From the light to the more serious vein, Judge Helmick dwelt for some time on the heritage of the common law in England and the United States. This heritage was now in peril, he emphasized, owing to the actions of others. It was a philosophy of human conduct as between man and his fellow man which should be preserved at all costs. It was also a political end. After dealing with a number of points supporting the urgency of the need for preserving the common law heritage, he concluded on the note that the heritage was that the state was for the citizen and not the citizen for the state.
He warned his hearers of the dangers to this heritage now extant in other ideologies. The heritage disapproved of assassination as a political weapon; it stipulated for fair and not meek trials for its citizens; it stood ior personal liberty; and justice between the rich and the poor. All this was now in danger.
The roll was then called' by Mr. H. N. Thomas, after which the president called upon Miss Micky Hahn for a few words, as representing American womanhood at the dinner.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.