New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-25
Charges Of Injustice Denied.

The committee appointed by the Bar
Association 20 Investigate the causes
underlying the dissatisfaction with the
judicial system was composed OF -. Cady
iie'rlck. chairman; Walter Shaw Brew
stcr. william d. Guthrie. Adelbert Moot
AM Henry Purcell. Accompanying the
report OF the committee was supple
mental report by William D. Guthrie Of
New York city IN which he took up GER
tain specific instances recently cited oy
ex-rresident Theodore Roosevelt as being
samples OF legal injustice" Nj Guthrie
designated these cases as typical cX-
amples OF Misrepresentation,
OF the famous tenement house tobacco
case decision cited by Mr. Roosevelt a.
having retarded tenement reform Mr.
Guthrie says.
In January 1855. the Court OF Appeals
decided the So-called tenement house
tobacco case Un re Jacobs - y y 80.
In that case man named Jacobs was
prosecuted criminally under a statute
then recently passed (chap. 212. L. 1850
FOR attempting 10 carry Oh the trad. Of
cigar making in his own home. lie lived
IN the city OF New York with his VII.
and two children. and occupied an apart
mcnt OF seven rooms In building IN
which there were three other apartments
Of cqual sl2c
The evidence showed that he made
cigars IN roxms of this apartment which
were wholy\scparated from the sleeping
ana cooking rooms, and that there was
no odor cf tobacco In any OF the sleeping
or cooking rooms. Jacobs was I'm fact
carrying on his trade al home for the sup
port OF himself and his family, under
conditions much healthier tnan h. would
have found II ne had been compelled 10
work N crowded factory. particularly
In 1854. when there We're no such sanitary
regulations OF factories as now prevail
under the operation Of our present public
health and labor laws
The Board OF Health OF the city of New
York declared at the time. speaking OF
this act that the health OF the ten.-
inent house population IL not ieopardzed
by the manufacture OF cigars In those
houses, that this bill Is not a sanitary
measure and that II has not been APP
the Jacobs case Mr. T. Tecumseh Sher-
man. OF the New York bar. who is reputed
To be the best informed man i'm our state
upon the subject OF labor conditions and
legislation and who was Al one time State
Commissioner OF Labor. said In a letter
published last year that the statute, al
though purporting 10 be for the public
health, was not n reasonable regulation
FOR chat purpose. because Il arbitrarily
selected one article and forbade it's manu-
orally unsanitary, and added, "as matter
of fact, the act was not designed TO pro-
tect health. but to put out OF business,
one set Of competitors in trade war"
The courts OF our state declared the
statute unconstitutional because II I'M
warrantably and unreasonably interfered
with the liberty OF the individual and
held that the legislation was not a health
measure AT all. The General Term. speak
ing BY Presiding Justice Noah Davis
nOittsu ont that ~ tho "a ~
and aimed at all tenement houses and
prohibited for sanitary reasons the manu-
facture OF cigars and tobacco I'm all such
buildings or II IL prohibited such manu-
iacture in the living rooms of all tene-
ments another case would be presented :"
hut that as the statute stood II was a
piece of discriminatory class legislation.
, The Court Of Appeals. speaking by
Judge Earl. stated that. as was proved
In the case. the odor OF tobacco did not
extend to any OF the other rooms of the
tenement house and that the law was
not really intended to protect the health
OF those engaged In cigar making in their
homes. but was an unfair measure aimed
only at certain classes.
simple perusal of these opinions
should satisfy any candid person that
there was absolutely nothing In the de-
cisions or the courts which prevented the
Immediate passage OF "A proper health
statute and the prohibition by such stat
ute OF the manufacture OF tobacco in
living or cooking rooms or under any
unsanitary conditions whatever.
Defends Bakers Case Decision.
Another case criticised by Mayor Gay
nor. AZ we'll as by ex-President Roose-
welt. IL what is known as the bakers
case. People VS.. Lochner. Il, n. Y.
AS. reversed in 1888 L. s. 49, or this Mr..
Guthrie In lie