The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-13

ecution of their orders, that end Is &C., conplished at a fearful cost, and is a grievous stab at the liberties of the peo- ,le.' This chlcial expression when silence would have been cowardice, brought down further maledictions upon the head of the judge who was constantly pictured as "throttling the sovereignty of the state,' and 'lawlessiy meddling with local affairs, although he had done nothing more than enforce the constitution of the United States, the supreme law of the land.
 Position of the Court.
 "The Governor at this time was pub licly denying the jurisdiction of the court, and insisting that it was his duty, the constitution of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding, to enforce the laws of the state,' and that the carriers, though operating under the protection or the orders of great court, were every day violating the criminal laws or the state. He was publicly insisting lhat the judges of the state courts should charge grand juries to indict railroad operatives, and ayowing that he himself would charge solicitors and sheriffs to arrest railroad officials and operatives. Ihese people. working for an honest living, un- der the protection of the order of high court the Governor was then comparing to common Crln11ndiSt llhe ilS6iO SAoPH shooters, who should be arrested by his officers and put in jail wherever found. He seemed bent on bringing on collis- ion If his legal advisers, as they doubt less did informed him, of the universal rule of law-'that when a state court and a court of the United States may each take jurisdiction of a matter Gas here) the tribunal whose jurisdiction first attaches holds it to the exclusion of the Al 4A- 1ttfx i- llxr nTfn T@Y1A and the jurisdiction involved in exhausted. and this rule applies alike in both civil and criminal cases-it had little, if any weight, In swerving him from his dream of forcible defiance of the laws of the United States Thousands of railroad operatives were in momentary expectation of arrest.
 Tt was openly stated in unofficial, if not official, quarters. that North Caro- lima methods should be used in Alabama. Delegations of railroad operatives from time to time visited the court to learn if 1t could and would protect them. They did not know at what time they might be dragged off their engines and trains wherever they stopped and jailed wher- ever a sheriff or constable saw fit to ar rest them. Even the travelling public was uneasy. Business was greatly de- pressed.
  son strange for him to make, likened the judge to one who feared neither God nor man. and assured the peopie in public interview that the Governor would not be baked in his purpose by any orders of Gn usurping court. It was constant topic or conversation in military circles as to what would be their duty if they were called out to override the orders of the court. Excitement was further fed by specials ha afIxa nf spration, as to what was discussed in the conferences between the Governor and his advisers called to determine his att- tude to the court. There was no official denial of a purpose to use the militia, though such denial would have greatly calmed popular excitement. Men natur- ally assumed that the Governor would not direct clerks. sheriffs, solicitors and con stables to resist the orders of the court, thus putting their heads in the fire. un- less he intended to back them up by force Here and there solicitors, tho official prosecutors of the state, were pro claiming in the newspapers that they too would defy the court.
 Preprosterous Reports.
 "The statement had been repeatedly made in the New York press, and fre- ouently copied here, that the President had failed to sustain Judge Pritchard In North Carolina, and some of the officials oi the Southern railway had circulated the same report. The report, preposter- ous as it was, found many believers Tn Alabama, and one of the Governors ad- visers, whom I knew did not believe in force against courts, nevertheless ven- tured the opinion. if the test came, that I would find it so in Alabama. One of the state judges, under the pressure or the time, had actually charged the grand jury to indict railroad operatives for not observing the rates, notwithstanding the operation of the rate statutes had been enjoined by the court which had exclu- sive Jurisdiction of the matter. It was under such conditions and at such time that the court, at the instance of the carriers which remained in court, ex- tended the former injunction so as to prevent the arrest of their employees by sheriffs, constables or other officers, either upon warrants or indictments. These in- functions were based on the same bills, amended only to show the Governors at titude, and did not, in any wise alter the principles of the original bills, which all hands Il short while before had unhesi- tatingly admitted did not constitute suits against the state, and properly presented cases within the jurisdiction of the court. The injunction was enlarged only by designating the officers by name, instead of including them in the general class other persons enjoined in the first sn- junction. Yet the cry was sent up that the sovereignty of the state was insult ed and outraged by dragging 1t before the bar of the court Nothing was left undone which could be done to infuriate the people against the court and the car riers who remained within the protection Of the court. So acute was the situation in the minds of many refiecting men that on August IS, 1907, I addressed the fol- lowing letter to the attorney general of the state, enclosing 1t in a note, wherein l stated he could make 1t public or not, as his judgment dictated:
 Jones' Letter To Garber.
 Montgomery, August IS, 1907. Hon. Alex M Garber, Attorney General,
 Montgomery, Ala.
 My Dear MT. Attorney General: For reasons fully stated in our conversation this evening, when you kindly called at my instance, being confined to the house. give you the following extract from an official letter of the Attorney General of the United States to me under date of August 16, 1907: You are not only author ized to publish the statement that the de- partment will take all necessary means to secure the enforcement of federal pro- cess, but 1t would be source of satisfac- tion to the department, if as wide public ity as possible could be given to this statement.
 q prefer, however, not to give publicity to this statement in advance of some overt resistance to the process of the court. So much has appeared in the public press as official utterances, and not denied, as to the programme of arrests for vlo- lating rate statutes, notwithstanding tne'r