The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-04-21
LEGAL FEATURES
ARE INTERESTING
THE SUPREME COURT FIoHr
OVER CRAIG rs WIDELY
COMPLICATED.
lFrom rhnr.dny'. AdverlIser.l

(From Thursdays Advcrtiscr.)
Legal problems Of nationwide intcr-
rst are being thr5shed out before tho
supreme court in the argument over
the cons,itutionality Of the law govern
ing the licenses and restrictions inn
posed on emigration agents, two more
legal broadsidcs being fred yesterday
ON tho occasion Of the filing Of the
brief Of the respondent sheriff Jarrett.
The matter narrowed down yester-
day to peculiar legal question re-
lated to tho extent of the legislative
rights of the people, more particularly
the right to enact laws apparently in
controversion to the constitution and
yet in the protection of rights against
certain conditions inimical to them.
Kinney, Ballou, Prosser and Anderson,
ON behalf of the respondent, fled
return summing up the entire situation
from that viewpoint in which they
meet the objections of Attorney Wat
son for the petitioner to the effect that
the respondent Is return contained moth
ing but extraneous matter.
Tho brief said in part;
1T often happens, when the consti-
nationality of the law is assaulted on
grounds similar to this that the con-
stitutionality depends to some extent
upon the existence of state of facts
which does not and can not in the ma
ture of things appear ON the face of
the law itself. Sometimes the court
takes Judicial knowledge of the exist
ence of such facts and sometimes it
declines to do so. How are such facts
to be brought to the attention Of the
court if not on the pleadingsl
&C. good example Of the validity Of
the law depending ON the existing
state Of facts is that of the so.callsd
Georgia Blow Post statute which was
held constitutional.
''In this case the Georgia Statlte
provided that there should be post
four hundred yards from all railroad
crossings where the engineer should
blow his whistle and check speed so
as to stop in time should any person be
/ crossing the track. The question
arose whether this was an unreason.
able interference with interstate com
, merce and the court stated the ques'
ton as follows:
Crossings may be so situated in
reference to cuts and curves as to rem
der them highly dangerous to those
J using the public highways. They may
! be in or near towns or cities so that
to approach them at a high speed
would be attempted with great damage
to life or limb. On the other hand,
+ highway crossings may be so numer-
Gus and so near together that TO re-
quire interstate trains to slacken speed
: unfortunately at all such crossings
would be practically destructive of the
: successful operation of such passenger
| trains, Statutes which require the
speed of such trains to be checked at
all crossings so situated might not
only be a regulation but also a direct.
burden upon Interstate commerce, and
therefore beyond the power Of the
State to act. -
They followed this with quotations
from number of other authorities, all
related to the same difficult question,
although all widely separated in the
subjects on which they touched, rang
ing all the way from vaccination to
state to enact.
WdJson heply'
In oral answer to this brief, Watson
offered the contention that there was
plenty of labor here if the planters
were but willing to pay for it, prefac-
ing this with the remark that it was
not necessarily his own opinion on the
matter, but that there were plenty Of
witnesses to be had to testify to that
effect. 1t was, he added, a matter Of
opinion.
But it was not a question of the suf-
fciency of laborers or of wages, he
said, or whether people who left here
remained laborers, or whether those
coming here were going into the cane
fields-as a matter of fact they didn't,
for out Of each hundred brought in
twenty did not go into the fields and
remain as laborers. That was the com
plant of the sugar planters; they
brought them here at great expense,
and then five out of ten got away on
steamer for the Coast. The question Of
the geographical position Of Hawaii was
immaterial, as the constitution covered
the whole of the United States.
That the sugar planters had brought
the laborers here at great expense was
also immoterial. Watson questioned the
statement that it was the policy of con-
gress to have these people brought TO
Hawaii remarking that counsel, or
rather Jarrett, must be in the conf
dence of the people at Washington"
1t was easy to see what Jarrett was
attempting TO do. He was trying TO
bring the act within the police power
and thus evade the constitution of the
United States by trying to convince the
court that IL was a proper matter for
police regulation.
With regard to the allegation that
the laborers were ignorant and easily
misled, Watson remarked that it was
probable that the laborers would be i'm
posed on by the local talent just as
much as by Craig. Those who were here
were no more saints, or sinners, than
those in any other part of the United
States. The mawkish sentiment in the
return regarding the bringing back Of
destitute laborers did not affect the con
stitutionality Of the act.