The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-13
Attorney General MOOdy's Ref
erenee to Kansas.
Tells of Work on Federal Prison
at LeavenwOrth.
DISCUSS BURTON CASE.
Gives a History of the Proceed
ings in Court.
Also Refers to Santa Fe Rebate
Charges.

Washington, Dec. BIN the annual
report of the attorney general, Mr..
Moody, is found considerable informa-
ton that relates to, and is of interest
to Kansas.
In referring to needed legislation, and
appropriations that are desired, the at
torney general says, early in his report:
THE progress in the construction
work at the United States penitentiaries
at Leavenworth. Kan, and Atlanta,
Ga, is also a material factor in the
proposed increase of expenses under
the department Of justice.
Referring to determinations, rebates,
etc, and suits against railroads, the
attorney general says of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa. Fe:
The four cases of the interstate
commerce commission VS.. the. Southern
PacIf1c company, the Southern Califor-
MA Railway company, the Santa Fe
Pacific Railroad company, and the
Atchlson, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail
way company, in which the court below
enJolned the several companies from
violating the order of the interstate
commerce Commission are before the
supreme court on the appeal of the
railroads. The question involved in
these cases is whether the practice of
the railroad companies in arbitrarily
controlling the ruting of citrus fruits
with their eastern connections was
equivalent to a pooling of freight
charges, in violation of section of the
interstate commerce law. The briefs
have been prepared and the cases will
be argued at the present term of the
court
to the proceeding brought against the
AtchisOn, Topeka & Santa Fe road
which Judge Phillips has since dismiss
ed, which case affected to some consid-
cradle extent the character and con-
duct Of Paul Norton late secretary of
the navy, while an officer of that road;
and which was pending when the re-
port was issued a few days since.
In citing certain notable supreme
court cases in the past year, the attor-
ney general quotes literally from the
syllabus in the Heff case, which A. E.
Crane of Holton argued and won in the
court some months ago. This case had
to do with an Indian, and liquor SELL
ing, and it Wa held that an Indian
being now a citizen of the United States
is aTnenable. not to federal police super
vision, but to state control. One para
graph of this decision, quoted by the
attorney general and which is full of
interest, follows:
The regulation of the sale of intox-
icating liquors is within the power of
the state and the license exacted by
revenue, and is not an attempted exer-
else of the police power
A full review OF, the Burton case is
also given in the report, including the
syllabus of the United States supreme
court in remanding the case Of the
Kansas senator to st. Louis for retr1al
there.
tain court of claims work that was done
by one of the assistant attorneys gen
eraL ]. O. Thompson, a Kansas man,
whose home is at Pratt MI Thompson
has been holding this position for about
four years, and has made good record.
There are three United States penl-
tentiaries in the country-tort IeaNen-
worth, Kas., Atlanta, Gas and mcneil
island Washington. The foremost OF
these is at Fort LeavenWorth. These
are under supervision of the department
of justice. There are S.20f prisoners IN
the three institutions and IN a NUMBER OF
state institutions elsewhere in the cOun-
try The attorney general devotes some
little space to the Fort LeaNenWOrth
penitentiary, as follows: NJ
UNITED States penitentiary Fort
Leavenworth, kas.-Ihe expense OF
maintenance for the year ending June
20 1906 was $175, $685. the average cost
ne7- CAPITA being S163.17, and the average
daily cost for subsistence alone n-S
cents.
been employed in the performance OF the
usual prison duties, cultivation OF the
prison farm and in the erection OF the
new penitentiary. On the 1st of Janu-
airy, 1905, that portion OF the military
reservation heretofore used as q 1arIA
for the production OF the crops 1or tne
use of the penitentiary was turned over
to the military authorities and the farm
work restricted to the tract coded to the
penitentiary by the act of June 10, 1896
thereby preventing the raising of crop
of wheat for this year and restricting
the amount of ground that could be
planted in corn The potato crop this
year was a failure, so it is not unlikely
that the figures for the next fiscal year
may show some increase in the cost Of
subsistence. Very good progress has been
made in the work on the new peniten-
tiarv, the character of which is equal in
every way to anything that could be done
under contract, and in some instances
perhaps better ~,
wings and the isolation building have
been completed and are In use. The
Kitchen dining room. and assembly hall
will probably be ready for use on Janu-
airy l. on which date it is proposed to
return the old military prison, now in use
by the penitentiary. to the military au-
thorities A hospital building for con-
sumptives will be completed by the same
date, as will also residences Tor the war
den and deputy warden. A great deal OF
grading and excavation for the founda-
ton of the main front cell wing has been
done and some five million brick manu-
featured by the prisoners. The number
of prisoners in the penitentiary at the
close of the last fiscal year was l,13O,
and on June 80. 1905, 1,123-