Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1882-10-26

WASHINGTON, Oct. - Genera
Newton NJ. Curtis, an emplnye of th
Treasury Department iu the New Yorl
| CEstom-ho house, was, it vii! he remem
bered, fined and imprisoned by th,
United States Court OF the S,uther,
District of New York for viol sting TIA,
statute against levying political ts2
upon government employees. His Cas-,
came up in the United States Supreme
Court yesterday afternoon on an appli
cation for writ of habeas corpus tc
release him and to bring his case before
the court for review. .s
Mr.. Smith, of counsel for him. re.
cited the facts on which the petition
was based. His first point was that
the court below had not jurisdiction,
because General Curtis was not an ex-
ecutive officer within the meaning Of
the law. and he held the Supreme
Court to be the Judge of both law and
facts. But he brought upon himself
such fire Of embarrassing questions
from all parts of the Bsnch-particu-
larlv from Chief Justice Waite and
3ustices Field. Harlan and Gray, that
he abandoned this branch of bis arsu-
ment. Smith mex questioned the
constitutionality of the law. 1t is
not, he said. statute 10 prevent
the levying Of political assessments. 1t
is law against volun untary contributions
for political purposes and nothing else.
It forbids subordinates to unite for the
promotion of objects which they ap-
prove, but does not prevent their su-
periors from using coercion to compel
contributions for purposes Of which the
contributors may entirely disapprove.
The Constitution contains no grant Of
power upon which such law can be
passed for SUCH r purpose. Certainly it
is nowhere expressly given, nor does
careful scrutiny reveal to US anything
from which it can be derived, even by
viewing at some length the clause Of
thu Constitution upon which the legis-
lation in controversy might be based,
Smith continued eff the postuiate
that the United States is entitled to the
full and undistracted attention and ali
the time of its employees be true
to the extent of making the
proposition a sufficient foundation for
the legislation under consideration, then
Congress may not only regulate the
domestic relations of employees and
subject them to laws. but 1t may say
that no such enploye shall divert his
from the public employment
long enough to i've a penny for
religious purposes es-certainly that he
shall not devote any Of his
time to attendance upon church
services, or distract his mind with theo-
logical problems, and political questions
are put by the Constitution upon an
equal plane. 1t is an insult to the
understanding to say that giving a few
dollars, more or less, in support of
political or religious ideas in
which one believes. or permitting
the use of hall for their propagation,
has any tendency to corrupt the public
service or impair the usefulness of the
public servant; yet this, is the action
which this statute prohibits, and if in
this particular void, it is void IN toto.
Smith closed after speaking about an
hour.
Solicitor General Philips spoke in re.
ply. The point made was'that the gov
ernment had right to the undivided
services of its employees and had to say
this or that interfered with
their efficiency.
Cartons Chinese Case. -
New YORK, Oct. 25.-The CONNER
c;al Adcertiser's Washington corre-
,pondent says: The class of American
citizens who are afraid that the Chinese
will crowd them ont in the struggle for
, living are very watchful of the work.
uc Of the Chinese prohibition bill, aud
lose no opportunity to call the attention
2f government officials to what they
consider violations nf the new law.
The latest case Of this kind has just
been brought tn ths attention Of the
Treasury Department, and it illustrates
verv forcibly the hardship OF the law it
enforced Literally and withouo any re-
gard to common sense. A Chinaman
living in New York started to Chicago,
Init bought his ticket via the Grand
Trunk Railway of Canada. He had no
en- route, until ths time came
for him to cross the border from Canada
back into the United States, when he
was stopped and his certificate demand.
ed, but Of course it was not produced.
1t appeared that he had made
q co 7tinuous ride from New York and
held through ticket. The auth"ri-
ties declined to allow him TO continue
his journey. on the ground that the
law forbids Cinnamon from entering
tho United States TIE case was snb-