The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-04-20
AFTER THE JUDGES.
THE FGDE RAJ JUDICIARY UNDER FIRE
INTHE SENATE.

DeoIsionr, Which are Denounced as At
tempts to Make Sarfs of Lahore rs and
Cars of RaiIr lad Bossos.
WAsHINGTON, April 12.-An inter-
e5ting discussion took place in the
Senate last Monday, which was brought
about by a resolution offered by Sena.
tor Butler, Democrat, authorizing the
Committee on Interstate Com merce to
inquire whether or not the methods
prevailing in the transportation OF
lreiGnt ana passengers on the great
railway lines of the country, and the
conditions and necessities of travellers
ana Shippers and transportation COM
panleS justify or require repeal or modi-
iication of Section of the Interstate
commerce Act. which prohibits pool
ing under any circumstances; also, to
inquire whether the system of closing
ana sealing cars engaged in the trans.
portatlon of merchandise from one
State TO another through foreign terri.
tory into the United States, needs to
be mpdilied; whether all railroads en-
gagged IN such traffic should be eithe
required TO conform to all conditions
OF the Interstate Commerce Act, or
prohibited from continuing in such
transportation; also, whether any mod
lhcatlons should be made in the law
concerning relations between the com
mon carriers and their EMPLOYEES.
The resolution was referred TO the
Committee on Contingent Expenses,
ana later in the day it tecame the ba-
SIS OF discussion into which entered
the recent decisions of Judges Taft and
RlckS IN Ohio and Speer in Georgia in
relation to the rights and duties of
rallgGad employees.
German, Democrat, took the lead in
the discussion. Ie said the investiga
tlon proposed by the Interstate Com
merce Committee was most pressing
and important one 1t affected mil,
lions OF people and hundreds of mil
hons OF invested capital. One ques-
zion was whether it was Impossible to
make provision Ivy law to enable rail
road companies to protect themselves
in the matter of freights and freight
charges without doing injustice
to communities and individuals
The Senators were only, he said,
on the threshold of that in.
vestigation. Another matter to
be Inquired into was the recent decis-
ions of the United States judges, and
whether, in view of the interstate com
rlerce law and of the antitrust law,
Judges had a right to determine not
only what railroad employee should
90, but what he should not do. These
decisions we're the first great step on
the part Of the judiciary to make serfs
OF the men who were employ ed by rail.
road corporations. If the law warrant
ed these decisions, and possibly it did,
then that law ought to be modified or
repealed. lie did not believe that the
American people would ever submit to
any branch of the government, wheth-
er judiciary or Legislative, putting such
lmposltlons upon them as were put in
the recent judicial decisions.
Hoar, Republican. asked German to
be somewhat more specific in his re-
marks, and German then said that
what he meant to say was that the rt-
employees might be restrained by an
order Of the court, might be fined and
imprisoned, if they resigned their posi-.
tlonS, Was most extraordinary detiS-
loD, and one that had to he met at the
threshold of the next Congress. 1t
ought to be inquired into carefully 10y
men who had but one motive, and that
was to see (wh'le protecting the inter
eStS OF the cOmmerce), tat no in us,
tlce was done to individuals, and that
the courts of the United States should
not be armed with powers as arbitrary
as thosc OF the Car Of Russia
Platt, Republican, said that he had
not yet seen in the decision referred to
anything that looked like nsurpation
of power by courts, or that looked like
degrading the workingmen of the
country to the conditions of serfs. lie
believed that the employees of rail
roads had no more right to engage in
determinations of commerce than their
employers had. And he di not believe
that there was anything either in the
Interstate commerce Act or in the an
THRUST Act that was not an aflirma.
tiOn Of well considered and well cstab-
liShed common law.
HOar, Republican,, remarked that
the antitrust law simply extended to
the commerce Of the United States the
principles of common law, so that he
was quite certain that no such doctrine
as that apprehended by the Senator
from Maryland would be warranted by
that law. 1t was mere extension of
the common law in regard to combina-
tion in restraint Of trade in the United
merce law was a different one. That
was new piece of machinery, and he
had no doubt that it contained good
deal that would at some day return tn
plague the inventor.
Vest, Democrat, thought it unfortu
nate that this matter should have come
up for discussion because it was nee
essarily in the matter Of ex parte critl-
cism. Every lawyer knew how unsafe
1t was to take newspaper statements of
judicial decisions. He had, for in
stance, been startled this morning to
see in the Washington Post that a
great revolution had taken place. The
article was headed "a Great Triumph
for the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers" And the impression was
conveyed in the article that Judge
Speer of Georgia had decided that the
regulations of the association of loco.
motive engineers were to be recog-
n1zed hereafter by the Federal judlci-
ary. On reading the text of Judge
Speer's decision, he had found that the
Cext dld not at all bear out the heading.
ana that Judge Speer had only aflirme3 !
What every lawyer knew to be com
e mon law. He had decided that anv
contract or regulation in restraint NJ
commerce in the United States was all
solutely void; that any engineer had
the right tO OiVa nm III, 'e'N