Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-03
UPHOLDS CIGARETTE TAX
Iowa Supreme OOur. Delivers Sweeping
Knockout to Tobacco Trust.
GIVES THE YOUNG DOCTORS A CHANCE
Richard T.. CIrrksOn Takes Possess
sion Of Pension Omce-superin-
tendeut Barrett visits COun-
try schools.
CFrom a Stan Correspondents

most emphatic declarations of the views Of
the Iowa supreme bench on the question OF
the original package" subterfuge, by
which cigarette dealers. in common with
others, have sought to evade state laws.
were given in an important decision rem
dered by the court to-day, sustaining in
every way the Iowa law which imposes n
mulct tax of $500 a year on all dealers in
cigarettes. The opinion, written by Jus
tico Weaver, s~ustains Judge Burnham in
the Marshall county case, and reviews at
length the decisions covering similar ques-
tions. There were three points at which
the law was attacked by the American
Tobacco company and not one was found
good. The decision clearly indicates that
the tobacco people have little to hope on
their second test case from Muscatine
county, not yet aubmitted.
Justice Weaver said the claim of i'm
munity under the Original package" law
is based on the United States courts de
cision in Leisy against Hardin, and the
real question is whether or not ten cigar
cites in a small box constitute an original
package in the meaning of. the law. LAS
an original proposition says the court,
submitted to commonsense. aided by a
conscience of average enlightenment and
uncomplicated by precedent tnere would
seem to be no room for doubt that this
question should be answered in the mega
tive. 1t must be admitted, however, that
authorities are not wanting affording the
appellants some ground to believe that
any scheme or deviCe-no matter how
Transparent the frauds sufficient to bafle
the power of a sovereign state so long as it
bears the magic legend original package.
This theory has been founded upon what
has been supposed to be the holding of the
court of last resort in the cases already re-
ferred to; but as we view It these decisions
do not justify the deductions made"
"OrIgfnaI Packages" a subterfuge.
Reverting to the first case in which orig
inal packages are mentioned, that of
Brown against Maryland, by Marshall, the
court says:
"In this, as in some other notable in
stances, the principle then announced has
been so distorted and wrested from its
original simple meaning that If the great
jurist were permitted to return to the
scope of his historic labors he would doubt
less hesitate long before acknowledging the
legitimacy Of the descent of the modern
doctrine"
The court concludes by virtually declar-
llk IL tlOI " ONohV wv AN"S ~ W.
Original package route to be a fraud, and
upholds the law, declaring that the small
packages containing ten cigarettes each are
not original packages at all. On the other
grounds the law is also ~upheld-that 1t was
properly passed and that it is uniform in
its application
Land Fraud Case Decided.
Another important case decided by the
court today was that Of Russ against Han
sen, from Kossuth county. Russ lived In
Chicago and loaned money through c. L..
Lund of Algona. The latter ~squandered
money and secured heavy loans on forged
notes and mortgages and carried them for
wears. Finally when confronted with a war
rant for his arrest he fell dead. Investiga-
ton showed he had been carrying on
frauds for years. In the case decided today
ii was held that Lund was in fact agent for
Russ. and the sale Of a tract OF land was
bona fde and Russ cannot secure the re-
turn Of the conveyance. This means a loss
of about 500, 900 to Russ on similar cases in
the Lund failure.
Courts Decisions.
The following we're the decisions OF the
court today:
=. D JEWELL apB0AAoAAAs oco'AlSN - 80
Posey: Harrison county, Judge Green; &C
ton for goods sold; reversed opinion by
@ p Cook. appellant, against Marshall
County; Marshall county, Judge Burnham;
cigarette mulct tax case; atlrmed by
L. w. Moody against John Dillemuth, ap-
pellant: action on promissory note; Cal
houn county, Judge Flwood: affirmed by
Lewis Russ. appellant, against T. j. Han
sen ct al; hossuth county, Judge Balne;
conveyance of land; affirmed by McClain:
Examination of Doctors.
An examination for persons desiring GER
tihcates as doctors, and also for those de-
string certificates as ostoopaths, will be
held in the rooms Of the State Board of
Health in the capitol tomorrow, beginning
at 9 O'Clock. 1t is expected there will be
quite a number Of applicants for certih-
Gates OF both classes, as there were a
large number who failed at the last ex-
animation. Examinations for embalmers
will also be had soon.
New Iowa Corporations.
The following incorporation rapers were
filed with the secretary OF state today:
LaPorte Public Utility company of La
water works. electric light plants, etc.
capital, 10000. w. d. Wagner, presi-
dent OTTO WettSteln, secretary.
East Marion Telephone Company, STAN
hope; capital, $500. John Erickson end
others.
The c. w Eastman company OF Win
terset, merchandise; capital, S25,OO.
The Boone Brick, Tile and Paving com
pany gave notice of increase of capital
stock to 100000. The Manchester Coop
erative Creamery company gave notice Of
an increase OF capital stock to $4,000.
Barrett Goes to the Country.
State Superintendent Barrett started out
this afternoon on a week of touring the
rural districts Of the state. He went to
Gowrie, where he speaks at a teachers
meeting this evening. He will then visit
country schools in that part of the state
and on Tuesday address a meeting in Loaf
Grove township. Webster county. He will
then go to the western part Of the state
and spend the rest Of the week in Harri-
son. Pottawattamie and Mills counties, ad-
dressing teachers meetings and meetings