Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-01
Sustained by the Supreme Court on
Both Quorum and Tariff.
SPIRITUAL ADVISERS MAY COME,
As They Arc Not Included in the Spirit of
the Contract Labor Act
ANARCHISTS MUST MNGER LONGER
ESPECIAL r1rleHAn TO THE DISPATCH


Taft and ex-Representative Payson.
The right Of the Speaker of the House to
count quorum as was done In the Fifty
first Congress, was unanimously affirmed by
the court in an opinion delivered by Justice
Brewer, in the case of the United States
against Ballin, Joseph & Co., appealed from
the New York Circuit Court This case in
volved the validity of the law passed May
9, 1891, and known as the worsted classified
tion act. When it was before the
House for action, 1873 votes were
recorded for the passage of the
bill, whereupon the Speaker proceeded
to make quorum by counting several Rep
resentatives present, but not voting, pur.
suant to a rule adopted by the House for
such cases. "sFhis rule was valid" said
Justice Brewer; "it is within the compe-
tency of the Legislature to enact any law
not forbidden by the Constitution or against
| natural justice to secure the presence Of q
quorum, and when that quorum is present
it is there for the purpose of doing bust
ness"
Why the Act Is Upheld.
As to the meaning of the act, Justice
| Brewer said it was general instruction to
the Secretary of the Treasury to classify as
worsted goods all imported wooden goods,
| and that he was not required in every par
| ticular case Of importation to make the
change by special order. The conclusion of
! the court is that the act was legal and that
| by its own terms, and irrespective of any
! action by the Secretary of the Treasury the
| duties on worsted cloths were to be such as
| were placed by the act Of 1883 on woolen
cloth. The judgment was reversed and the
case remanded.
The decision of the Supreme Court in the
| well-known case of Trinity Church, of New
York City, against the United States, was
announced by Justice Brewer This case
arose under the alien contract labor law.
The vestry of Trinity Church contracted
with the Rev. Mr.. Warren, of England, to
serve as rector, for which the vestrymen
and rector were indicted for violating the
law. They were fined 81 900 by the Circuit
Court of New York and appealed. Justice
Brewer said that while the services to be
rendered by the rector to the church might
come within the letter of the law, they cer-
tainly did not come within its spirit, and
the judgment of the lower court was there
fore reversed
Objections to the Mckinley Bill.
The decision of the Supreme Court in the
case of Marshall, Field & Co., of Chicago,
R. M. Boyd ct al and Charles Sternback ct
al, of New York, versus the United States,
involving the validity of the Mckinley
tariff bill, was delivered by Justice Harlan.
Duties were assessed on various articles i'm
ported by the appellants under the McKin-
ley bill, and they protested against paying
the law of the United States for
the reason that section 80 of the
act, as it passed both Houses
and was agreed to in conference, was
omitted from the enrolled bill signed by
the presiding officers Of the two Houses,
and by the President, and that therefore, it
did not comply with the requirements of
the Constitution. This was the first time
the question was presented to the Court
and Justice Harlan SAID it received the con-
sideration it deserved. After referring to
the constitutional requirements respect
ing the passage Of the bill and the proceed
ings of Congress, the Court says:
Signatures Guarantee Accuracy.
The signing by the Speaker of the House
of Representatives and by the President of
the Senate, in open session, of an enrolled bill
is an official attestation by the two Houses
of such a bill as one that has passed Con-
gress. And when a bill thus attested re-
ceives his 1.-THE President's) approval and is
deposited in the public archives, its au-
Identification as q bill that has passed Con-
gress should be deemed complete and unim-
peachable. 1t is admitted tnat an enrolled
act thus authenticated Is sufficient evidence
upon its face-that it passed Congress But
the contention is that it cannot be regarded
as a law of the United States if the journal
OF either House fails to show that it passed
by the presiding officers of the two Houses
and approved by the President. 1t is said
that under any other view it becomes pos
sible for the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives and the President of the Senate
to impose upon the people as a law q bill
that was never passed by Congress.
Not Serious Consideration.
But this possibility is too remote to be
seriously considered in the present inquiry
1t suggests deliberate conspiracy, to which
. the presiding officers, the Committee on En-
rolled Bills and the clerks of the two Houses
must necessarily be parties, all acting with
a common purpose to defeat an expression
Of the popular will in the mode described
by the Constitution. Judicial action, based
upon such suggestion, is forbidden by
h1ench the % the due mate
that may result from the recognition of
the principle that an enrolled act in the Gus
tody Of the Secretary of State, ,attested by the
signatures of the presiding officers of the
two Houses of Congress and the approval OF
the President, is conclusive evidence that it
was passed by Congress according to the
forms OF the Constitution would be far less
than those that would certainly result from
a rule making the validity of Congressional
enactments depend upon the manner in
which the journals Of the respective houses
are kept by the subordinate officers charged
with the duty of keeping them.
In support OF this view numerous deci-
sions are quoted The judgments of the
courts below sustaining the validity Of the
act were affirmed.
Anarchists Must Remain in Jail.
The Supreme Court e1tinguished the last
hope of the two imprisoned Anarchists by
affirming the decision of the Supreme
Court Of Illinois and the Circuit Court of
the United States for the Northern Dis
trict of Illinois in the cases of Samuel
Fielden and Michael Schwab versus the
Warden of Joliet Penitentiary. These two
men were sentenced to be hanged with
Spies and the other Anarchists for com.
plicity in the famous Haymarket riot
in Chicago, but their sentences were
conlmuted to life Imprisonment bd the Gov
ernor. In the application for writs of
habeas corpus which the court to-day denied
ounsel cfor the two men alleged that their
sentence was in violation of the Constitu-
tion because the men were not in court in
person when the Illinois Supreme Court
rendered judgment sustaining the decision
of the trial court and re-sentenced them,
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