THE NEW YORK BAR ASSOCIATION. A FRENCH king, being asked substan tially the same question which the great legal poet, Sir William Jones, in one of his odes put and answered in verse, " What con stitutes a state?" answered with true Bourbon conceit, " L'etat c'estmoi." Any lawyer stand ing in the center of the almost matchless law library in the newly dedicated building of the New York Bar Association, and putting the question, " W'ho most constituted this library?" would receive as answer from any member, "Why, Wm. J. C. Berry, who for the last twenty-seven years of the existence of our Bar Association has been our librarian" — himself a graduate of the Columbia Law School, and who had previously been head clerk and salesman and student of law-books, while a youth, in the once notable law-book emporium of John S. Voorhies. Berry was what ladies name " an object of interest" on the evening of October eighth, when the magnificent clubhouse of the Bar Associ ation was dedicated by a social reception, assisted in by a thousand lawyers and as many guests of laymen and lay-ladies. I have advisedly used the word " magnifi cent " as applied both to the exterior and in terior of the new edifice that fronts properly on West 44th St., between aristocratic Fifth Avenue and democratic Sixth Avenue, and backs two hundred feet to its members' entrance in the rear on West 43d St., where for neighbors it has the staid Century Club, a medical club, The Howard Club, and the sportive Racket Club, thus constituting that thoroughfare what Pall Mall in London is — par excellence a club street. The Lord Chief Justice of England, unable to remain in this country for the opening dedication of the building, was, on the day preceding his sailing for home, conducted over the fully furnished building, and from his lips fell again and again the word of description that I have used — " magnifi
cent." He added that it was a subject for his wonder, when he learned that the cost of the ground, building, library, and furni ture, which approached one hundred and fifty thousand English pounds, or three quarters of a million of dollars, had been raised by members of the New York Bar in their pri vate capacity. Let us examine what it was that invited the observation of the admiring Lord Chief Justice, who doubtless recalled the shabby quarters of the Solicitors' Club rooms on Chancery Lane in London, or the homes of its Inns of Court that, although rich in memories and historic glamor, showed no such union of luxury, comfort and incentives or aids to professional work as he found in the Bar Association building. Upon entering he had surveyed the white marble frontage, planned by the world-re nowned architect, Eidlitz, in impressive archi tectural composite work, constituting a rare union of dignity and beauty of facade. When the Lord Chief Justice passed up the outer granite steps, he entered, between marble pil lars of Grecian-Doric school and marble wainscoting, into a long, wide corridor of lofty ceilings, opening a coup d'ceil of a nave two hundred feet long, exposing bays, a mosaic tiled floor, dazzling walls, and a procession of Ionic pillars or columns of the choicest Numidian marble, transported over ten thou sand miles. He also glanced down marble stairways that led into a basement in which were the offices, smoking-rooms, kitchen, and electric plant for supplying the eleven hun dred carbon burners throughout the four stories of the edifice. Passing through this entrance•nave he saw, on either side, con venient and tastefully upholstered and fur nished retiring chambers for officers of the Association, an expensive cloak-room pan eled in richest oak, and a reception room palatial in appointments. He saw the latest
