The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-29
DECLARES THAT STATE
 RIGHTS NOT INVOLVED
Decision Is in Accord With St.
 preme Court.
1t Had Been written and Was in Hands of Printer when Mlnne- sota and North Carolina Cases Were Decided--The Con-
 stItutlon ls Superior
 to the Legislature.

In a sweeping and comprehensive opinion rendered yesterday afternoon, Judge Thomas c. Jones of the United states Circuit Court of the Middle Dis trict of Alabama. made permanent the temporary orders he issued last sum mer in the Alabama Railroad cases. held that the Federal Court had ann pie Jurisdiction in the suits Zand sus- pended the operation of the rate acts of the Alabama Legislature until they could be subjected to a review and in- vestigatfon by the court.
 The opinion was a general rout of the arguments advanced by the attor- neys for the State and an overtnroW or the elusive legislation adopted by the Alabama Legislature at the extra ses- sion called by Governor Conner in No- rei1ber Sixteen important legal ques- tions are decided in the opinion.
 The decision is in harmony and ac- cord with the opinion rendered Mon- day last by Mir. Justice Peckham or the United States Supreme Court on the question on the contested acts or Minnesota and North Caroltna--acts which were very similar to those adopted by the Alabama Legislature. The opinion of Judge Jones had been written, set up and was In the hands
  famous utterance Of the Supreme Court was made. Judge Jones did not find 1t necessary to make any changes in his opinion in the light of the de- liverance of the Supreme Court. Ills opinion rendered yesterday was also an amplifIcation of the preliminary opinions rendered last August, and which were endorsed by the Supreme Court in the Minnesota and North Car olina cases
 The effect of the opinion will be to suspend the rate acts until the review is made of them by the court. II ls possible that the State will appeal from the decision. hut in view of the de- cisfons in the Minnesota and North Carolina cases, it Is held by lawyers that any appeal in the Alabama cases would be useless. Still the appeal will probably be taken, if for nothing else than to keep the cases alive and before the public.
 States Rights Not Involved.
 Tn view of the repeated declaration made outside of the court and inside the court that Federal Courts in the railroad cases were invading States rights, Judge Jones. in his opinion, takes occasion to discuss the jurisdic- tion of the court and the rights of the State in a full and comprehensive manner. He declares first that States rights were not involved in the issue. The opinion declares: Life would be intolerable in any government claim ing to be at all free, wherein the cifi- zen had no redress against wrongs done by officials in the name of the State The Constitution itself gives the Federal Court the right to pass upon such questions and the real ob- jection to it's exercise is. therefore. an objection, in effect. to the principles of the Union"
 It Is pointed out that no citizen can be deprived of his property without que process of law and that under the Constitution the citizen has the perfect right to flee to the courts for protec- tor from any invasion or destruction of his property. A State itself has no more rIf nt to take property with ont due process of law than citizen. Nor can a state by indirect means, such as namlng another agent, defeat the pur- pose of the Constitution.
 It is clearly held that a suit to pre- vent the State or the agent of a State from taking property without due pro- cess of law is not a suit against the State. A long line of consistent de- cisions Is quoted to show the accu- racy and justice of this position. And in this the whole purpose and tenor of the November session of the Legisla- ture was destroyed.
 Evasion Not Allowed.
 As a sequence to this decision on this point the court finds nothing ten able in the argument of the State that because the Legislature made nobody especially" chargeable with their en- for cement they were not subject to in- function. The court held that the State could not do indirectly what 1t was forbidden from doing directly.
 The court declares in positive terms that the railroads in Alabama are en- titled to earn a. reasonable compensa ton on their investments in the State. And the court declares. too. that a req sonable return is the legal rate of in- tsrest in. Alabama, 8 per cent.
 A thorough synopsis of this opinion. which has been highly complimented hy the attorneys. who have read It. follows:
 In March, 1soT. twelve of the rail- road companies in this State filed their hills in the United States Court at NcltgomerEto en1oin the statute which hxed ? 1-2 cents per mile as the maxi mum passenger rate, and provided for the rates on 110 commodltles. and that tn rates in force on the first of Janu- ary. 1907. should not be increased. The law passed at that time provided that the carrier might test these matters by a suit in chancery against the Rail road Commission and the Attorney General. who were charged with the duty of enforcing the rate law. This act empowered the court to suspend the law pending final adjudication. and if 1t did so, although the carrier was finally beaten Tn the suit. he would not Incur the tremendous penalties, which might be, anywhere from a dollar to $2.000 for each passenger or parcel of freight carried at higher rate than that fixed by the statute. No opposi- ton was offered to the injunction st the time. but some months afterwards. when the Southern Railway had its troubles in North Carolina the same methods were threatened here, and that road and It's allies negotiated with thA Governor and abandoned their suits.