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anniversary in October, 1896. The board of directors, at its regular session in May, 1895, unanimously resolved that the quarter centennial of the seminary be appropriately observed, and that an effort be made to raise, as a special quarter-centennial fund, $60,000.

The seminary possesses a splendid brick building, with large, well-furnished rooms, heated by modern methods. The seminary first opened in October, 1871, with 11 students and 3 professors-Rev. Lewis Davis, D. D., Rev. George A. Funkbouser, and Rev. J. P. Landis. Since the opening 192 students have been graduated, and about an equal number have taken a partial course, and the assets of the institution have grown to $150,000 above all liabilities. Among those who contributed liberally toward securing the firm establishment of the seminary, special mention should be made of Rev. John Kemp, Dayton, Ohio, who contributed $10,000; Rev. H. W. and Louisa Cherry, Butler, Ind., $8,800; Robert Smith, Polo, Ill., $7,500; Miss Minerva Willey, Ross, Ohio, $6,000; John and Lydia Runkle, Caroline Bever, James Hammond, and Mary A. Herr, each giving $5,000.

The present chairman of the faculty, Rev. G. A. Funkhouser, D. D., was born at Mount Jackson, Va., June 7, 1841. He attended the schools of his neighborhood, and at the age of 18 entered Otterbein University, but in 1862 enlisted in the Union army, serving till the close of the war, when he again entered college and graduated in 1868. After a three-years course in Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa., he graduated from that institution in 1871, and the same year was elected professor in Union Biblical Seminary, where he still remains at its quarter centennial.

United Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Xenia, Ohio.—April 24, 1894, the centennial year of the seminary's existence was celebrated at Xenia with appropriate exercises. This institution, constituted by the consolidation of the Associate Reformed Seminary of the Northwest with the Associate Seminary of Xenia, disputes the claim of the Dutch Reformed Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J., of being the oldest theological seminary in the United States If it shall not be able to establish its right to the first centennial celebration it will at least prevent the statute of limitations from running against its claim. Each of these institutions for several years had only a peripatetic existence, with one professor and a few students, who followed wherever convenience called him; so the identity in either case must be traced with care. In 1794 Rev. John Anderson, D. D., was elected professor of theology by the Associate Synod, and a building was erected in Beaver County, Pa., and a library of 800 volumes collected. His instruction continued until 1819, when he resigned and Rev. John Banks was chosen professor, with headquarters at Philadelphia; but in 1821 Rev. James Ramsay, D. D., was chosen professor of the western seminary, which was moved to Canonsburg, Pa., and afterwards to Xenia, Ohio. In 1874 it was united with the Associate Reformed Seminary.

The institution is now firmly established, with 4 professors, about 30 students, over $100,000 endowment, and a library of 5,000 volumes.

LAW SCHOOLS.

There are 72 schools of law in the United States, over half of them forming departments of universities. The number of law students attending them in 1894-95 was 8,950; the number of graduates was 2,717, or 30 per cent.

Although there are so many lawyers in the United States that their name is legion, yet more than one-third of the States and Territories have no law school at all. Some of these, too, are important States, and 4 of them are among the original 13. The 15 States with no law school are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington; the 3 Territories are Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Yet students in these States need not go far to obtain instruction, for other States have an abundant supply of law schools. In the confines of the District of Columbia alone there are 4 schools; Illinois has 6, and although any one can practice law in Indiana, yet the young men so appreciate advantages of regular systematic instruction that it has 4 law schools. New York has 7, Ohio 5, and Tennessee 6.

While nearly all medical colleges have courses of at least three years, and many of four years, law schools still lag far behind. In 12 law schools it is possible to complete the whole course in one year. The other schools have courses of two years, except 11, which require three years.

Since the most ignorant can be admitted to the bar in some States, and few requirements are made in others, law schools are placed under the necessity not only of having short courses of study, but also of having low tuition fees. The cost of completing a course in law schools, as compared with medical, is quite noticeable, as is shown by taking departments in the same universities, cost of books, board, etc., not being included.

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An examination of the diagram showing number of law students during the five years 1890-91 to 1894-95 (see a preceding page) reveals a rapid increase in number of students in law schools, and this increase had been occurring still further back. Although the number of law students has certainly been increasing, there must be some additional explanation of such numbers as 5,258, 6,073, 6,968, 7,311, 8,950. The explanation most probable is that young men are discarding the old method of study in the office of an attorney. While theological students and students of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy are taking courses of three or four years in regular professional schools, lawyers are still being made in as many months. Although a full preparation for the practice of law successfully will require as much time and effort as any other profession, and possibly more, fledgelings of a few months' study presume to undertake the most difficult cases, and their confiding clients must reap the consequences. Although many States require an examination of all candidates for admission to the bar, it is notorious that such examinations, as conducted, fail to accomplish the desired results. Full qualifications in the great majority of cases can only be reached certainly by regular and systematic training at a law school. It is true that many of the most successful members of the legal profession never entered a law school, but they succeeded in spite of difficulties. They had to encounter and overcome many obstacles. Some of them, too, had no opportunity to attend a law school. There were also many physicians of great reputation who never attended a medical college, and it was once contended that in a physician's office was the best place to become a physician, and a dentist's office to study dentistry. Bitter war was once made on theological seminaries as being entirely unnecessary, and in some denominations the opponents are not entirely silenced yet. But the conflict is no longer waged; the decision of the majority is recognized. In regard to the study of law, too, a decision has been reached by those who have had proper opportunities for considering the question intelligently that while good legal training can be obtained elsewhere than in law schools, and that while many have become eminent lawyers by private study, just as many of our most intelligent and wisest men have obtained their knowledge without collegiate training, yet as universities and colleges are the proper places for literary training, so law schools are the proper places for acquiring legal knowledge. Although many physicians acquired most of their skill in the practice of their profession, yet medical colleges are regarded as indispensable. While many evangelists have caused such awakenings in the masses as to astonish staid theologians, the seminaries of theology have continued their instruction as usual.

While Benjamin Franklin obtained such an education in his room at night, by a tallow candle, and in his printing office that he became both philosopher and statesman, he was unwilling for others to depend on such efforts, but labored constantly for the establishment and support of educational institutions, and the great University of Pennsylvania is to fulfill his ideas, from whose efforts it took its beginning. While J. Marion Sims knew so little of medicine at the beginning of his professional career that he read up his cases from both beginning and end of the book, and finally became so discouraged that he threw his medical shingle into a well, a school of medicine in New York is left to honor his memory, as well as one of later date in St. Louis, Mo.

While the young surveyor on the banks of the Ohio grew up to a large extent in the frontiers, his discernment of the useful was such that he cherished å plan for a great national university.

Although such examples as the above, and others like them, are constantly cited as instances of how men can succeed without the advantages of collegiate training,

little is said about the opinions of such men as to the value of educational institutions. The most eminent lawyers of the American bar are the strongest advocates of full and thorough courses in law schools; nevertheless with strange inconsistency their examples are sometimes urged to show the uselessness of the schools they advocate.

Although the value of law-school training is forcing a recognition from many, sufficient progress has not yet been made to induce State legislatures to require a lawschool course before admission to the bar. In the State of New York a near approach has been made to this requirement. Several States require medical practitioners to have diplomas from medical colleges, but they do not require diplomas from law students. Ono prominent cause of this heretofore has been the scarcity of law schools, some States having none at all. But there are few communities at the present time where law schools can not be reached as easily as medical schools. Moreover, if all law students were required to pursue a regular course in a law school, other schools would soon spring up wherever needed. It need not be expected that there will be much elevation of the standard of legal education until the legislatures shall have adopted more stringent regulations.

It is difficult for the laity to fully appreciate the need of an educated legal profession. As they are unable of themselves to detect the gravest mistakes in medical practice, just so in the courts they are not aware when the greatest ignorance of law is displayed. Here are some statements made at the meeting of the American Bar Association in 1894, and not a word of protest or doubt uttered by anyone present: "An inundation of incompetency, to use no harsher term, has in recent years deluged our profession and brought it as the appointed agency for the attainment of justice into common disrepute.' There is at present a "deplorable state of legal attainment among the members of the bar in general." "Men with rights to maintain or with wrongs to redress hesitate and often refuse to submit to the uncertainties, the tedious delays, and the wasting expense inevitable in the ordinary court processes of the day." "And the worst feature of this condition of affairs is that this waning faith is justified by the facts." "Judged by the results of its service in actual litigation, the profession is to-day a monstrons charlatan." Another member said, in speaking of applicants for admission: "I have seen the most absolute ignorance displayed of the rules of orthography, and several men have been able to pass a good legal exami nation who yet were utterly unable to write a single sentence in good English." Another member said: "We are all united in the sentiment that there should be a higher degree of culture in the legal profession, but the reform must come from the lawyers themselves," because, as was suggested by Judge Dillon, the legislation of the country is largely done by lawyers. Complaint was made that the courses in law schools are too short to afford full legal training, but representatives of the law schools, while admitting this fact, stated that the fault lay not with them, but with the State legislatures which adopted no regulations requiring a full legal education for admission to the bar.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS OF LAW SCHOOLS.

Of 60 catalogues of law schools examined, in 43 we find that there are practically no requirements for admission to the law classes. Any young man with an ordinary English education who has not the stamp of ignorance plainly visible upon his face, if he can comply with the required financial outlay, need feel no hesitancy in entering the law-school door. And indeed he does not; and this is so well known that some of the catalogues do not even mention the subject of admission requirements, but instead dilate upon the importance of receiving instruction in a law school rather than in an attorney's office, and in such a way that it is evident no applicant will be declined. In one catalogue it is stated that an examination will be required of all students who have not completed a course in a high school or grammar school, but "the object of this examination is merely to ascertain whether his previous training has developed in him sufficient practical ability to appreciate the doctrine of the law. It will therefore be of a general rather than a technical character. An acquaintance with English and American history is desirable, but is not required for admission." Of course, if no knowledge of American history is required, one need not worry about any other requirements.

Twelve other schools require an examination when the applicant expects to apply for a degree, but not otherwise. But even in the institutions which have some regulations for admission, the requirements are so lax that fow applicants, if any, are kept out. Graduates from high schools are received without examination, and in those cases where an examination is required it is usually upon the branches of an ordinary English education. The University of Michigan requires some knowledge of Blackstone, and the New York law schools some Latin and geometry from candidates for degrees.

The Harvard law school is somewhat more restrictive. It requires an examination in Latin, French, and Blackstone's Commentaries. In Latin they must be able to translate without grammar or lexicon passages from Cæsar's Gallic War and from Cicero, and in French they must translate ordinary passages without grammar or lexicon.

When a young man concludes to be a lawyer, he begins a clerkship in the office of some attorney or enters upon the short course of study in some law school, after completing which he applies for admission to the bar. He is never troubled with doubts or fears as to whether he will be able to pass successfully the examination of the law school, or whether he will find any difficulty in gaining admission to the bar. And he does not conclude at once where he will locate for practice, whether in some Eastern city, or in one of the central States, whether in the South or in the West; for why should he be perturbed with reflections on this subject, which he can decide at leisure and just to suit himself, for he knows that the door of admission to the bar hangs wide open in almost every State.

As a result of such conditions hundreds of young men hang out their shingles as attorney and counselor at law when they ought to be driving carts or holding the plow. It is true they must wait many weeks before having much to do, and many of them drop out of the legal profession into other pursuits where muscle is needed as well as brain, and where they find a more appropriate sphere.

In Pennsylvania students who expect to apply for admission to practice in the county of Philadelphia must undergo an examination in the ordinary English studies. It is useless, however, to complain of the admission requirements of law schools when the door of admission to the practice of law itself stands wide open. This is the root of the evil. While almost every State in the Union has a law governing the practice of medicine, and many of them very stringent laws which are stringently enforced, and while many States have laws governing the practice of dentistry and pharmacy, the profession of law can usually be entered by anyone with an ordinary English education after a few months' study. It is a learned profession which requires little learning.

As a result of this lack of instruction in the legal profession, Mr. Frank C. Smith stated at the meeting of the American Bar Association, in 1894, that the courts are clogged with cases of no legal merit, or which are delayed by contention as to methods of procedure, the true merits of the controversy being made entirely subordinate.

The imperfections and shortcomings of law schools are probably recognized and appreciated by none so fully as by law-school instructors themselves. They labor under the necessity of having to adapt their instruction to the capabilities of students who, in many instances, have not received that full and extensive equipment of knowledge and that culture which members of the legal profession constantly find so helpful. They fully recognize the inconsistency of students undertaking studies in law, which should really represent post-graduate work, while they are yet incapable of meeting the requirements for even beginning a collegiate course. They know, also, the utter impossibility of students acquiring anything like full preparation in law in the short time usually claimed for law courses, and probably none are so anxious as they to remedy these evils. But they are also well aware how serious an undertaking it would be to set up barriers before the law school which it would require time and labor to overcome, and then to ask an extended course of three or four years for legal training at considerable expense when at one bound the student can pass over the law school directly into the legal profession, where at once he can begin to receive some reward, however meager, for his work. They know full well how difficult it is for human nature to turn from the reward in reach of the hand, with the hope that in future years they may gather in larger

returns.

Medical schools until the last two or three years also labored under the same difficulties, and so far as entrance requirements are concerned little progress has yet been made. But they now have full time in which to impart medical knowledge. Courses of three years were at first adopted, but now four years are very generally required. American medical colleges formed an association to elevate the standard of medical education, and its efforts and aims were supported by the different State and national associations, and soon medical laws were enacted in different States which require attendance upon medical schools for a certain number of years and that an examination shall then be passed before a State medical board paid for their services, in order to see that the work of medical schools is well done. Study at home or in private offices is given but little consideration, although under some circumstances considerable medical knowledge can be thus obtained by students zealous in their work and determined to succeed. As a result, there is no longer occasion for short courses and superficial examinations in medical schools.

When State legislatures shall have been induced to enact laws requiring full preparation for admission to the bar, and especially when adequate measures shall have

been adopted to bring into full effect and operation the laws adopted (for several States have good laws on admission to the bar, but they are improperly or inefficiently executed), law schools will be able to adopt courses of three or four years, and to raise the requirements, both for entrance and graduation. If an association of American law schools were formed, its efforts conjoined with those of the section on legal education of the American Bar Association and of the State bar associations would doubtless secure the enactment of laws for higher legal education with all necessary provisions for their successful operation and enforcement. Nothing would then prevent law schools from adopting courses of three or four years, or from requiring stringent examinations for graduation. The great value of systematic instruction in a law school would then stand out in such bold relief that notwithstanding the adoption of rigid requirements the number of law students would suffer no loss.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE BAR.

It is true that quite a number of States have some law on the subject of admission to the bar, and 24 States even mention a period of time that applicants must have studied law before admission, but from various causes these regulations have practically no effect except in a few States. Ralph Stone, esq., says: "The favorite method of examining applicants is in open court by a temporary committee appointed by the court, or theoretically by the county or supreme judges themselves. Both of these methods, according to the testimony of the attorneys-general of the several States [Mr. Stone had written to all of them on the subject] are very unsatisfactory. They are the methods in vogue, however, astonishing as it may seem, in all but eight of the States." The time of study spent in a lawyer's office can easily be made to cover a long period, especially if the attorney has an elastic conscience. To illustrate the ineffectiveness of such laws as compared with the requirement of a certain number of years in a law school, we need only refer to medical schools, which formerly demanded one year of study under a preceptor and two or three years at a medical school. The latter was easily enforced because definite and distinct, but the requirement of a year under a preceptor was a dead letter.

A requirement for admission to the bar, common to perhaps all the States, is that the applicant be of good moral character, and certainly this is a very wise provision, and one which should be adhered to without exception, for great responsibilities and important trusts constantly rest in the hands of lawyers, and there should be some safeguard for the proper execution of these trusts. But a lawyer, writing in a recent periodical, says what is needed is that the States devise some means to maintain the good moral character which all the young lawyers seem to possess when admitted to the bar.

Ralph Stone, in the Michigan Law Journal, February, 1895, gives the number of years of law study required in the several States with such a provision as follows: North Carolina, one year; Washington, eighteen months; Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, two years; Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, three years; New Jersey, three years if the applicant possesses an A. B. or B. S. degree, and four years if he does not; New York and Oregon, twe years if a college graduate, three years if not; Rhode Island, two years if the applicant possesses a classical education, and three years if he does not.

According to the above statement Pennsylvania requires three years of study and an examination before admission to the bar, which would seem sufficient to insure well-trained applicants. The law student can give the required notice when beginning the study of law without stating whether he is devoting his whole time to law or two hours each week. After the required three years he presents himself for examination, not in Philadelphia or Pittsburg, but in one of the rural counties. Let us see what he will encounter, according to Prof. George Wharton Pepper, of the law school of the University of Pennsylvania: "Admission to the bar is usually gained throughout the Commonwealth upon passing an examination before the board of examiners, selected by the judge or judges of the local courts from among the members of the bar. The standard of attainment required of the student differs in the different counties of the State, probably the most searching examination being that required for admission to the Pittsburg bar. In some counties the examination is scarcely more than a formality."

A professor of law in one of the Eastern States says the only requirement for admission to the bar in many of the Western States is "the possession of a good moral character and an unlimited amount of assurance.' The Western lawyer would doubtless reply that the requirements in the East are the same, and the character not closely examined.

Diplomas from State law schools admit without examination in 13 States: Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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