Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-12-09


ness to which that court is subjected It
is impossible to hope that a radical and
proper reform OF the federal equity pro-
cedure can be brought about. ] therefore
recommend legislation providing for the
appointment by the president of COM
mission with authority to examine the
law and equity procedure of the federal
courts of first instance, the law of APP
peals from those courts to the courts of
appeals and to the supreme court. and the
costs imposed In such procedure upon the
private litigants and upon the public treas
ury and make recommendations with a
view to simplifying and expediting the
procedure as far as possible and making
1t as inexpensive as may be to the liti-
giant of little means.
Injunctions Without Notice.
The platform of the successful party in
the last election contained the following;
THE. Republican party will uphold at
all times the authority and integrity of
the courts. state and federal, and will
ever insist that their powers to enforce
their process and to protect life. liberty
and property shall be preserved inviolate.
We believe. however, that the rules OF
procedure In the federal courts with re-
spect to the issuance of the writ Of in
junction should be more accurately de-
fined by statute and that no injunction
or temporary restraining order should be
issued without notice, except where ir-
reparable injury would result from delay,
in which case a speedy hearing there
after should be granted"
recommend that in compliance with
the promise thus made appropriate legis-
lation be adopted. The ends of justice
will best be met and the chief cause OF
complaint against ill-consdered injunc-
tons without notice will be removed by
the enactment of a statute forbidding
hereafter the issuing of any injunction
or restraining order, whether temporary
or permanent, by any federal court,
without previous notice and reasonable
opportunity to be heard on behalf of the
parties to be enjoined; unless 1t shall APP
pear to the satisfaction of the court that
the delay necessary to give such notice
and hearing would result in irreparable
injury to the complainant and unless also
the court shall from the evidence make
a written finding, which shall be spread
upon the court minutes, that immediate
and irreparable injury is likely to ensue
to the complainant, and shall define the
injury, state why it is irreparable and
shall also indorse on the order issued the
date and the hour of the issuance of the
order. Moreover, every such injunction
or restraining order issued without pre-
vious notice and opportunity by the de-
PENDANT to be hard should by force of
the statute expire and be of no effect
after seven days from the Issuance there
of or within any time less than that Pc
riod which the court may fix, unless
within such seven days or such less Pc
Rod the injunction or order is extended
or renewed after previous notice and OPP
portunity to be heard.
My Judgment is that the passage of
such an act which really embodies the
best practice in equity and is very
like the rule now in force in some
x.,fl Nhn tee tifner nf l.
advised orders of Injunction without
notice and will render such orders
when issued much less Objectionable
by the short time in which they may
remain effective.
New Laws Needed.
The Jurisdiction of the general gov
eminent over interstate commerce has
led to the passage of the so-called
Sherman antitrust law" and the in
terstate commerce law" and it's amend
ments. The developments in the oper-
alton OF those laws as shown by in
dictments, trials, judicial decisions,
and other sources of information, call
for O discussion and some suggestions
as to amendments. These 1 prefer to
embody in a special message instead
of including them in the present COM
munication, and I shall avail myself
of the first convenient opportunity to
bring these SUBJECTS 10 the dtteHllon OF
congress.
Second-Class Mail Matter.
The deficit every year in the post
Office department is largely caused, by
the low rate of postage of l cent a
pound charged on second-class mail
| matter. which includes not only news
papers but magazines and miscellan-
eous periodicals. The actual loss
growing out of the transmission of
this second-class mail matter at l cent
q pound amounts to about $65, 900, 600
a year. The average cost of the trans
portation of this matter is more than
cents a pound. |a
1t appears that the average distance
over which newspapers are delivered
to their customers is 291 miles. while
the average haul of magazines is 1,O49,
| and of miscellaneous periodicals 1,l2S
miles. Thus, the average haul OF the
magazine is three and one-half times
and that of the miscellaneous period
ical nearly four times the haul of the
| daily newspaper, yet all of them pay
| the same postage rate of l cent a
pound. The statistics of 1907 show
that second-class mail matter consti-
| tuted 1921 per cent OF the weight OF
all the mail, and yielded only 5.1s per
cent OF the revenue.
The figures given are startling. and
/
| of an enormous subsidy to the news
| papers, magazines and periodicals. and
| congress may well consider whether
| radical steps should not be taken &c
| reduce the deficit in the Office de-
| partment caused by this discrepancy
| between the actual cost of transporta-
| ton and the compensation exacted
| therefor.
A great saving might be made
| amounting to much more than half oil
the loss, by imposing upon magazines
| and periodicals a higher rate of post
| age. They are much heavier thar
| newspapers, and contain a much higher
| proportion of advertising to reading
| matter, and the average distance OF
their transportation is three and a hall
times as great.
The total deficit for the last fsca
| year in the postoffice department
| amounted to s17.500,0O0. The branche:
Of its business which it did at los:
were the second-class mail service, IL
| which the loss, as already said, wa:
| S63,000.000, and the free rural delivery II
which the loss was $2S,0o0,0e0. These
losses were in part Offset by the
profits of the letter postage ant
other sources of income. 1t woul'
seem wise to reduce the loss upoi
second-class mail matter, at leas
to the extent of preventing a defici
in the total operations of the post
office.
I commend the whole subject to con
gress. not unmindful of the spread o
intelligence which a low charge 70
carrying newspapers and periodical
assists. very much doubt, however
the wisdom of policy which consti
tutes so large a subsidy and require
additional taxation to meet 1t.
Postal Savings Banks.
The second subject worthy of men
ton in the postofIice department Is tn
real necessity and entire practicabilit
of establishing postal savings banks
The successful party at the last cleo
ton declared in favor of postal saw
ings banks, and although the PROPOSE
| ton finds opponents in many parts q