The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-06-21
WASHINGTON NOTES
OF INTEREST
OF COS Cases Docketed with Supreme
Court During Recent Session, SIS
stnl Remain Not Acted
Ht,on

Washington, June 2l.--0f the e0'
cases docketed with the supreme cour
OF the United States during the session
which closed last week, 57S still remain
lunacted upon. From the opening Of th'
term, early in October, TO the last dec
sion day. 430 cases were decided by th'
court. number 81 them having beer
left over from last year. Not since Thu
passage Of the act Of March 3, 1901, ere
ating circuit courts OF appeal for tn,
lpariicular purpose Of diminishing The
work Of the oountry's highest tribunal
have there been so many cases brought
to the court for decision or review.
During the past term, several note
worthy cases were disposed Of by the
court. Some Of these win 90 down IN
history because Of their Importance
notably the famous S2g,0O0,O00 STANDARD
OIL case. decided adversely TO the gov.
eminent By refusal Of the supreme court
to review the decision Of the circuit
court Of appeals, which had held against
the fine.
A new construction was given the
Hepburn railway rate act by the court
in several decisions notably that IN the
so-called Commodities clause" litigation
wherein the court Of last resort, al.
though reversing the lower tribunals de-.
cisi0n that the clause was unconstitution.
al, so interpreted IFS provisions in de-
olaring it constitutional, as to practical
ly nullify the obvious intent with which
II was enacted by Congress.
Litigation in which railroads were
concerned bulked large In the docket for
the past term, and for most OF these
the railway rate act was largely respon-
sible. The net result of the term shows
Ia strong affirmation OF the anti-rebate
and anti-discrimination provisions Of that
act. Foremost, probably, was the deci-
sion in the New York Central q Hudson
River railroad eases, where that road
was convicted Of granting rebates on
sugar shipments to the American Sugar
Refining company In the two cases, the
supreme court affirmed the conviction
and assented to the fine imposed $780,
600 on the railroad and $4,000 on its
traffic manager The Chicago & Alton
rebate cases were likewise disposed Of
the highest court holding that the rail-
road was violating the law in granting
rebates on certain shipments from Kan
sas City to the schwarzehild & Sulz-
berger Packing company and the YER
diet Of the lower court, imposing fines
aggregating $4,000 on the road and its
officials was affirmed
In decision important in It's future
bearing, the court also held the provision
Of the railway rate act which prohibits
express companies from issuing FRANKIE
to their employees constitutional and val
ID. There is still before the court the
cases involving the right Of railway com
panies to issue transportation to news.
papers and magazines in exchange for
advertising space
Edward III Hartman, the railroad
king, figured personally in one unique
case, IN which the supreme court re-
fused to acknowledge the power Of the
interstate commerce commission to force
him to answer ceretain questions relating
TO his control and management Of yari-
Gus railroads.
railroad rates within their boundaries
was affirmed By the court in its decision
holding the AfeChord act Of the Kentucky
legislature constitutional However, a
directly opposite view was taken Of the
two.eent rate provisions made by the
Virginia state corporation commission.
In this case the court held that the pro.
ceedines did not constitute due process
Of law.
A decision Of unreasonable import
anee was that rendered in the Consoli-
dated Gas cases, wherein It was held that
a municipality or state has the power
to regulate the rates charged BY public
service corporation. In this case millions
were involved, aud a reduction in the
price Of gas was furnished to consumers
10 New York City,
The highest court evidently has
clear understanding Of the various anti
trust laws Of the states and an under
standing that led, during the last term,
to more than one decision against corr
porations with monopolistie proclivities.
First and foremost Of these was the
courts affirmation Of the constitutional
ity of the Texas ANTITRUST laws in the
famous Waters-Pieree oil case The
enormous fine Of more than a million
and half dollars, assessed against the
NAINNNtt1 VN tEfE A3WAt -NttAArf was ann AAAr
ed By the highest tribunal Likewise,
the court affirmed the decision against
the Hammond Packing company, which
was convicted under the Arkansas
trust busting" act.
In the host Of criminal appeals dis
posed of, the court acted adversely for
the appellants IN two Of general inter-
eat-that Of Albert r. Patrick, now in
Sing sing prison serving life sentence
for the murder Of William NJ Rice, and
Of Herman Biilik, AZ the time of the
decision under sentence Of death for the
alleged murder Of several members OF
the Yzral family ii Illinois. The SEN
fences OF the lower courts against these
two were affirmed The appeal Of Chas
III. Meyer Of the Western Federation Of
Miners, seeking damages for detention
in Colorado at the time of the Telluride
mining riots, was disposed Of against
the labor leader.
During the last few days Of the term
the court set new precedent in the con-
viction Of Sheriff Ship and five others
Of Chattanooga. Tenn, for contempt Of
court in eonspiring to lynch Ed, Johnson,
negro rapist. after the issuance Of
stay in his case by the supreme court.
A rehearing was granted the men last
week, and the case will be finally dis
posed Of early in the next term
The eases which win 20 over until next
term for decision include large num-
Der Of more than passing Importance, a
score or more OF which have already
been argued before the court Among
these latter are a half dozen or more
involving the eonstitutionality Of "char
ter free" taxes by several states--the
question being whether a state can tax
FOREIGN corporaIian doing business with |