The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-10-07
SUPREME COURT HAS
731 CASES TO HEAR
Rate Hearings, Labor Cases,
y Political Questions Are
Most Important.
(National News Association

{ WASHINGTON, Oct. 7.-After a
four months vacation the supreme
court OF the United States will con-
vene Monday for the term Of l311-12.
The docket is crowded with 731 cases,
sas compared with 696 cases year
ago at this time. No case OF anything
like equal importance with the Stan
dard OH and Tobacco dissolution suits
Is on the docket, but there are num-
Der 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 In
volving the activity Of state railroad
commissions. There are more than
fifty cases OF this kind to be decided.
AS all OF them are correlated, 1T is
probable the court will hear them as
nearly together as possible. There
are thirty-six rate cases from Missouri
alone, three from Minnesota, includ-
ing that decided by Judge Sanborn.
whihc agitated the governors confer
ence at Spring Lake recently, and sew
'eral from Oklahoma and Kentucky
in these cases probably will fix defin-
itely the constitutional limits of state
railroad commissions and circum-
the powers they may exercise in the
way Of fixing rates of common car
riers in intra-state traffic.
Several important cases have come
over from the Interstate Commerce
nt,,{c cin hn
tons the right OF railroads to make
concessions to elevators, holding that
1t 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
4 monopoly in restraint OF trade. An
other issue that will be fought out ear
ly In the term Is whether the stock
yards In the large cities are common
carriers within the meaning Of the in
terstate commerce laws. A case
against the Baltimore and Ohio South
western road Is expected to lead to
decision as to whether a railroad may
transport sheep through state into
another state when the state through
which the sheep pass is under quaran
tine.
The battle for the initiative and ref
erendum, the foundation stone of the
Oregon primary system, will be fought
before the court early in November.
In view Of the fact that numerous
states already have followed the ex-
ample of Oregon in adopting the in
itiative and referendum and others
are preparing to do 50, the decision in
this case will have far-reaching conse-
Quences. The matter comes to the
supreme court as an appeal in a suit
brought by the Pacific States Tele-
phone and Telegraph company against
the state Of Oregon to test the consti-
tutionality of the initiative and refer
endum law.
Among the most important cases on
the docket are several that were held
over from last term. Included in the
list are the cases involving the validi-
ty of the indictment of Charles p.
Munday and others, growing out OF
the so-called Stacey coal-land claims
in Alaska. and the indictment of Jas.
A. Patten ond 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 consti-
tute still another important case.
The court also will hear arguments
in the Oklahoma land fraud cases,
which are four in number and are ty-
pical OF 3O1 suits brought by the Gov
eminent to invalidate $4,000 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 be-
Ing prosecuted for permitting labor
er to work more than eight hours in
one day. Also of importance to the
labor world IL the case brought to test
the constitutionality of the federal en-
ployers' liability act Of 1908.
The court has been asked to inter
pref a treaty between the United Stat
es and Italy. The case in question in
wolves the right of the Italian consul
to take charge Of the estate of an ltal-
ian subject dying in this country
California to local laws.
Not the least of the problems before
the supreme court is the necessity of