or something of that kind, would startle the entire country. We cannot close our eyes to this situation and go along in the ordinary routine as heretofore. We have got to do something about it, we must be "up and doing" and lend our aid towards the solution of the problems which are confronting us. As an Association, we have made a splendid beginning, a workable and working organization has been formed, a plan of action laid out, and every Referee in the country, who is in the least interested in his work, should give this movement his most cordial and active support. In reading these pages I know you will have in mind the time and effort which have already been given to the work of our Asociation by the officers and directors; that you will see in the National Association of Referees a progressive step looking to future development, and that you will feel impelled to do everything you possibly can to make it the success which it deserves to be. With kindest personal regards, I remain Dated at Detroit, Michigan, December 29th, 1926. Sincerely yours, Panestring PAUL H. KING, No. 1 of the First Annual Conference of the National Association of Referees in Bankruptcy held in the Book-Cadillac Hotel, Detroit, Michigan, July 9-10, 1926 REFEREE PAUL H. KING, of Detroit, Mich.: It is a very great pleasure and privilege to call this annual conference of the Referees in Bankruptcy of the country together and call them to order. We have some official welcomers here, so I am not going to say anything more than this, that Referee Marston and I are very happy indeed to have you all here. We hope you will have a very helpful and entertaining time. REVEREND RALPH M. CRISSMAN, Pastor of the Highland Park, Michigan, Presbyterian Church, pronounced the invocation. ADDRESSES OF WELCOME MR. KING: One of the fine things about this gathering is the splendid cooperation we have received from the members of our Bar, both the Detroit Bar Association and the Michigan State Bar Association. And Mr. Fred G. Dewey, President of the Detroit Bar Association, is going to say a few words of welcome to you now. (Applause) MR. FRED G. DEWEY: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I have been wandering around the halls meeting some of you distinguished gentlemen who have come here from so many different jurisdictions, but wondering all the time, exactly how I ought to address you, (it is rather unusual to address a group of Referees), and the only phrase that came to my mind was one the college boys use in their debates, when they say "Honorable Referees and Judges." You will appreciate, I am sure, the embarrassment I feel from not knowing how to make the introduction to my speech- and you know if you can't make the introduction, it's pretty difficult to make the speech. Unfortunately, the President of the Michigan State Bar Association is away and his alter ego, who is to represent him today, said, I learned, that he didn't know how to do it, so I am just obliged to go ahead anyway I can. Well, so much for the introduction. The rest of a welcoming speech consists, as far as I have been able to ascertain, largely of references to some matters of pride that are talked about in the particular bailiwick in which the welcomer happens to be speaking. For instance, in Detroit it would be proper for me to say something about the tremendous size and growth of our city, and its beauty and the number of Fords we manufacture and the number of stoves and cigars we make. I can think of no subject that is of any less interest to you than "stoves" would be today, and I don't know how many cigars or how many Fords we make, but I am told that the very competent men in charge of your entertainment will provide enough of those commodities to suit you, no matter how long you stay. There is one matter, however, I have been importuned to say a word about by a number of very prominent members of our local bar. Their names must remain untold must be withheld for the present, for reasons which will presently become apparent to you. Personally, I have some doubt about whether there is any necessity of saying what I am going to say, but because I have given my word to these gentlemen, and also because I occupy a perfectly independent position (I have no petitions for fees pending before either Referee Marston or Referee King, and I can speak freely on the subject, without fear), I say, although I have some doubt about whether there is any necessity for saying it at this time, I want to say, and make it plain, that if any of you observe the slightest evidence of infraction of the laws of hospitality, if you will refer it to the Bar Association, they will deal with it summarily, as it deserves. Don't forget this. Now it occurs to me that possibly the way I should have begun this speech, (it just popped into my head) instead of say it now in closing my speech instead of at the openingsaying "Honorable Referees," I should have said, and I "May it please the Court" and please each one of you. As long as you care to stay, I hope you have a good time. (Applause) MR. KING: Thank you very much Mr. Dewey. Mr. Wade Millis, the President of the Michigan State Bar expected to be with us today, but he is an officer in a military organization of the country, and was called away on official business. We have a splendid substitute in the presence of Honorable Henry C. Walters, of the Michigan State Bar Association, and he will extend a welcome to you on behalf of our Bar. MR. HENRY C. WALTERS: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: On account of the absence, as has just been stated to you in the military service of the country, of the President of the Michigan State Bar Association, and the actual engagement in Court at a distant city of the VicePresident, I want to supplement the welcome of Mr. Dewey We are glad indeed to have by including the entire state. you here. I understood the Chairman to say he was "pleased to call together the Annual Meeting of Referees." MR. KING: We trust to be able to do so. MR. WALTERS: Am I in error in assuming that this is your first gathering? MR. KING: This is our first. MR. WALTERS: Well, it is a pleasure to have you come to Detroit. It is of interest to know that this great city which my dear friend neglected to describe in any detail, is this year having its 225th anniversary of its foundation. by Cadillac, and of course it is the 150th great national anniversary, and it is therefore not amiss that you have (I was going to say your first anniversary meeting here, but it isn't even that) your annual meeting of what I shall term the junior Federal judiciary that's about what you are. And it is fine that you should have the meeting here, because I imagine it will develop into something of great value. I am going to suggest to you in all earnestness that you of the junior Federal judiciary as a group, have cast upon you or have resting upon you greater honor and greater confidence than any other judicial group, state or federal. Think, if you can, of any group, state or federal, on which business men rest their financial interests without, generally speaking, attending before you in person or by attorney. I refer to the significant fact that final meetings of creditors to dispose of the expenses of attorneys, auctioneers, custodians, trustees, and so forth, are rarely attended by the business man who has a claim, or by his attorney. You will see some of them in attendance, but very few of the creditors are represented. And that is because you gentlemen, the junior Federal judiciary have the confidence of the business man to a very great extent, (I was going to say to a greater extent than other branches) but certainly to a very great extent your honor is depended upon in connection with these important matters, and no other court is allowed to conduct its affairs and dispose of the interests of the people in the absence of those people or their representatives. I don't know what the record is throughout the United States, but I do happen to know that for some sixteen years, in fact during all the incumbency of office of our dear friends, George Marston and Paul King, (and I have no petitions pending before them either), there has never been a review of their allowances of attorney fees, nor has there ever been an attempt to review, in this district. I can't speak of the predecessors of these gentlemen, because I don't happen to know what their records are in that connection. Now, having in mind the extent to which the confidence of the people rests in you, I am sure you will proceed to cement your relations, and consider matters in such form as to make your position stronger and more attractive to the people, if that be possible, that it is at the present time. We are awfully pleased to have you here and you have from the Michigan Bar Association, the heartiest possible welcome. (Applause) RESPONSE MR. KING: Thank you. I know of no one present who is better fitted to respond to this kind of an address of welcome than a former resident of Detroit, now Referee in the District of Minnesota. I have pleasure in calling upon Herbert M. Bierce of Winona, Minnesota to respond. REFEREE HERBERT M. BIERCE, of Winona, Minn.: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Dewey, Mr. Walters, ladies and fellow Referees: You will note in the preliminary announcement calling this meeting and giving the gist of the program, the expression that there would be "fitting responses" to these addresses of welcome, and I presume that what I have to say to you must be considered by you as such a fitting response. When I got this call for this meeting I said nothing to my family for the time being, but made arrangements to attend and gradually broke the news to the family. Imme diately, the inquiry came as to whether the rest of the family would come with me, and I advised them that I was going to slip back home to Detroit for a couple of days and then simply return to Minnesota. But it was not very long before I found myself in the position of the negro stevedore who was doing service in France, working from sunrise to sunset on the piers of Brest unloading ships. He had been working for a good long time and when Saturday evening came he decided he would go down to the village of Brest and visit his girl. He started out and was stopped by the sentry. "Where are you going Sam?" "I'se going to Brest - I got a girl there." "Well, what's the password, Sam?" "Password Boss? What's that?" "Why that's the word you have to give me in order to get out of this camp and you will have to give it to the sentry on duty when you want to return." "Gee, Boss, I got no password." "Well then Sam, you can't go." Well, Sam begged and pleaded and cajoled, but to no avail. Finally the sentry said "No, Sam, it wouldn't do you any good. I might let you get by but when you come back late tonight there will be another sentinel on duty, and you couldn't pass him, and you'd have to spend sixty or ninety days in the guard house." Sam thought a minute, and finally he pulled a razor from his boot, and proceeded to strop it, and he said "See here Mr. Sentinel, I'se got a mudder in Heaven and a fadder in Hell and I'se got a gal in Brest—I'se going to see one of them tonight." And so my wife and I compromised and she's here. (Laughter) We're glad to have so many of the wives and families of the Referees attending this meeting. Paul, (that is our greeting, not only through the association of Referees but also as Rotarians) Paul suggested that my former residence in Detroit perhaps qualified me somewhat to respond to this address of welcome, but to tell you the truth, I really feel more like a quasi host than I do as a guest under such circumstances. We appreciate exceedingly the hospitality which is extended to us by the representatives of the Detroit and Michigan Bar Associations, as well as the fine hospitality which has come to us from the Referees of this city. We present to you gentlemen today Referees from all sections of the country from the north, south, east and west. We have come from the unsalted seas of the north, almost, where they passed their summer on the 4th of July and are now entering upon their winter season. We are come from the sunny south, from one part of Texas where they tell us they talk about getting fruit and vegetables from "down south." We come from the golden grain section of the west, and the beautiful country of the east. We brought this weather to you at least we from the west are charged with bringing it to you, but I want to say to you gentlemen from the east and this section of the country, that if we had not brought it, this mighty warm. weather, you might have had some difficulty in getting your grain and corn for this coming winter. But I want to say that if we brought the heat of yesterday, we are entitled to credit for bringing the cool breezes of today. We bring to you for consideration various problems which present themselves to us as Referees in Bankruptcy, and this is certainly a most remarkable gathering of Referees |