The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-04-21
THE COURT And LABOR
Some Recent Decisions Pro and
Con.
AND JUSTICE Is STILL BLIND.
Railway Men Surprised - Something OF
Great Advantage 60 Foreign Merchants
and shipper.-A Premiom Upon Pur-
chases OF Goods Abroad.


chases OF Goods Abroad.
WASHINGTON. April 90 Especial. J.
Recent decisions made by the supreme
court have tended 20 increase popular con-
tdence In that great bench. IL is an open
secret that for long time past the railway
men OF the country have had an idea that
the court was rather friendly TO their In
terests. No one has ever thought that any
thing improper had been resorted to or
that the judges were not all upright and
conscientious men. But SO many of the
justices had been corporation or railway
lawyers and had passed the greater part of
their active careers in that environment
that II was feared by some and hoped by
others, according TO their point of view.
that the court was impregnated with GER
tain traditional and constitutional views
favorable to railway and other corpora
tions. Happily the court has just afforded
the best evidence In the world that this
suspicion was not well founded
The Famous Brown Case.
Tho railway men of the United States
were never moro surprised than when the
supreme court decided against them In tho
famous Brown case. This important deci-
sion, the reader will remember, was to the
elect that witness could be- compelled to
testify concerning his knowledge of rail.
way rebates, for instance, even If his testi
mony tended to incriminate him, but that
he could not be prosecuted on his own ad.
missions. This decision greatly amazed all
the railway managers in the country, for
it upset all their preconceived notions and,
besides breathed the breath OF life into the
almost defunct Interstate commerce law
This finding was soon followed by an
other, known as the Social Circle case. In
which the court decided against the rail.
roads by holding that railway has not
the right to equaliZe In its -atemaking
geographical or othor advantages of loca.
ton which one shipper may have over
rivalA railroad company had claimed
the right 10 make the same ratio on car.
riages from Baltimore TO the town of So.
cial Circle. Ga. that IL made from Gin
cinnati, though Cincinnati Is much nearer |
In distance in order TO enable the Balti. |
more manufacturer 10 compete with the |
Cincinnati manufacturer. and thus slim.
uiate trade and transportation. The court |
held that a manufacturer or shipper or |
city was entitled - all the advantages |
gained by proximity TO market, and that /
to permit railroads 10 step in and attempt |
to equalize all these varying conditions
would be very dangerous principle
The Import Rate Case.
Another decision of the supreme court.
recently handed down, has not been re.
ceived so favorably. In what Is known as
the import rate case the court held that it
Is beyond the power of the interstate COM
merce commission to regulate rates which
are In part made for ocean carriage and in |
competition with all water lines. In
other words, the court decided that the |
commission could not compel q railroad
running from New York to Chicago to
give lower rate from the seaboard city to
the interior metropolis than 1t was party
to making from Liverpool to Chicago
This decision gives a tremendous adyan.
tage TO foreign merchants and shippers
Data have been prepared by the inter
state commerce commission which show ,
that by actual experience New Orleans /
who wishes to send a carload of /
freight to San Francisco can get it through I
FOR, say, 500 But If he first ships Il by :
steamer TO Liverpool, and then has II re.
shipped TO San Francisco by way of New
Orleans, he can get his consignment |
through TO its destination for $50 The q
picturesque part of this is that the goods ,
ire carried about 5000 miles before they !,
get back TO the very point from which they :
started and are then carried 1000 miles
arther, all for one-half what the latter 9
part of the journey would cost If taken +
alone.
Another actual case was found in two f.
hipments OF tin plate. One carload, sent | \
rom Wales via Liverpool, New York and | I
TO Chicago, cost considerably y
ess than another carload which was 4
hipped from Pittsburg direct to Chicago a
yer the same railroad The decision of a
he court thus brings about a peculiar n
tate OF affairs Ii would not be possible =
o make shipment from New York to =,
'hicago at u lower rate than from Pitts. =,
urg to Chicago without violating the in.
erstate commerce law. But II the cut
ate from New York to Chicago Is n part
an international rate, the ocean part OF A
being, OF course, beyond the Jurisdiction n
the United States, then the commission.
nder the ruling of the supreme court, can. "
OF interfere. In
Great Evil. b
The interstate commerce commission | q,
ouid like TO find some way to correct this | -,
WI. lt places premium upon purchases -
goods abroad. III "a merchant in the in
'rlor OF the country can get goods in q
reign country at cheaper prices than In
10 United States and with lower freights,
lere Is nothing but the custom house
ues to prevent him buying in that mar
ct. 1t Is claimed that In many articles bI
10 customs duties are not sufficient to ar
competition between foreign and -
merican producers, owing to this adyan- eo
go of lower freight rate In the hands of IL
10 former. ia
While no doubt exists that the supreme q,
urt had ample warrant In the constitu-
ON for its decision MS to import rates, 1t DC
now necessary for the interstate COM
cree commission to find some way to
otect American transportation lines and
merican commerce from an unfair com. a.
tition which inures to the benefit of for ''
gu trade WALTER WEILMAN ua
ar