Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-10-23
Schultz Case Comes Before SUI
preme Court on Application
For Habeas Corpus Writ
UNcoNsTlTuTioNALlTY ALLEGED
Court Will be Asked to Pass on the
Law in All Its Phases-claim is
Made that shultz is illegally Re-
Observation-Disclosures That Law is
Being Violated by Others.
Special to Times-Republican.

+ Des Moines, Oct 23.-Thomas D.
Healy, attorney for the Illinois Cen
trail and for H. T. Schultz, the Storm
Lake attorney of the Illinois Central,
who was arrested for riding on a pass.
Yesterday late in the afternoon hled
with the clerk of the supreme court
a. petition for writ of habeas corpus
reciting that Schultz is under arrest
and Illegally restrained of his liberty
1t is claimed In the petition that the
anti-pass law Is unconstitutional for
the reason that it interferes with the
right Of contract. There are many
high sounding legal phrases and many
different reasons assigned TOR argu-
ment why the law is unconstitutional,
but the one reason above all others
and practically the only one that VIII
be of Importance in the case is the
one that the law interferes with the
right of contract For that reason II
is charged that it abridges the right
Of the defendant as citizen of the
state and of the United States. 1t is
charged that 1t is unconstitutional both
as to the United States constitution
and the Iowa constitution.
The chances are that the case Will
not be argued to the supreme court be-
fore the next sitting Of the court in
November, but it is quite possible that
1t will not be argued till the Deem
Der sitting. But it can be said now
that the argument of the state will be
that the state has the right to abridge
and Interfere with the right of con-
tract on the broad grounds of public
policy and that the state and the
United States laws both interfere with
such right continually Lawyers see
in the case that it must inevitably come
to the question of public policy and as
proof that there is grounds in public
policy for such interference the state
will be able to refer to, the fact that
practically every governor if not every
governor, in the forty-four states of
the union, have, some time or other,
during the last seven or eight years,
se&presseda3n their regular or special
messages gfo the legislatures the need
of an anti-pas law; that the president
has on more than one occasion ex-
pressed himself thus and that leading
newspapers all over the United States
have so expressed themselves.
When reached the case is sure to be
one Of the most interesting before the
supreme court and public men are
rather rejoicing that the case submit
ted is the simplest possible. It is
stripped Of all complications. Schultz
admits that he rode from Storm Lake
to Chicago on his pass when he was
on railroad business and that he rode
from Sioux City to Storm Lake on the.
pass when, he was not on railroad bus
mess. He admits that he made a con-
tract with the Illinois Central on July
9, 1907, after the anti-pass law was
in effect and the contract is one of the
exhibits In the case. 1t provides that
his only compensation shall be the
annual pass and that in exchange he
shall give his services to the road 1t
is admitted by him that he does not
give all his time to the roads serv-
ice. The case Is thus fairly and
squarely on the question of constitll-
tionality as to interfering with private
contract. BY Inference at least the
Illinois Central admits that free
pass with no consideration whatever
can be prohibited by law.
It is not unlikely that there will be
other cases testing other phases of the
anti-pass law, but they will come up
later. Attorney General Byers has in
formation that leads to the suspicion
that others are riding on passes in vio-
lation of the provisions of the law.
A movement is on foot among the
prominent criminal lawyers and cor
poration attorneys of Des Moines to
check the growing tendency toward
trying their cases thru the columns of
the newspapers and using the press as
their dumping grounds. The attorneys
will unite in an organization, the mem
bers Of Which will be pledged not to
give out in advance to any newspaper
or other publication information con-
corning any case coming on for trial.
This, it is believed, will leave the
minds of the judges, attorneys and
Jurors connected with the action open
and unbiased A committee to form
such an organization is said to have
been selected. but it's personel has not
been announced.