Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-08-26
Three Hundred Delegates Present at
the American Bar Convention.

CLEVELAND, o., Aug. 25.-The Amer
lean Bar association was called to or
der at Association hall this morning
with an attendance of nearly 300 dele
gates. President j. M. Woolworth, of
Omaha, delivered an address to the as
ISOLATION which was listened to with
marked attention. He said that dur
ing the year gentlemen interested in
the National Association of Credit Men
had sought conferences with him
with a view to joint action for legis-
lation for the suppression of fraudu-
lent practices by insolvent debtors
and that their propositions had seemed
to him expedient, but that he had not
felt authorized to do more than exc
press sympathy for their efforts. The
acts of the second session of the Fifty
Fifth congress were reviewed. Con-
siderable attention was devoted to acts
passed in many states for the suppress
sion Of combinations to regulate and
restrict trade, labor and production.
For definition of trust the Kansas
act was cited, the purposes for
which trusts are not to be formed
being therein enumerated: First,
to create or carry out restric-
tions in trade; second, to increase
or reduce the prices of commodities
or control insurance rates; third, to
prevent competition in the manufac-
ture or sale of merchandise; fourth, to
fix any figure by which to control the
price of any commodity; fifth, to con-
tract not to sell any commodity below
a certain price or to keep it at fixed
price" The following states were
said to have passed acts of similar
character Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Maine,
Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota,
South Dakota, South Carolina, Ten
nessee and Wisconsin.
Mention was made of the passage in
Kansas and Nebraska of acts declar-
ing stock yards doing a certain amount
of business, of which there was but
one in each state, public markets; re-
ducing the charges about 30 per cent.
and imposing severe penalties for the
exaction of more than statutory rates.
Important questions were declared tn
have been raised, one being whether
stock yards were engaged in public
employment so that their property was
affected by Il public interest, and
whether shipments, being largely on
thrangh hills of lading- from .usastcrn
to eastern states, the business was
within the interstate commerce clause
of the constitution. The speaker
thought that if cases brought to re-
strain the enforcement of these acts
should be carried to final determine
ton they would be of national interest.
An act of congress and acts of the
legislatures of Alabama, Arizona, Con-
necticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine,
Montana, Missouri, Wisconsin ard
Wyoming for the Incorporation, man
agement and supervision of building
and loan associations were commented
on. Attention was also directed to
recent acts of Arizona, Indiana,
Maine and Tennessee for
the Incorporation of mutual bene-
fit associations. Illinois, Missouri,
Idaho, New York and Pennsylvania
were designated as having passed acts
to the competency of aliens to
hold and take title to lands, Missouri's
act permitting aliens to take mort
cages on lands to secure payments of
loans and in cases Of foreclosure to buy
titles and hold them five years, within
which period, under penalty of es-
cheat, they must be sold to purchasers
in good faith for value.
Under the head of irrigation Mr..
Woolworth said that 0klahoma's
statute was a fair sample of all; two
classes of water being dealt with-the
ordinary flow or underhowing of run
ming streams and the rain and storm
waters of lakes, draws or reservoirs
the expense being limited to 100000
for 1897 and twice that sum annually
hereafter.