The Pensacola journal., 1907-08-03
Alabama Law and
The Southern Railway.

The superlative harshness OF the
ultra drastic steps taken by the state
of Alabama in summarily revoklng
the charter of the Southern railway,
or, more properly, its legal right ana
hermit TO do business in the state OF
Alabama, is going too far. and decided
ly overstepping the mark set by
reason and equity for the preserVa-
ton of state rights and popular gov
ernment from usurpatiOn by federal
courts To protect state rights and
to uphold the power of the state to
punish individuals, as Gov. Glenn did
in North Carolina, is one thing To
tie up property and destroy vested
rights without giving them a chance
to be heard, is quite anOther-utterly
and essentially. The difference is the
Offence between what is ineXOrable
and what is merely rabid.
There are cases when, whether one
approves or not of such d system of
government, the constitution and the
established laws give jurisdiction to
the federal judiciary, and this system
without justification. The power to
assume jurisdiction is sometimes
abused by the federal courts, and such
should never be tolerated, burt it is
III lNr-
the party sued to have the case trans
ferred to one of the federal courts,
in a civil action. where no ruling of
a state court is nullified and no law
of the state is set aside in effect.
should, without even the formality of
a hearing, cause that party, be the
party a person, a firm or a corpora
ton, to be deprived instanter of the
tinuing to do business with the thus
outlawed corporation to be deprived
of legal status in their transactions.
The effect of the new law, under
which the secretary of state sum-
marily revoked the SoTthern's permit
to do business in Alabama, is to sub
ject to criminal prosecution any en-
ployee who as matter of daily bread
does any intrastate act (even
though the act be legal as an agent
of the railroad, whose offense has
been, not to nullify the power of
state court, not to prevent the pun
ishment of an offender against the
state laws, but merely to ask that
a federal court take Jurisdiction on
a civil case, even though the case be
one which the constitution and the
statutes of the u. S. give them the
right to take into the federal court.
There is no analogy between the
recent North Carolina case and the
pending Alabama matter. Governor
Glenn prevented 4 federal court from
overriding the state courts in a matter
within the police power of the state
The Alabama law. the credit of which
tif there be credit belongs 10 Gov
ernor Conner, seeks to prevent any
corporation, or any agent of any cor
poration, at any time and under con-
aitions, from doing certain things.
even though the II. S. constitution
and statutes say he has the right to do
them under certain conditions Tech
nically, it is class legislation, because
1t denies corporations and agents the
exercise of certain rights common to
corporations and individuals. but does
not deny those rights TO individuals
except as agents of corporations.
Finally. it is folly as we'll as wrong.
because it attempts to make the state
of Alabama. not the equal of the fed
eraI power in an intra-state railroad
problem (aS in North Carolina) but
superior to the United States in a
matter provided for when the u S. |
constitution was adopted long before |
Alabama was acquired as part of the |
soil subject TO the flag and the con-
stitution.
An eN-directOr of the mint is not |