The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-10-07
Congress May Be Asked to Re-
lieve Court of Some Of Its
Work--781 Cases on the
Present Docket
INITIATIVE And REFERENDUM
Test Case on constitutionality of Ore
CONS State Law Will Be Watch
ed With Interest by
Other States.

Washington. ID. c., oct. 6.-After a
four months vacation the Supreme
Court OF the United States will con-
vene Monday for the term of 1911-12.
The docket is crowded with 7S1 cases
as compared with CSC cases "A year ago
AT this time No case of anything like
equal Importance with the Standard
oil and Tobacco dissolution suits In
on the docket but there are num-
ber of important and interesting mat
ters that will come before the court
for adjudication.
The court is expected TO take up
first of all the numerous cases involy-
ing the activity of State railroad COM
missions. There are more than fifty
cases of this kind to be decided. AS
all Of them are correlated, IL Is pro-
bable the court will hear them as
nearly together as possible. There
are thirty-six rate cases from
Missouri alone, three from Minnesota,
including that decided by Judge San
born. which agitated the governors
conference at Spring Lake recently.
lucky The opinions of the supreme
tribunal i'm these cases probably will
fix definitely the constitutional limits
OF State railroad commissions ond cir
cumscribe the powers they may eXer-
else I'm the way Of fixing the rates
OF common carriers In lntrastate traf-
fic
interstate Commerce.
Several important cases have come
over from the Interstate Commerce
Commission. The Government quest
ions the right Of railroads to make |
concessions To elevators, holding that
il is rebating. The ST Louis Terminal |
company, owning two bridges over the |
Mississippi river. is being brought to
the bar on the question of it's being |
a monopoly in restraint of trade An
other issue that will be fought out
early in the term is whether the stock
yards I'm the large cities are COM
mon carriers within the meaning OF
the interstate commerce laws. a case
against the Baltimore & Ohio South
western road is expected to lead to
decision as to whether n railroad may
transport sheep through n state into
another state when the state through
which the sheep pass is under quar-
antine.
Initiative and Referendum Test.
The battle for the initiative and re-
ferendum, the foundation stone of the
Oregon primary system. will be fought
before the court early I'm November.
In view of the fact that numerous
states already have followed the eX
ample of oregon in adopting the ini-
tiative and referendum and others are
preparing to do so. the decision in
this case will have far-rc ching con-
sequence. The matter comes To- the
supreme court as an appeal i'm "A suit
brought by the Pacific States Tele-
phone and Telegraph company against
the State OF Oregon to test the con-
stitutionallty of the initiative and re-
ferendum law.
Alaskan Coal Lands.
Among the most important cases on
the docket are several that We're held
over from last term Included I'm the
list are the cases involving the valid
ity OF the indictment Of Charles +.
Nunday and others. growing out of the
so-called Stracey coal-land claims in
Alaska, and OF the indictment OF James
A. Patten and others on charges Of
violating the Sherman antitrust law
In "cornering" the cotton market. The
review of the trial OF Frederick a.
Hyde and others on charges of land {
frauds on the Pacific coast will con-
stitute stll another important case.
Oklahoma Land Frauds.
The court also will hear arguments
In the Oklahoma land fraud cases.
which are four in number and are
typical of sO1 suits brought by the
government to invalidate 10000 or
more conveyances by Indians of titles
To real estate. which the government
claims were fraudulent conveyances.
Labor has one important case from
Louisiana In which an employer is
being prosecuted for not permitting a
laborer To work more than eight hours
In one day. Also of Importance to the
labor world is the case brought To +,
test the constitutionality of the feder-
at employers liability act i'm 1908. !
Ask Congress for Relief.
The court has been asked to In
terpret treaty between the United
states and Italy. The case in question
involves the right OF an italian consel q
to take charge of the estate of an ltal- {
ian subject dying In this country
California--contrary to local laws.
Not the least of the problems before
'he supreme court is the necessity OF '
'eiieving the congestion which threat