Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-05-08

| Union have not nominated price.list to th,
manufacturers, but probably will do SO thi
evening. Both sides are firm.
| The Celebrated - Granger Case" Decided
WASHINGTON. May 7th.-A decision wal
rendered in the United States Supreme Cour,
to day in the so-called Granger case q
Neil Ruggler, plaintiff in error, against the
people Of the State of Illinois. This cast
arises out CT the facts below set forth
On the 9TH of March, 1878, Morgan A.
Lewis q passenger on train of the Chicago
Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company,
rendered Neil Ruggles, conductor of that
company, Is cents, as the fare for his trans.
portation from Buda to Neponset, distance
Of six miles. This was at the maximum rate
OF cents per mile, prescribed by the statute
of Illinois then in force. The conductor de-
manded 20 cents, which was the fare fixed by
the railroad company. Lewis refused to pay
more than Is cents, and the conductor there
upon attempted to eject him from the car.
For this act the conductor was prosecuted be.
fore Justice of the Peace, upon charge Of
assault and battery, and fined $40 and costs.
This case was then carried up through the
State Courts by successive appeals, the rail.
rosd company sustaining the conductor, and
raising the question of the right of the State
to interfere with its business By fixing the
rates of fare and transportation. A decision
was finally rendered in favor of the State by
its highest Court, and the railroad company
thereupon appealed to the Supreme Court of
the United States, on the ground that the
Act of the General Assembly of Illinois of
April Is, 1871, fixing the maximum rate of
charges for the transportation of passengers
on railroads in the State was unconstitutional
and void, because it impaired the obligation
of the contract contained in the charters of
the various companies which were merged
into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Company by the consolidation. This Court
holds:
First-That grants Of immunity from legiti.
mate governmental control are never to be re-
sumed. On the contrary, the prescriptions
are all the other way, and unless exemption is
clearly established, the Legislature is free to
act on all subjects within its general jurisdic-
tion as the public interests may seem to re-
quire. A State may limit the amount of
charges by railroad companies for fares and
freights, unless restrained by some contract
in the charter.
Second-Thst in the present case there is
no such restraint The State, it is true, has
given the Board OF Directors of the railroad
company the power to establish such rates Of
tolls for the conveyance of persons or prop
erty as thsy shall from time 60 time. by their
laws, determine but sach bylaws must not
be repugnant TO the Constitution and laws
of the State. If the State had no legislative
power to regulate the charges Of carriers for
hire, the case would be different; but that
question has been settled, and the amended
charter which this company secured from the
Legislature must be construed in the light of
that established power. The judgment of the
Supreme Court Of Illinois is affirmed, with
costs.
Opinion by Chief Justice Waite. Justice
Harlan concurs in the Judgment but not in
the opinion.
A decision was also rendered by the Court
in the case of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, plaintiff in error, against the Eco
pie Of the State of IllinoiE, which involves
precisely the same questions which were pre-
sented in the preceding case. For the rea-
sons given by the Court in its opinion in that
case, the judgment of the Supreme Court Of
Illinois is affirmed.
The Chinese Laundry Ordinance In the
United States supreme Court.
WASHINGTON, May 7sh.-A decision YVES
rendered in ihs United States Supreme Court
to-day in the Chinese civil rights case, No.
1880, ex parts Tom Tong. on petition for a
writ of hsbeas corpus. This case comes here
upon certificate of division of opinion be-
tween the Judges of the United States Cir
cult Court for the District of California.
Tom Tong, the petitioner, a subject OF the
Emperor Of China, was arrested and impcis-
oned in San Francisco on tbs 14th of January
last, for ignoring and refusing to obey an or
dinance of tue Board of Supervisors to regu.
late the licensing and maintenance Of public
laundrifs in that city. lie petitioned the
United States Circuit Court for writ OF ha-
bsas corpus, on the ground that he was IN.
lawfully arrested, and was deprived of his
liberty in contravention OF the Constitution
of the United States and Of the Bur-
lipgame treaty. The judges Of the
Circuit Court were unable to agree
upon the answers to the questions raised by
the petition, and they therefore certified such
questions TO this Court fer its judgment.
This Court also holds that the only questions
which may be certified to it on division of
opinion before judgment are those which
grow out of the trial or hearing of criminal
proceedings before the Circuit Court. In the
present cases, the petitioner is held under a
criminal process and prosecution against him
in criminal prosecution, but writ of habeas
corpus which he seeks is not a proce sdipg in
that prosecution. On the contrary, it
is new suit brought by him to en-
force the civil rights which he claims,
as against those who are holding him in
custody in q criminal process. This
Court has no jurisdiction of the case in
its present form, and must remand it TO the
Circuit Court for further proceedings, accord
ing TO law. Opinion by Chief Justice Waite.
In the closely allied case of ex psrte Hung
Hong, which is a petition for writ of habeas
corpus, fled as an original action in this
Court, and which grows out of precisely the
same state CT facts. the Court holds that ex-
cept in cases affecting ambassadors or other
public Ministers or Consuls and those in
which State is a party, it can issue a writ
only for the purpose of reviewing the decision
of some inferior officer or Court. This Pc
tition presents 20 such case, and the writ is
therefore denied. Opinion by Chief Justice
Waite.
Governor Builer on "Assisted" Immi-