Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-10-03

the best service and has made for the
state the greatest amount of interest
upon its moneys entities him to re-
ceive the approval of the people of
the commonwealth in handling their
financial business. Under the consti-
tuition the treasurer cannot succeed
himself, but II nominee, Hon. E. P.
Deal, will maintain the high standard
set by Judge Cowgirl.
Attorney-ceneral.
In the office of Acknowledgement
l have endeavored to discharge the
duties with efficiency and dispatch.
Never before in the history of the
state has the business of the de-
partment become so important and
so great in volume. Suits pending
when | came into office and those in
stituted by me have demanded that
for the public good certain interests
be prosecuted and certain laws main
tanned. | un%hesitatingly made the
fight and enforced the laws. AS to
whether or not l have given a good
account of the stewardship, the record
must speak for itself.
Since my incumbency the business
of the department has increased fully
fifty per cent. We have had forty
nine cases in the Supreme Court of
the United States, which is a greater
number of cases in that tribunal than
the entire number handled by all the
other Attorney-Generals since Mis-
souri, was admitted to the Union.
That is more cases than the Attor-
neys-General from the other forty
seven states have had in that court
during the time have been in office.
We have had forty-six cases in the
United States District Courts, some
thirty-odd original suits in the Su-
preme| Court of Missouri, and more
than four hundred criminal cases.
During this time. we wrote fifteen
hundred opinions, as against six hun
dred and twenty-nine written by my
predecessor during the four years he
was in office.
Out of this great volume of bust
ness there were many important
cases and matters which materially
affected the entire citizenship of Mis-
souri,.
Stamp Act or lDoweII Law.
Among the more important cases
which we have conducted might be
mentioned the one involving the
stamp act or Dowell law. This act
required a twenty-five cent stamp to
be placed upon the memoranda of GER
tain sales made at certain places and
commonly known as futures. This law
was passed in 1907, but had not been
observed.
The law was attacked on the ground
that it was unconstitutional. After a
conviction was had in the lower
court, upon appeal to the Supreme
Court of Missouri we sustained it's
constitutionality by a divided opinion.
The case was carried to the Supreme
Court of the United States upon writ
of error and there we sustained the
law by a unanimous decision.
We then visited the exchanges in
st. Louis and Kansas City, in COM
pany with the Auditor, and collected
at one time a fraction less than $780,
000.0 from those who had failed to
observe the law, and placed that sum
in the treasury of the state to the
credit of the road fund. The proceeds
from the enforcement of this law now
amount to over $500, 100000, and are
increasing at the rate of practically
$4,000 per day. This is our official
contribution to the good road move
ment in the State of Missouri.
FulLWeight Statute.
In 1900 the Legislature passed a
law requiring all hay, coal, seed and
grain to be sold at it's actual weight.
The exchanges had a rule whereby
they deducted one hundred pounds
from the actual weight of every car
Of grain on the theory there would be
one hundred pounds of foreign sub
stance in each car. In grading the
grain, however, they took into con-
~sideration whatever, if any, foreign
substance was in the car and then
deducted the n hundred pounds.
The full-weight statute was enacted
to prevent the enforcement of this
rule. The exchanges refused to obey
the law.
An arrest was had and the defend
ant applied to the Supreme Court of
Missouri for his release upon a writ
of habeas corpus contending that the
law was unconstitutional. We sus-
tanned the law in the Supreme Court
Of Missouri by a divided opinion,
and the defendant carried the case to
the Supreme Court of the United
States upon writ of error.
In arguing the case in the Supreme
Court of the United States the de-
PENDANT c%ontended that the law was
unconstitutional in that it took his
properly without due process of law.
We replied to his argument by, say
ing the law was founded upon no
less principle than that announced
by King Solomon when he said, "a
false balance is a%bomination to the
Lord, but a just weight is his de-
light" We won the case and .sus-
tanned the law.
| wish you to know what the en-
forcement and sustaining of this law