The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-12-09

Il
lnjunctions 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 10 protect life, liberty
and property shall DO 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 speedy hearing there
after should be granted"
I 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-considered injunc-
| lions 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 entoined; unless It 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
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 1t is irreparaixe and
shall also indorse on the order issued the
date and the hour of the issuance of the
| -, tN,ff tan
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
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 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
courts will prevent the issuing of i'll
| 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
ernment over interstate commerce has
| led to the passage of the so-called
| Sherman antitrust law" and the in
terstate commerce law" and its 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 a discussion and some suggestions
as to amendments. These / prefer 10
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 to the attention of
| 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 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 1 cent
| pound amounts to about $4,000, 900
year. The average cost of the trans
portation of this matter is more than
9 cents a pound. .u.-
1t appears that the average distance
to their customers is 291 miles, while
the average haul of magazines is 1,049,
and of miscellaneous periodicals 1.12S
miles. Thus, the average haul of the
magazine is three and one-half times
and that of the miscellaneous period
! zeal 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 63.91 per cent OF the weight of
| all the mail, and yielded only SIG per
cent OF the revenue.
The figures given are startling. and
show the payment by the government
of an enormous subsidy to the news
papers, magazines and periodicals, and
congress may we'll consider whether
radical steps should not be taken to
reduce the deficit in the post-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 of
the loss, by imposing upon magazines
and periodicals a higher rate of post
age. They are much heavier than
| newspapers, and contain a much higher
proportion of advertising to reading
matter and the average distance of
| tnelr transportation is three ana halt
times as great.
The total deficit for the last fiscal
year in the postoffice department
amounted to ST. 100000. The branches
of its business which it did at a loss
were the second-class mail service, in
which the loss, as already said, was
s63, 100000, and the free rural delivery in
which the loss was s2SOOO.OOO These
losses were in part offset by the
| profits of the letter postage and
other sources of income. 1t would
seem wise to reduce the loss upon
second-class mail matter. at least
to the extent of preventing a deficit
in the total operations of the post
| Office.
commend the whole subject to con-
gress. not unmindful of the spread of
intelligence which low charge for
carrying newspapers and periodicals
assists. very much doubt, however,
the wisdom of a policy which consti-
tutes so large a subsidy and requires
additional taxation to meet II.
Postal Savings Banks.
The second subject worthy OF men,
ton in the postoffice department is the
| real necessity and entire practica bility
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 OF