The Ordway new era., 1909-12-10

is Impossible to hope that IA radical and |
proper reform of the federal equity pro-
cedure can be brought about. l therefore |
recommend legislation providing for the |
appointment by the president Of a COM |
mission with authority to examine the |
law and equity procedure OF the federal |
courts OF first instance. the law of ap- |
peels 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
II as inexpensive AS may b. to the liti-
CANT OF little means.
lnjunetions 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 VIII
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-
repnrnble injury would result from delay,
In which case n speedy hearing there
after should be granted
recommend that In compliance with
the promise thus made appropriate lcgis-
iation he adopted. The ends OF Justice
will best be met and the chief cause OF
complaint against ill-consllered inJunc-
tions without notice will be removed by
the enactment OF a statute forbddlng
hereafter the Issuing Of any Injunction
or restraining order. whether temporary
| or permanent, by any federal court.
| without previous notice and IA reasonable
atVn 1F1It IA. ard hHhn nf
| parties to be cnjolned: unless II shall ap-
| pear to the satisfaction OF the court that
| the delay necessary to give such notice
and hearing would result In irrcparahle
| 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 "nsuc
| to the complainant, and shall define the
| injury, stat. why II Is irreparnblc and
| shall also indorsc 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-
| fendnnt to be hard should by force OF
| the statute expire and he OF no effect
| after seven days from the issuance there
OF or within any time less than that pc
| Rod 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 op-
| portunity to be heard.
My Judgment is that the passage Of
such an act which really cmbodics the
| best practice In equity and Is very
| like the rule now in force In some
| courts will prevent the issuing Of Ill
| 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
srnmcnt over Interstate commerce has
led to the passage OF the so-callcd
sherman antitrust law" and the in
terstate commerce law" and its amend
mcnts. The developments in the opcr-
alton OF those laws. as shown by In
dictments, trials. judicial decisions
| and other sources OF information call
for n discussion and some suggestions
as to amendments. These prefer &c
| embody in special message instead
| Of including them In the present com
munication. and I shall avail myself
of the first convenient opportunity tc
| bring these subjects to the attention oi
congress.
Second.ciass Mail Matter.
The deficit every year In the post
Office department is largely caused BY
the low rate OF postage of l cent .
| pound charged on second-class mai
matter. which includes not only news
papers but magazines and miscellan
| eous periodicals The actual los
| growing out of the transmission q
this second-c mail matter at cen
n pound amounts to about s63OOO.OO'
n year. The average cost OF the trans
portation of this matter is more thai
cents pound.
1t appears that the average distance
, over which newspapers are delivered
to their customers Is 291 miles. whil
hn n hnnl pf ponVDZinpS Is l,UlN
and of miscellaneous periodicals LIE
miles. Thus. the average haul OF TN
magazine is three and on"-half time
and that of the miscellaneous period
| ical nearly four times the haul OF tn
daily newspaper. yet all of them pa.
the same postage rate OF cent
pound. The statistics of 1907 shoV
. that second-class mail matter consti
. | tuted 63.9l per cent of the weight o
| all the mail. and yielded only 5.l9 pc
| cent of the revenue.
The figures given are startling. an
show the payment by the government
of an enormous subsidy to the news
| papers. magazines and periodicals. an
: congress may well consider whethe
r radical steps should not be taken t
, reduce the deficit in the post-o.ticc de
partmcnt caused by this discrepanc
between the actual cost of transporta
ton and the compensation eXacte
, | therefor.
great saving might be mad,
amounting to much more than half q
the loss. by imposing upon magazine
and periodicals n higher rate of post
age. They are much heavier tina
newspapers. and contain much hiEhe
: proportion of advertising to readin
> matter and the average distance O
their transportation is three and hal
times as great.
The total deficit for the last hsca
year in the postotice department
amounted to S175OOOOO The branche
) of its business which 1t did at los
) were the second-class mail service. |
: which the loss, as already said. wa
l S63, 900 900. and the free rural delivery 1
which the loss was s2S.OCo.oW Thes
: losses were in part offset by tn
profits of the letter postage an
other sources of income. 1t woul
} seem wise to reduce the loss upo
second -class mail matter, at leas
} to the extent of preventing n defici