Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-09-23
Nitrates and Air Products company
versus Shame ct al"


When the case came on to be heart
the laugh had disappeared. the yer.
army of lawyers. appearing for the de
PENDANT rendering II a serious matter
Craighead sat in court with Filley. his
hair rumpled. his crooked nose high
In a suit Of legal black. drawing more
attention than did Carson. whose face
bleached of the gulf beach tan. haC
assumed the pallor Of the scholar
while vast responsibilities had beer
imparting to him an atmosphere Of dis
tinction. He sat scanning the people
Of the defense-Shayne, Silberberg and
other great financial figures.
While the pleadings and atfidavits
were read Craighead sketched the
bailiffs. shuftled his feet and drummed
on the table until the court tapped for
silence.
1--WE will hear from the plaintiff"
said Justice McFadden. land as the
facts seem practically undisputed"-
But. your honor" protested the
counsel for the defendants. I'VE GER
tainIy do not admit
"For present purposes" replied the
justice. the showing seems ample that
plaintiff owns certain rights in lands
so distributed that the defendants
( must pass over them in going from
place to place; that the defendants
have habitually done so and that the
situation constitutes a threat that this
/ will be repeated. The defendants by
| claiming the right to pass these lines
confess this for present purposes. We
will therefore hear from plaintiffs
counsel on the law"
Mr.. FiIley gathered up his papers;
but. with a professional sounding May
1t please the court" that dumfoupded
Filley and drew from the justice re-
quest for the gentleman's name. Craig
head rose.
"Craighead." said he in response to
the courts query. II will offer a few
remarks on the law and then yield to
my learned colleague. who will lay be-
fore your honors the feeble attempts Of
the courts to crystalline it in prece-
dents. The law is fully as plain as the
nose on the face OF the most Roman Of
your donors. AS to its righteousness.
1t is as moral us landownership. That
it has not heretofore been applied has
been owing TO the stupidity Of the
legal profession. to the asininity of
landowners and to the fact that the
law is SO plain. for that which is all
around ever remains undetected. like
nf hn nj no
picture with trees and clouds repre-
senting faces or animals. And as when
once the cat in the landscape is seen
the landscape fades. and one can see
nothing but the cat. so in this case
when the law is once made plain your
honOrS will be able to see nothing else
We are taking the liberty Of unsealing
the blind eyes of the courts"
Mr. Filley was outraged at the ef-
fronterv Of this unlicensed actor in
thus taking the scene. but to make
disturbance now would be worse than
to let him go on. and Mr.. Filley sat
down frowning and hoping that Craig
heads offense might escape discovery.
"'Cujus nd solum. ejus est usque ad
coelum.' Went on Craighead. us the
maxim ON which we stand. the mean
ing Of which has been decided in hun
dreds of cases and. strange to say. Is
still clear He who owns land owns
10 the sky He has as much moral
right TO the sky as to the surface.
The man with deed to square mile
Of the surface Of this planet under
this law owns Il great pyramid. apex
ing at the enrth'S center and extending
out into space in diverging lines in
finitely. so that # he can show that
these lines Of boundary take in Mars
and her canals he would have a per.
feet case against the Martians for rent
of fields and ,o!s over waterways II
he could GO, service and bring the de.
PENDANTS into court.
Land. Land The mystic word
that rules the world The woman who
calculates Good and" conjures by a
thing more potent than all the gods Of
Olympus.
THE air above our land is part Of
it. You know it, Why else have you
recognized Reimers appeal. 100 Penn
sylvania state. us good law: What
was that case: 4 bay window many
feet above the sidewalk was declared
nuisance because it jutted out into
the air that was a part of the street
And see also Bybee versus the state.
Of Indiana. You hang your cornice or
string wire in my air and I will hale
YOU into court. Don't presume to fly
a kite over my land except by my con
sent: you have no right. And remem-
Der tina, The city of Cleveland was
mulcted in the sum OF $4,000 for
swinging bridge few times day
hundred feet above an inch strip of
land.
"How much more am damnifed by
the airship, which may drop mon
key wrench. a spanner. COB of bal
last or a casual remark into my priva-
CIV? Aeronefs will fall into the rural
silo, drag ropes will rip up barbed
wire and Pyramus and Thisbe IN their
Arcadian wooing may be smothered
under falling gas bags or torn asunder
by dragging anchors inserted in their
huttering hearts! shudder. your hon.
ors, ut what may happen when the air
is populous with flying jiggers. pop
popping about. raining ballast ana
wine bottles and bacon rinds and stale
bananas and hot coffee and soft boiled
eggs and lobster a In Newburg on
lost and undone republic. and when |
shudder persons Of ordinary sensitive
ness fly into fragments with the sh1v-
ers. for ! am no light and habitual