John Marshall Law School - Abstract Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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We learned that Joe Bulger, the real estate man from Melrose Park, now owned the whole town. Further north in the City of Evanston, Banker Bihow reigned over the Bank of Evans- ton with Miss Arnold as first vice-president. We called these graduates from John ' s office and as we sat there, our friend the policeman ushered in two new contributors to Aurora ' s Treasury. They immediately started doing hand springs and ear wiggles and we recog- nized them as Bill Bunn and Frank Kovarik, national officers of a well known legal frater- nity, giving the Justice the business to escape a fine. Rather than witness their disappoint- ment we left invitations for Bill and Frank and started back to town. Upon arriving in the city and examining our joint resources, we found enough for just one drink apiece and, as one man, strode for the nearest tavern. As I dumped our fist full of change on the bar, we heard a familiar voice, Your money ' s no good here, boys, anything you want is on the house. Milt Plotkm, hand outstretched, rushed up from an office in the rear, to greet us and to tell us his success story. I own a flock of ' em. he said, All over town, the law business, phooey! While we were telling Milt of the proposed party, George Tlitsos and Al Lewis came in and al- though glad to hear of the reunion, returned to their wrangling over nice points of law, George offering to stake his reputation as a leading member of the American Bar, against Al ' s as dean of Chicago insurance counsel on the meaning of The in an insurance policy. Finally, from the radio speaker behind the bar, came the voice of Dean Theophilus, ace of ra- dio announcers, saying goodnight to his mil- lions of listeners as we left. The night was beautiful and as Prog and I sauntered through the park discussing plans, we wondered whether there was anyone we had failed to invite. Suddenly I saw a strange figure leaning against a lamp post, his nail tipped rod tucked under one arm, hoop topped sack lying on the grass, gazing with rapt ex- pression on an old scrap of paper held in a grimy hand. Yes, he said. It is I, Ratner, my employers allow me to keep the equipment after hours, to continue my search for the beauty hidden deep in words. We shook his hand sadly, and as we passed on I thought I heard him murmuring, All the charm of all the muses often flowering in a lonely word. The reunion of the class of February 1938 was a great success. Mark so far cast aside the dignity connected with his position as president of National Distillers Products Corp. as to don an apron and mix drinks for the crowd. Minsky ' s Chicago Branch, of course, provided the entertainment. Parson Joy, the only one of our number who had chosen to harangue a congregation rather than a jury, showed, when it came his turn to address the class, not only the spirituality he had devel- oped with the years but also the results of his excellent training in Klines Elocution Kollege. Some there were who had drifted so far away from the scene of their early struggles that It was impossible for them to be with us to toast the years. From many of these telegraphic greetings were read by Toastmaster Dale Sut- ton who had locked up the office of Chief Legal Counsel for Standard Oil Co. to spend an evening looking back. Mr. Max Liss, old professor and old friend, was the principal speaker and, during the sec- ond hour of his speech, I know I saw streaking in through an open window, swift as a shaft of light, a long nail pointed rod. Three dis- carded rolls were speared in as many strokes and I once again turned my attention to Mr. Liss. Finally the last song was sung, the last toast drunk, and the distinguished gathering dis- persed with many fervent promises to gather again next year, and the next and the next far into the future. And, if some of the members of the Class of June . 8 awoke next day, or the same day, with the taste of life in their mouths it was an illness contracted in a great cause, and their only possible regret was that we could not have had present every one of those grand men and women who had wept, laughed and worked together through three of life ' s bright ' est years. Page Forty-six

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Glass Prophecy, ' February ig 8 HERLIERT JONES Looking at my desk calendar I kept thinking that the date seemed vaguely familiar. Sud- denly I remembered, to day, Februar ' 8, 1958, was the 20th anniversary of my graduation from The John Marshall Law School. But this couldn ' t be February with summer in the air and flowers in bloom. Then it came to me; I hadn ' t turned a leaf on that calendar for four months. But such details as what month it is, never did bother me. Memories of events and faces came back and I realized what little thought I had given them since I had started to practice law. My excuse to myself had always been that I was too busy, but now I began to think about all of the class that had graduated with me back in ' .iS and to wonder what they were doing now, twenty years after their graduation. I decided to round up as many of them as I could and have a lit ' tie get-together. This seemed like a tough assignment for one person, so I called up Stan Evans who was pres- ident of our class back in ' ?S, and told him of my idea. Apparently this was just the thing ■ Old Prog (a sobriquet Stan had earned by shrieking Progress! at ever ' opportunity) had been wanting to do for a long time. He was all for it ; as he put it himself, he had been out of circulation too long in his job as editor-in-chief of Chicago ' s leading newspa- per. He and I met in his office and looked up the names and addresses of the graduates in the ABSTRACT of 1937. Each took a group to look up and we parted with the promise to keep in touch with one another in regard to our progress. Stan had no trouble in finding his old side-, kick. Art Bogeaus, who was known through- out the town as the eccentric millionaire who bought the Chicago Temple Building and made the tenants walk up to their offices. He was so enthusiastic about the idea that he offered a whole floor of the building for the party, and said he would even let us use the elevators. Across the street in the County Building, I came across a few of the boys in Judge Mere- dith Nelson ' s courtroom, where Ted Hoffman, and Theodore Kalpake were fighting it out over a c ase arising out of Albert Pioch ' s ninth child ' s marksmanship in scoring a bull ' s eye on Landlord Davidson with an electric light bulb. I asked the judge and the two attorneys to the party and they promised to come. This was a pretty good start, but on calling Stan I found he had not made much progress, so we put our heads together and decided to go over to John Marshall and see if we could- n ' t get a lead there. The first person we met was Professor Bill Velner who welcomed us back to the old stamping ground. He con- ducted us into Professor Keeler ' s office, and we listened to their stories of confounding the green students with a profound knowledge of Negotiable Instruments and Real Property. They also had much to tell us about the where- abouts and doings of a number of the students that graduated with us. Harold Julius was a ta.x expert for the government, and, therefore, a guy that it would pay you to know or have on your side when any arguments arose regard- ing your income tax. Engineers Bruner and Rothfield had big jobs bossing projects for the Government. Herb Johnson and Sid Breen were big moguls on La Salle Street, Johnson being a broker with a corner on the wheat mar- ket, and Breen the president of the Metropoli- tan Trust Company. We extended invitations to all of them and then decided to take the afternoon off and go out to the race track. We were speeding mer- rily along when we were stopped by a motor- cycle officer, who insisted on our meeting the town magistrate, despite our protestations and pleas that we were old friends of Governor Wallace who would be very unhappy about this outrage to a couple of his classmates. We were due fo r a surprise, however, for in Aurora, the little town where the officer es- corted us, the Justice of the Peace turned out to be John Burkel, who immediately let us off easy with a hundred dollar fine for old times sake. We asked John to our party and he told us where to find some of his fellow suburban- ites who were members of our class. Page Forty-five

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areinjell We of the class of June, 19J7, are over whelmed with a sense of the incredible swift- ness of Time ' s passage as we reflect that it was three years ago that we entered the John Mar- shall Law School. One hundred and fifty rather bewildered but intensely eager students were gathered m the second floor auditorium of the School. They were listening to the opening lecture of a law course. The instructor was doing his utmost to impress the class with the arduous nature of the course of study ahead, and the necessity of pre- serving throughout their career as students their eagerness, enthusiasm and deep-seated desire to gain entrance into the society of that most privileged of all classes of men — the Lawyer. As we contemplate the essential nobility of a profession hallowed by time and sanctified by the service which it has rendered to the civili- zation of all ages, the word privileged is used advisedly. The contemporary scene af- fords an excellent illustration of the profound need for the legal mind in civil and political life, a genuine understanding of our institutions, divorced from emotional bias and prejudice. It is precisely this approach which a study of the law imparts. Throughout the three years of our appren- ticeship, innumerable and oft times seemingly insurmountable have been the difficulties and frustrations encountered. Somehow, and it is with justifiable pride that we so state, the great majority of the class managed to plod onward, as step by step it gradually yet surely fulfilled the destiny to which it dedicated itself, that each member of the class qualify himself for a degree. We have sat in the company of a variety of minds. Each instructor brought to the sub- ject not only the rules of law applicable to it, but the force of his own personality. From each, out of the wealth of his experience and knowledge, we learned; and as we look back and reflect, the thought is inescapable that we as students have been associated with sincere and able men, who endeavored to the best of their ability to serve us. To the Faculty we extend our gratitude. Our thanks, however, to the Faculty of the John Marshall Law School would seem empty were it ncit followed by an expression of ap- preciation to the directing and guiding spirit not only of the Faculty, but of the entire School. The class as a whole could not have undergone so long and severe a period of legal training without having partaken of and be- come imbued with the sincerity and innate dig- nity which the spirit and mind of Dean Ed- ward T. Lee have imparted to the School. Were we, and each of us, to emulate his example, it should be said of the class of June, 1937, ' They were all — all honorable men. It IS with mingled feelings of happiness and trepidation that the class bids farewell to the School which has been for so long its Temple of Law. We have spent years accumulating the knowledge with which we shall take our places in the society of men educated m the law, and we feel certain that the years will bnng to fruition those elements which constitute our heritage as students of the John Marshall Law School; a sound legal background, coupled with an appreciation and understanding of the ideals and ethics of our system of jurisprudence. —BERNARD JACOBSON. June, 1937 Page Forty-seven