Northwestern University Bulletin: From the Report of the Dean of the Law School, 1917-1918

1922 August 26

Bulletins
1922 August 26

1922 August 26

NORTHWESTERN
University Bulletin
Vol. XXIII August 26, 1922 No. 8
Northwestern University Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year
at Chicago, Illinois. Entered as Second Class Matter N ovember 21, 1913, at the P ostoffice
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of Congress of Aug ust 24, 1912. Accepted for
mailing at special rates of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3,
1917, authorized on June 14, 1918.
Published by Northwestern University, Northwestern University Bldg., Chicago
LAW SCHOOL
Owing to the absence of the Dean of the Law School on national
service no reports were printed for 1917-18 and 1918-19. The followin6
extracts from these reports are here printed as of special interest.
Reprinted November 1922, for distribution to
Alumni of the Law School
From the Report of the Dean of the Law School,
1917-18.
1. The effect of the war was seen in the depletion of the
numbers of faculty and students, and in the postponement
of the new rules for entrance, as already noted.
The spirit of the School was enthusiastically loyal to the
Great Cause of the War. Nearly every student made effort
to enter the Officers Training Camps of May and August,
1917, and-large numbers were accepted. Many of those who
had not the good fortune to enter the Officers' Camp of May,
1917, took prompter measures in their impatience, to get to
the battlefields of France, and entered the Ambulance Corps
Units that were going over immediately, or enlisted as privates
in the Regular Army or the Marine Corps.
The total numbers in military service, as far as ascertainable,
were as follows, shown to Law School status, and
according to branches of service :
(a) BY LAW SCHOOL STATUS
Faculty members .............................................................................................................................. 9
Alumni ................................................................................................................................................ 186
Students:
Class of 1917 ...................................................................................................................... 51
Class of 1918 ...................................................................................................................... 61
Class of 1919 ........................................................................................... ....................... .45
Special ................................................................................................................................ 2
Class of 1920 ...................................................................................................................... 20
179
865
2 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
(b) BY BRANCHES AND RANKS OF SERVICE
United States Army :
LCioelounteenlsa n·t·-·C···o·l·o··n··el·s -....-....-.-..·..·..·.·.·..·.·.·..·.·.·..·.·.·..··..·.·.·..·.·.·.·.·.·.·..·.·.·..·.·..·.·.·.·..·.·..·..·.·.·..·.·.·.·..·.·.·..·.·.·..··.·.....·....-.....-....-.....-. 2Ii
Majors .......................................................... • ................................................................. 5
Captains .............................................................................................................................. 30
First Lieutenants ............................................................................................................ 60
Second Lieutenants ........................................................................................................ 66
Regimental Sergeant Majors ........................................................................................ 2
Battalion Sergeant Majors ............................................................................................ 1
Sergeants ............................................................................................................................ 21
Candidate Officers ............................................................................................................ 21
Corporals ............................................................................................................................ 13
M. R. C. Orderlies............................................................................................................ 5
Privates .............................................................................................................................. 62
273
Aviation Branch U . S. A.:
First Lieutenants ............................................................................................................ 2
Second Lieutenants ........................................................................................................ 15
Ground School Cadets ...................................................................................................... 4
Non-Flying Section .......................................................................................................... 4
Instructor .......................................................................................................................... 1
26
United States Navy:
Lieutenant Commander .................................................................................................. I
Lieutenant S. G ............................................................................................................... 4
Lieutenant J. G . .............................................................................................................. 1
Aviation Service .............................................................................................................. 6
Ensigns .............................................................................................................................. 17
Yeomen ............................................................................................................................. 6
Seamen ................................................................................................................................ 13
Musicians ............................................................................................................................ 3
50
50
United States Marines:
First Lieutenant ......................... ..................................................................................... 1
Second Lieutenants ........................................................................................................ 2
Sergeant .............................................................................................................................. 1
Aviation ........... . ............................................................................................... 1
Private ................· -----·····································································1
6
Y. M. C. Secretaries................................................................................................................ 4
Ambulance Drivers .................................................................................................................. 2
Lieutenant French Army........................................................................................................ 1
Emergency Fleet Corporation................................................................................................ 1
Rank Unknown ----··················································································· ·· 2
165
The distribution of these covers all services and ranks in
the war forces. Data as to the whole number and the ranks
finally reached are not yet completely available; but there
were many promotions, and the numbers for the higher ranks,
given in the above Table, are too low.
(c) The alumnae and women students in service were
three in all, distributed as follows:
Signal Corps .................................................. 1
Ambulance Driver ........................................ 1
Y eomanette .................................................... 1
At the initiative of Miss Ida M. Lawrie, '17, the women
DEAN'S REPORT 3
students donated the sum required for obtaining a large service
flag, bearing the service-stars for students and alumni;
and this flag was displayed in the School premises during the
continuance of the war.
(d) .The deaths in service numbered eight.
The names of those who gave their lives will be suitably
recorded in permanent manner in the new School Building:
Thomas C. L'))ons, '12 Martin L. Collins, ex. • 18
R. T. Munzer, '14 Jasper]. Ffrench, '14
F. P. Navigato, 'JO Benj. Wohl, ex. '18
Lawrence Wolpert, • 17 A. R. M esselheiser, • I 6
( e) The number of awards of merit to those in service
has not yet been accurately ascertained. There were many
wound-stripes; Capt. Frank S. Stratton, 'OS, of the Cavalry,
is said to have been the first American Cavalryman wounded
in action.
2. The Alumni News Letter, edited by Miss Mary E. Goodhue,
of the office staff, was a unique feature of service to the
men in camp and at the front. The well-known devotion of
Miss Goodhue to the welfare of the student-body has ever
commanded their unbounded confidence and admiration.
Their personal letters kept her advised of all happenings
amidst the stirring and novel events of their military experience.
Seventeen issues were prepared, between August, 1917,
and December, 1918, and were circulated in mimeograph to
all in the service. The arrival of the News Letter was a
cheering event in every quarter, from Camp Kearney to the
Argonne; and its personal chronicles kept alive the Northwestern
spirit in all branches of the service. To judge from
the news items in the letters, Northwestern men were meeting
each other constantly in every field of war activity.
This News Letter should be printed and sent to all alumni
as a permanent memorial of Northwestern University Law
School annals of the war. A donation for the purpose would
be welcome.
3. The Faculty contributed active war service in branches
of work other than directly military. The Selective Service
system was the natural field for professional legal skill, and
all resident members offered their service in the selective
draft boards and its auxiliary staffs. As members of legal
advisory boards, their arduous service was highly valued. The
4 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
American Protective Association, the Four-Minute Men, the
American Red Cross, and other organizations also received
active assistance in their Chicago branches from various members
of the Faculty. Others joined the staff of the National
Council of Defense, the United States Treasury, the United
States Shipping Board, and other Bureaus in Washington.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN H. \VIGMORE, Dean.
From the Report of the Dean of the Law School
1918- 19.
THE STUDENTS' ARMY TRAINING CORPS
In the President's Report for 1917-19, the following conclusions
are given a place: "It can scarcely be said that the
Students' Army Training Corps was a marked success from
the point of view either of the Army or of the University. * * * The experiment, however, should not be condemned,
as it grew out of a war necessity and was very hastily
developed."
1. There is, however, a very different experience and conviction
held by some members of the Faculty, and the University
annals should bear record to that conviction also.
It may be summarized as follows:
The Students' Army Training Corps was a complete success
in producing two results vital to military and to civic
interests, and it was invaluable in its contribution to three
other important elements, viz.:
(1) From the military point of view of preserving the
independence of our Nation, the S. A. T. C. provided a rese:--
voir of more than 25,000 trained officer-material, necessary to
officer the new 2,000,000 army which was to assist in the 1919
spring offensive, and impossible to provide so rapidly in any
other way; and this result ,vas precisely the one aimed at by
the General Staff and the War Department Education Committee
in organizing the Corps.
(2) From the civic point of view, viz., the preservation of
the institutions of higher education, the S. A. T. C. saved
more than 500 educational institutions from being disorganized
by the second draft, which was due to take all men of ages
18-20 before June, 1919; had the Corps not been installed in
those institutions, the faculties of the vast majority would
•
DEAN'S REPORT 5
have been disbanded by October, 1918, the revenues for the
year would have been depleted, and more than half of the
institutions would have become insolvent.
(3) From the point of view of the student-body, it saved
nearly a year in the completion of the education of nearly
150,000 young men; for they would all have entered cantonments
at some period between October, 1918, and June, 1919,
and the suspended institutions would not have been ready to
receive them again until September, 1919; whereas the net
actual loss of time did not exceed three months for any of
them, and the great majority lost no time at all.
(4) From the point of view, again, of student welfare, the
three months of the Corps contributed a unique experience
of discipline in education which could never have fallen to
their lot otherwise; and this tradition will never lose its moral
value in the lives of those who enjoyed the privilege.
~5) From the point of view of educational method, the contrast
of military and civic methods, side by side, furnished a
unique experience of great value; and American higher education
can never cease to be thankful for the lessons to be drawn
from that brief but emphatic experience.
In the first two features, therefore, viz., the assistance in
assuring that military victory which saved the nation, and the
assistance in rescuing the country's universities and colleges
from disastrous disruption, the Students' Army Training
Corps was a complete success. The first feature was the precise
and only one aimed at by the War Department; that aim
was achieved. The second feature, though not aimed at, was
foreseen by all who understood the educational situation in the
summer of 1918; the escape from disaster was so significant
for the educational authorities that it can never be anything
but the subject of thankfulness; and that escape was due solely
to the organization of the Corps within the institutions.
The interference of the Corps with the normal college
studies and customs was a trifling price to pay for these extraordinary
benefits. Some such loss was a foregone conclusion;
and any criticisms based upon it are, therefore, beside the
point.
The imperfect operation of the Corps itself, in various
details, large and small, is another matter, legitimately open
to discussion. But the only matter of surprise here is that the
6 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
Corps could have been organized and operated at all, under
the circumstances. The time limit was so short that the actual
measure of achievement is next to incredible.
The circumstances attending the Corps demonstrate this.
But they are not known or appreciated in most University
circles. As the Dean of this Law School, by virtue of membership
in the War Department Committee on Education and
Special Training, was in a position to know the inner circumstances,
a brief summary of them is here worth while.
Summarized, the salient features of the situation were
(1) that the new draft law, taking in the ages 18-20, and thus
destined to send to camp virtually the entire body of ablebodied
male college students between October, 1918, and June,
1919, was not enacted by Congress till August 30, 1918; (2)
that this change from the status of voluntary enlistment to
compulsory draft affected all the important and complex details
of military organization; and (3) that, therefore, no
plans could possibly be fixed, or even announced by the War
Departm6'.nt, until the end of August, 1918; thus leaving only
30 days for effecting the organization of 140,000 students, with
over 3,000 officers, at over 500 institutions, subject to 4,500
draft boards, including the arrangements for curriculum,
finance, equipment, housing, discipline, induction, and
mobilization.
The situation had begun to develop in March, 1918. By
April, 1918, with the German drive begun, and the monthly
shipment of American soldiers suddenly raised from 100,000
to 300,000, the prospect of new levies, probably 2,000,000 or
more, loomed in the near future. The officers needed for the
new levies would be at least 100,000. Nothing like that number
was in sight as available, within the time limits, from
ordinary cantonment training. Where could the deficit be
made up? Where could 50,000 officer-material be found and
trained in the elements?
Of course, reflection showed that there was one place, viz.,
the colleges. In the colleges was available housing and feeding;
there on hand were teachers of mathematics and other
needful subjects. What was lacking was military instruction
and discipline; and this must be specially supplied in any
event. It was, therefore, resolved to plan to use this source
of supply. Estimating 100,000 as the minimum attendance
and 200,000 as the maximum, for 1918-1919, and figuring on
DEAN'S REPORT 7
25 per cent as the ratio of first-class material emerging therefrom,
this would proyide a reservoir of 25,000-50,000 officermaterial,-
a welcome amount, possibly enough to supply the
pressing need.
But would the colleges agree to take part? There was
every reason to suppose so. Several hundred colleges had
applied for volunteer units immediately upon anno uncement
of the original plan early in July. The young men of 18-20,
not liable to draft, could enlist, and were already becoming
restive. A military training, installed in the colleges as a
reservoir for new officers, would attract them as volunteers.
Two or three large universities were already armed camps of
this sort, by volunteer efforts. Many other institutions had
indicated their approval of the measure.
Accordingly, in May-June, plans were prepared by the
Committee and approved by the General Staff.
But, meanwhile, in the rush of military events, it became
plain to the military authorities that the Selective Service Act
of 1917 would not produce the needed levies, unless the ages
21-30 were much enlarged. A bill to enlarge the ages was
introduced in Congress in the first week of August.
But should the ages be extended downward to include ages
18-20? This would depend on the total number needed and
the total probable yield from each age. The total number of
men required was at least 2,000,000. The estimates of ageyields
reached 2,300,000, if ages 18-20 were included, but not
otherwise. The memorandum on this subject by the Chief of
Staff was laid before the Secretary of War on July 28. 1 The
age limits were debated by Congress during August, and there
was much opposition to the inclusion of the younger ages.
Upon Congress' decision depended the whole plan of the
Committee. No settlement was possible prior to that decision.
Enlistment of men within draft ages had been prohibited
already. Hence, if the 18-20 ages were included by Congres~
in the new law, all college students would be within the draft
and liable to call before or by June, 1919. Therefore, either
a special draft exemption must be provided for the college
S. A. T. C., or its members must be inducted subject to the
draft and as a part of the draft contingent. The first alternative
was unthinkable; because both Congress and the War
Department, correctly gauging public opinion, would never
1. The calculations were drafted by the writer of this report.
8 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
consent to a privileged status for college students, relieving
them from the normal incidence of the selective draft. The
second alternative, however, would require an entire re-casting
of the S. A. T. C. organization, which had been thus far
planned on a volunteer basis, under the Act of 1917.
The political impossibility, above alluded to, of giving the
college S. A . .T. C. the usual draft exemption accorded to ordinary
voluntary enlistments, has perhaps not been fully realized
by college authorities, and has still a lesson for us. The
widespread popular notion, constantly revealed in Congress
and in high army circles also, was that the S. A. T. C. plans
based on voluntary enlistment of men within draft ages, would
import special privilege for the sons of rich men, putatively
including many slackers. This popular notion of colleges as
the pampered gathering-places of rich youths is very extensive,
and very obstinate. It almost defeated the S. A. T. C.
plans, and for a time blocked their progress. College authorities,
well aware of the dominant element of self-supporting
youths in every institution, are accustomed to assume that the
great public is equally aware of the fact. But the experience
of the War Department Committee shows that public opinion
is yet far from full enlightenment in this respect. If, there•
fore, the draft should reach down to ages 18-20, it was inevitable
that the S. A. T. C. must eliminate every feature of privileged
exemption from the draft.
By the last week in August, it became certain that the ages
18-20 would be included in the new draft law. The S. A.
T. C. plans were, therefore, shifted to meet the new require··
ment. Registration day was to be September 12. All the
complicated operations of the local boards, involving registration,
questionnaires, classification, physical examination,
induction, and mobilization, must, therefore, take place during
the two weeks ensuing; and a special set of forms must be
devised and distributed to the boards, the colleges, and the
military officers. All arrangements appropriate to the status
of students as soldiers in active service must be perfected;
and here the various fixed requirements of statute and army
regulations must be conformed to, by special devices. For
example, the law as interpreted by the Federal Supreme Court
and the Judge Advocate General's office, forbade the use of
either the furlough status or the reserve status, and hence the
student soldiers must be placed on an active and pay status;
DEAN'S REPORT 9
this feature alone, besides involving some additional millions
of expense, added many complications of documentary formality.
Equipment for fall and winter weather must be provided;
and this requirement called for clothing, blankets, bedding,
and arms, at precisely the moment when General Pershing was
pressing the War Department for all available supplies to
equip the Expeditionary Force, whose numbers arriving in
France were now leaping to the figure of 300,000 monthly.
Barracks and mess halls must be provided and a system of
accounts installed for an expenditure of nearly $200,000,000.
Last, but not least, 3,000 military instructors must be found
and sent to their stations. Suffice it to note, once more, not
only that these arrangements were novel in their problems, but
that there remained only five or six weeks in which to work
them out and put them into effect, and to communicate the
system to 4,500 selective service boards, to 600 college authorities,
and to 3,000 military officers. As a culminating obstacle,
the influenza epidemic, sweeping the country in September,
interposed delay at every point.
That the system thus suddenly devised and installed
worked defectively in some details and in some institutions
was to be expected. The surprising circumstance is that, by
October 1, it worked as well as it did.
If the normal college curriculum and routine suffered inroads,
this was deliberately foreseen and intended. The sole
object of the Committee was to help win the war by providing
necessary officer material, for the spring of 1919, through the
use of the college quarters, personnel, and student-body. If
anything at all was to remain of the normal civic curriculum,
that was simply so much incidental gain, to be thankful for,
from the college civic point of view.
Many college authorities, especially many professors, naturally
regretted this interference with normal methods. This
state of mind led them also to judge severely the shortcomings
of detail here and there in the operation of the system. Unaware
as they were of the actual military necessities, and of
the obstacles that had caused first delay and then haste, and
removed as they were from the center of military anxiety and
effort, this judgment was doubtless natural enough. Moreover,
the explanations which might have placated this sentiment
could not be made by the Committee freely to the college
authorities in general, because full disclosure of reasons would
10 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
have violated both military policy in the face of the enemy,
and ordinary diplomacy affecting the relations with other
branches of the War Department and with Congress.
But the personnel of the Committee, if not the general
<!xigency of the war situation, might well have sufficed (and
did in most cases suffice) to produce faith in the intentions
and methods of the Committee. Only one of the three military
members of the Committee was an officer of the Regular
Army; of the Civilian Advisory Board, the chairman was a
former professor of physics, and the executive secretary was
a professor of philosophy, while the special staff organized
for the collegiate branch of the S. A. T. C. had for its director
a University president. It was certain that the S. A. T. C.
organization, though dominated by the one purpose to provide
competent military officer material, would be framed upon an
intelligent and sympathetic understanding of college conditions,
and would do all that was possible to preserve them
from needless disruption. The Committee had reason to believe
that all college authorities, could they have been placed
in the Committee's situation, would have given full approval
to all the steps that were taken, and would have accepted as
inevitable and inconsiderable the shortcomings of operation
that attended the execution of the great purpose.
The military purpose was entirely achieved. And looking
back at the principal result to the colleges, viz., the escape
from an impending crisis of suspension and insolvency, it must
also be maintained that the Students' Army Training Corps
was, from the college point of view, a marked success.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN H. WIGMORE, Dean.
DEAN'S REPORT 11
Report of the Dean of the Law School, 1919-20.
To the President of the Universil}):
Herewith I lay before you my Annual Report as Dean of
the Faculty of Law for 1919-1920.
THE FACULTY
The total number of persons attached to the Faculty of Law
during the.year was 36. (See Table A.)
THE STUDENTS
The total number of students registered for the year 1919-
1920 was 279. (See Table B.)
The increase in the number of third-year students is due
to the numerous men returning from military service to complete
their law studies. It is remarkable, and contrary to all
expectations, that thus far not a single student has been heard
of who went into military service who failed to resume his
law studies upon his discharge; and only one or two of those
have been known to transfer to another school.
The relatively small increase in the number of first-year
students is due to the application in September, 1919, of the
new requirements for entrance and graduation, three years
of college study for entrance and four years of law study for
graduation. The entrance requirements applied only to those
who had not commenced the study of law at this or another
institution prior to September, 1919. The number thus qualifying
under the new requirements was 26 (including 3 "exceptional"
students); the number in the first-year class who were
entitled to join it without thus qualifying was 58.
The total number of women students was 16. (See
Table C.)
The entrance preparation of the students (regular and special)
is shown in Table E at the end of the report.
In order to exhibit the application of the new entrance
requirements to the successive classes, the entrance preparation
will hereafter be shown under the following headings:
TABLE EE
1919-20 College Credit
Class 4 Yra. 3 Yrs. Tot.al 2 Yrs. 1 Yr. Total
First Year ............................ 18 5 23 7 13 20
Second Year .......................... 17 6 18 7 14 21
Third Year ............................ 25 4 29 13 26 38
Graduate Course .................. 6 6 1 2 3
Special .................................... 1 1 1 1
Gr.
Total
43
39
67
8
2
Total ................................ 66 10 76 29 64 83 159
High
School
Grads. Total
41 84
28 67
41 108
8
10 12
120 279
12 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
The new requirement of three years of college credit for
entrance affected only those entering the First Year Class after
September 1, 1919. In that class there were 23 persons so
qualified. Of the remainder, 61 in all, 20 had one or two years
of college credit, and 41 were High School graduates. Of this
number, three were admitted under the rules as "exceptional''
students, by special vote of the Faculty. The remainder, 58,
had already matriculated prior to September 1, 1919, and were
mostly young men returning at various times from military
service.
The number of degrees conferred at Commencement is
shown in Table F.
THE CURRICULUM
The four-J}ear course of required studies for the first law degree
went into effect in September, 1919, for the first-year class
only. The remaining classes continued on the former schedule
of offerings and requirements. There will be a period of
transition in which neither schedule will be in full effect. An
exposition of the scheme of the four-year course may, therefore,
be postponed for a subsequent report. Suffice it here to
say that the four-year course is now receiving the consideration
of a Committee of the Association of American Law
Schools, due to report at the next annual meeting, and that
other schools are destined very soon to adopt it.
The only innovation thus far involved in the first year of
the four-year curriculum is a course in General Survey, designed
to lay a foundation of general information for all
beginning law students.
Another innovation, involved in the program for the third
and fourth years of the four-year curriculum, is the requirement
of a Legal Clinic. This was voted by the Faculty to take
effect for all third-year students in 1919-1920. This measure,
already advocated in many quarters, has thus been first applied
in this School as a requirement. The testimony of all concerned
is an endorsement of its success. A pamphlet showing
its operation is printed for the School. The enlargement of
the Legal Clinic by placing it on a graduate footing is one
of the prime objects for which an Endowment Fund is needed.
Another new course was a series of lectures on The League
of Nations (International Constitutional Law) by Mr. Caldwell,
open to members of the bar. The course was well given
and well attended.
DEAN'S REPORT 13
A summer quarter of instruction was given, for the first
time in the history of the School, in 1919. The reason was
the propriety and necessity of enabling the men returning
from war service to complete their law studies as soon as possible.
The attendance numbered 130. The Faculty was composed
of some of the regular staff of resident professors and
lecturers, with the addition of Judge Homer B. Di bell, as
already noted.
In view of the adoption of the four-year curriculum, th,~
Faculty has taken it for granted that a summer quarter will
hereafter be a regular feature, so that industrious aspirants to
the profession may reduce their time of preparation to three
calendar years, by taking three summer quarters, with only
a month of intermission each year. As a provisional step, it
was voted to hold a summer course of ten weeks in 1920.
ENDOWMENT AND BUILDING FUND CAMPAIGN
The plans for an Endowment and Building Fund, initiated
by a Joint Faculties Committee in 1916-1917, and providing
for concentration of the four Chicago professional Schools on
a near North Side Campus, were resumed by the Board of
Trustees in May, 1919. An option was secured on the Farwell-
Fairbank property on Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore
Drive.
The Law School Alumni, realizing the need of early organization
for the purpose, formed a General Committee in
June, 1919. During the summer and fall, Class Committees
for Chicago and State and District Committees for Illinois and
other States were developed. In November a quiet campaign
of solicitation was begun.
The objective was a minimum of $1,500,000, to cover building
and endowment. .The sum of approximately $200,000,
from 500 alumni, was subscribed in this first stage of the quest.
It remains to secure the greater part of the remainder by a
few large subscriptions.
The enterprise has commanded unanimous approval from
the Alumni, and the zeal of scores of the Committee members
in giving personal service is a revelation of loyalty which must
gratify the University. The sacrifice represented by the numerous
subscriptions of relatively small amounts are a splendid
token of the devotion of those alumni to the high interests
of the School and of their profession.
14 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
PROFESSIONAL OFFICES FILLED
In my Annual Report of some six years ago, I compiled a
list of the various professional committees or other responsible
offices in which the members of our Faculty were rendering
gratuitous public service. The list was intended to exhibit
the variety of public service in professional and semi-professional
fields, for which a call is legitimately made upon the
members of a law fac ulty, and the extent to which our Faculty
does receive and respond to such a demand. As that list is
now obsolete, I present herewith a list (which is certainly
not complete) of the committees and other offices in which
the various members of our Faculty were rendering public
service involving their professional skill and attainments during
the past year:
American Association of Universil)) Professors:
Committee on University Ethics, the chairman.
Amerioan Bar Association:
Comparative Law Bureau, Board of Managers, one
member.
American Field Service Fellowships in French Universities:
Committee on Nomination of Fellows, the chairman.
American lnstilule of Criminal Law and Criminolog)):
Executive Board, the chairman and two members.
Editorial Board, three associate editors.
Research Committees, two members and a chairman.
Publications Committee, one member.
American J udicalure Societ)):
Board of Directors, three members, . and the secretary.
Association of American Law Schools:
Committee on Civil Procedure, two members.
Committee on Legal History, the chairman.
Committee on L egal Philosophy, the chairman and one
member.
Central Howard Association:
Board of Advisers, one member.
Chicago Association of Commerce:
Committee on Education, one member.
Chicago Bar Association:
Committee on Legal Education, the vice-chairman.
DEAN'S REPORT 15
Chicago City Club:
Committee on Suffrage and Elections.
Chicago Crime Commission:
Board of Advisers, two members.
Chicago Society of Advocates:
The secretary.
Chicago United Charities:
Legal Aid Bureau, Board of Directors, one member.
Illinois State Bar Association:
Committee on Legal Education, one member.
Committee on Legal History and Biography, one member.
Committee on Membership, one member.
Inter-American High Commission:
United States Section, one member.
League to Enforce Peace:
Staff of Lecturers, one member.
National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor:
Board of Trustees, one member.
National Municipal League:
Council, one member.
Committee on Municipal Courts, one member.
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniformity of State
Legislation:
Illinois State Commission, one member.
Selden Society ( of England):
Council, one member.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN H. WIGMORE, Dean.
16 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
Report of the Dean of the Law School, 1920-21
To the President of the UniversitJ;:
Herewith I lay before you my Annual Report as Dean of
the Faculty of Law for July 1, 1920, to July 1, 1921.
THE FACULTY
The total number of persons attached to the Faculty of Law
during the year was 38. (See Table A.)
Professor Greeley was on leave of absence during the first
semester, owing to a serious illness from which he was obliged
to go to California to recuperate. His course in Conveyancing
was given by Mr. Abraham J. Hennings, LL.B., '12, of the
law firm of Hennings and Thulin, legal advisers to Messrs.
Peabody, Houghteling & Co.; to Mr. Hennings' loyal and
able service in taking Professor Greeley's place the University
is deeply indebted.
The arrangement made last year, by which Professor
Hyde's courses were to be given jointly by himself and Associate
Professor WVatson, was duly carried out, with general
satisfaction, Professor Hyde coming from Washington, for
two periods of three weeks each, to deliver his part of the
lectures. Professor Hyde's treatise on American International
Law, the fruit of some twenty years of toil, is now going
through the press, and promises to be accepted as the standard
American treatise in that field.
Professor Lew Sarett, of the School of Speech, gave for
the first time in the Law School a course in Professional
Speech. This course had been discontinued for ten years past,
owing to the difficulty of finding a qualified instructor. Professor
Sarett's course proved to be everything that was hoped
for. This instruction is now, by vote of the, Faculty, compulsory
upon all first-year students who have not had equivalent
training. To our general regret, Professor Sarett withdraws
now from the course, owing to other duties, but the course
will be continued under his successor, from the School of
Speech.
On the staff of the Summer Quarter, 1921, were the following,
by special appointment, not on the regular Faculty:
Rousseau Angelus Burch, LL.B., Justice of the Kansas
Supreme Court;
Ira Ellsworth Robinson, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of West Virginia;
DEAN'S REPORT 17
Homer B. Dibell, LL.B. (N. W., '90), Judge of the Supreme
Court of Minnesota.
These three gentlemen each gave a single course. Mr. J ustice
Dibell had taken part in the Summer Term of 1919, and
the success of that innovation had decided us to enlarge the
plan. The experience has convinced us that the problem of a
Summer Term for the Law School has found its solution in
this method of composing the Faculty in part of Supreme
Court Judges. It relieves the resident professors from allthe-
year-round teaching. By inviting only those Judges of
whose attainments we have personal knowledge, it assures
the maintenance of our standards. By bringing together
Judges and professors, it promotes a better understanding of
the aims and methods of each group. By enabling students
to meet Judges personally, it stimulates their ambitions, and
inspires their work. In point of view of feasibility, the location
of Chicago on Lake Michigan gives it the status of a
summer resort for Judges located in the South, Southwest,
and Northwest, and thus becomes attractive for Judges who
can spend here a 40-day or 60-day vacation with the light
burden of one lecture daily. Moreover, we have been gratified
to receive unmistakable proof that the invitation from this
School was regarded as an honor which any Judge might wish
to accept. And the relatively modest honorarium, while it
does no more than pay the living expenses of the Judge and
his wife, seems to be satisfactory.
This method of composing a Summer Law Faculty is thus
far unique among American Law Schools. It is a success
intrinsically, and we look to see it imitated by other Universities.
I desire here to record the recognition given by the University
to my colleague, Frederick Beers Crossley, on the
completion of his twentieth year of service in the School. The
honorary degree of Master of Arts was awarded him by vote
of the Board of Trustees in April, 1921. At the May meeting
of the Faculty of Law the diploma was conferred by the President
in privatim. The introduction in presenting the candidate
to the President was as follows: "Frederick Beers Crossley,
a devoted officer of the University, now completing his twentieth
year of invaluable service, skilled custodian of a splendid
library of law, historian of the bench and bar of Illinois, wise
18 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
counsellor of youth, possessing the respect, confidence and
affection of the entire body of the Law School's alumni."
THE STUDENTS
.The total number of students registered for the year 1920-
1921 was 201. (See Table B.)
The temporary decrease in the number of students is, of
course, due to the application of the new requirements for
entrance and graduation-three years of college study for entrance,
and four years of law study for graduation. These requirements,
going into effect for new students in September,
1919, applied this year to two classes. But we anticipate that
the tide will not be long in turning; for with 600,000 persons in
American colleges in 1921, as against 200,000 in 1917, the
number of qualified persons is increasing at a rapid rate. A
three-year college requirement is now no more intensive in
its application than was formerly a four-year high school
requirement. More law schools each year are adopting a twoyear
college requirement. At the meeting of the American
Bar Association this year, the report of the Committee, chaired
by Elihu Root, recommending that two years of college be
required for admission to the Bar in all States, was adopted
by an enormous and enthusiastic majority-the first time that
the Association has gone on record for that measure. Our
School will shortly begin to reap the fruits of its advanced
position.
The four-year law course came up for debate at the annual
meeting of £he Association of American Law Schools in December,
1920. No action, however, was taken, and the matter
was re-committed. It is evident that there is a strong sentiment
in favor of it; but the timid and conservative element
is for the moment in the saddle, and other issues are complicated
with this one.
The total number of women students was 11. (See Table C.)
The geographical distribution is shown in Table D at the
end of the report.
The entrance preparation ·of the students (regular and special)
is shown in Table E.
In order to exhibit the application of the new entrance requirements
to the successive classes, the entrance preparation
will hereafter be shown under the following headings:
DEAN'S REPORT 19
TABLE EE
High
1920-21 College Credit Gr. School
Class 4 Yrs. S Yrs. Total 2 Yrs. 1 Yr. Total Total Grads. Total
First Year .............................. 16 2 18 8 17 25 43 24 67
Second Year .............................. 18 4 22 S 8 16 38 22 60
Third Year ............................ 11 2 13 7 12 19 32 28 60
Graduate Course ..............•... 8 3 3 s Special ____ 4 1 6 1 1 6 5 11
Total ···········--··············5·2·· 9 61 24 87 61 122 79 201
The number of degrees conferred at Commencement is
shown in Table F.
THE CURRICULUM
On the four-year course, some comments are made above.
It is notable that, from the point of view of popular or professional
opinion, no word of dissent or di sfavor has been received
from any quarter, either from students, profession, or
public. This could not have been the case, had not the measure
found virtually universal approval.
GIFTS
Here will be noted only that the benefaction of Hon. Elbert
H. Gary, '67, was continued, and that the book purchases
for the years 1919 and 1920 for the Elbert H. Gary Library
of Law were again provided by his generosity, as already
reported.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN H. WIGMORE, Dean.