The National tribune., 1908-01-09
SURPRISE FROM THE SUPREME

COURT.
The Supreme Court Of the United
States has given the President. the law
yers Of the country and the people a
surprise Of no common order in a de-
cision handed down against the consti-
|tutionality Of the employers liability
act.
This legislation is near to the Presi-
dents heart. He supported strongly
the law enacted last year. and he urged
an extension of it by the present session
of Congress. He claimed that our leg
islation in this matter is far behind that
of other civilized countries, and that
this lack was harmful alike to the rail-
roads and other great corporations and
to the employees. In his message to
Congress he pointed out clearly that in
the present condition accidents were
made a species of blackmail and extor-
ton upon employers, without the VIC
tins of the accidents or their families
receiving any benefit. He would have
a definite schedule for injuries, with the
operation of the law automatic, so that
upon the occurrence of an accident the
employer would at once know the eX-
tent of his liability, and promptly meet
it without intervention of annoying and
expensive legal proceedings. He said in
his message: 'The practice of putting
the entire burden of the loss of life or
limb upon the victim or the victims
family is a form of social injustice in
which the United States stands in un-
enviable prominence"
When the present law was under dis
cussion the lawyers in both Houses of
Congress expressed little doubt as to its
constitutionality, and felt sure that in
the main it would stand the test of the
courts. By a vote of five to four the
Supreme Court has decided that
'"The act then being addressed to all
common carriers engaged in interstate
commerce, and imposing liability up
on them in favor of their employees
without qualification or restriction as to
the business in which the carriers or
their employees may be engaged at the
time of the injury, of necessity includes
subjects wholly outside the power of
Congress to regulate commerce. .
Concluding as we do, the statute, whilst
ii embraces subjects within the authori-
ty of Congress to regulate commerce,
also includes subjects not within its con-
stitutional power, and that the two are
SO interblended in the statute that they
are incapable of separation, we are of
the opinion that the courts below right
ly held the statute to be repugnant to
the Constitution and nonenforcible, and
the judgments below are, therefore, af-
firmed"
The Chief Justice and Justices Brew
er, Peckham, White and Day joined in
the majority decision, tho they did not
follow the reasoning and conclusions in
their entirety. Justice Moody dissented
wholly, holding that the law is consti-
tutional on all points. Justices Harlan
and McKenna affirmed the constitutions
a1ity of the act, but held it to be appli-
cable only to employees engaged at the
time in interstate commerce. but not to
those engaged wholly in the States. Jus
tice Holmes dissented generally
The two cases before the Supreme
Court were the suit of the widow of
Will Howard, a locomotive fireman, wh3
was killed on the Illinois Central, and
N. c. Brooks, mother of fireman, who
was killed on the Southern Pacific Rail-
road. In the first case the damages
claimed were $4,000 and $4,000 in the
second case. The railroads fought both
attacking the constitutional
ity of the law and claiming that protec-
ton from accidents in interstate COM
merce could not be construed as any
part Of commerce, and, therefore, sub
ject to the action of Congress. In the
Howard case Judge Mccall, of the West
ern District of Tennessee, had decided
against the constitu.ionality of the law.
and in the other case Judge Walter
Evans, of the Western District of Ken
lucky, had done the same, and their
decisions have been sustained by the
Supreme Court
There win be new bill introduced
at once to meet the objections of the
Supreme Court, and it will be probably
pushed thru to passage before adjourn
ment.
The need of such legislation is gen
orally admitted, altho there is strong
opposition to it from some quarters.