The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-04-06
THE INJUNCTION CASE.
CONTINUED from 1st page)

Andrews cdTcu WHAT Juty ulu, ycI
now comes all this TODD about nothing.
Look at the money spent, too. prom
inent lawyer told me that he should say
that Mr. Carlisle would not get a cent
less than So, 900 as his fee for this case
from start to finish; this does not look
high enough in view of the fact that Mr..
Carlisle turned down" a $4,000 check
in the Chicago Lake Front case, as re-
ported by the Press dispatches. Then
Mr.. Crosby is said to be a bigger charger
than Mr.. Carlisle. But put them both
down. low, say $4,000. The small fry
salaried lawyers in the State, Price IL
Co., don't count, as they get their pay
anyway. a we'll posted railroad man
told me that the fight during the legisla-
ture didn't cost the Southern a cent, and
as Col. Andrews's salary goes on just
the same why it would look like the
$4,000 would be all that this thing will
cost, that is "EXtry." Well-Tar-heels
with their mOther-Wit can modify these
conclusions in many different ways. The
wear and tear of Col. Andrews's private
car is one expense that / should not
have omitted. Then there are lots of lit
tie things, whatever expense there has
been was incurred rather than to take
that shorter made-to-order route via
Mocksville and Danville. The Tar
heels put down this twaddle at what it
is worth about that other line that was so
handy. If it had been to their interest,
the Southern Railway would have used
that line; it was not and is not; there
fore, they jumped at the lease and now
cling to it-all because it is a good thing
and it is better and better in proportion
to the WorseneSs and worSeness of the
people at the other end of the bargain.
If these two injunctions are made per-
manent, the railroad lawyers will say it
is all right, and that any other view is
taken only by those with "hysteria" This
word 'hysteria' is a newly coined word
lin its application, at least some few
weeks old; it is the word now used by
corporations to define the protest of the
people against the infringement by cor
porations upon their rights.
What would these corporation lawyers
have said about those old dodgers that
were assembled in Hillsboro 100 years
ago: a lawyer well up in federal ques-
tons" would have thrown himself back
in a roar at this piece Of sentimentality
from Judge Iredell: This personal indie
pendence is the surest safeguard of pub
lie freedom"
Another fit of ''hysteria" might have
been found in the utterance during that
constitutional convention of Mr.. Samuel
Spencer. He was the namesake Cback-
wards) of President Samuel Spencer of
the Southern Railway. Perhaps he was
an ancestor; if so, his memory should
be treated with respect and he should
l.. Ii
Il would WISH" said Mr.. Spencer,
that the Federal court should not inter
fere, or have anything to do
with controversies to the decision
of which the State judiciaries might be
fully competent. There will
he, without any manner Of doubt, clash
ings and animosities between the juris-
diction of Athe Federal courts and of the
State cOuts so that they will keep the
country III hot water. The
State courts are sufficient to decide the
common controversies of the people, with
out distressing them by carrying them
to such far-off distant tribunals"
Here is a burst of hysteria from the
lips of Martin Van Buren, exactly 20
years ago to-day. In Il speech. delivered
April 6, 1896, Mr. Van Buren, said: 1T
has been justly observed that there ex-
lists not upon this earth and there never
did exist judicial tribunal clothed with
powers 50 variousS and so important as
the Supreme court. Instances
are not wanting in which it has disre-
carried acts of Congress in passing upon
the rights of others (what 'anagrchy' and
contempt in Mr.. Van Buren,, and in re-
fusing to perform duties required of it
by the Legislature, on the ground that
the Legislature had no right to impose
them. Not only are the acts of the Ma
tiOnal Legislature subject to its review,
but it stands as the umpire between the
conflicting powers of the general and
State governments. In virtue of this
power, we have seen holding for nought
the statutes of powerful States, which
had received the deliberate sanction, not
only of their Legislatures, but of their
highest judicatories, composed of men
venerable i'll years, of unsullied purity
and unrivalled talents-StatuteS on the
faith of which immense estates had been
invested, and the inheritance of the
widow and the orphan were suspended"
That is Il very anarchistic arraignment'
by Mr.. Van Buren,. You have" he con-
tinued, ''seen such statutes abrOgated
by the decision of this court, and those
who had confded in the wisdom and
power of the State authorities plunged
in irremediable ruin-decisiOns final in
their effect and ruinous in their conse-
quenccs.
But this is not all. 1t not only sits
in final judgment upon our acts as the
highest Legislative body know to the
country-it not only claims to be the
absolute arbiter between the Federal
and State governments, but it exercises
the same great power between the re-
spective States and their own citizens.
BY the Constitution of the United States
THE STATES ARE PROHIBITED
FROM PASSING ANY LAW I'M
PAIRING THE OBLIGATION OF
CONTRACTS" This brief provision
has given to the jurisdiction of the Su-
preme court tremendous power. OF
this highly consequential provision, this
provision which carrier so great por-
ton of all that is valuable in State legis-
latiOn to the feet of the Federal judiciary,
no complaints were heard no explana-
ton asked, no demonstrations made. 1t
is most mysterious if the Constitution