The Washington herald., 1921-03-01
JUSTICES READ
DECISIONS FOR
NEARLY4HOURS
Alien Property Seizure
Ruling Upholds Course
Of Government.
TREASURY LOSES
INHERITANCE TAX
Collections Under 1916 Reve-
nue. Act Affected-Search-
ers Need Warrants.

erS Need warrants.
Forty-seyen cases were decided
yesterday by the Supreme Court-a
one-day record that has not been
cqualled in many years. The court
read opinions for nearly four hours.
The Supreme Court upheld the
trading with the enemy act and the
seizure and proposed sale by the
alien property custodian of 1i,9o0
shares OF stock, in the Botany
Worsted Mills. Passaic. N. j., al
legged to be German owned. The
mill Is one of the largest in the
world. The suit arose when Max w.
stoehr. a member of a noted Ger
man manufacturing family. bat a
naturalized American citizen, sought
to prevent the seizure of the stock
on the grounds that it was trans
ferred to him before the entrance
OF the United States into the war.
Inheritance Taxes Lost.
A large amount of Federal inheri-
tance taxes. collected under the rev.
enue act of 1916. will be lost to the
United States Treasury as the re-
suit of a decision by the court.
which held that the provisions of
the act in question do not render
taxable "an estate passing under
testamentary execution of a general
power of appointment created prior,
but exercised subsequent to the
passage of act.
Revenue agents must have search
warrants to Invade private homes
in hunting for liquor" the court
held.
The court set aside the conviction
OF Lawrence Amos. of South Caro-
lima, for having "moonshine" whis-
ky in his possession. Amos appeal
was based on the claim that the
liquor was taken from his home
without warrant of search and
seizure. The court ordered the
liquor returned to him.
The case did not arise under the
Volstead law, but under laws
against sale of ''moonshine" whisky
without revenue stamps. The court
emphatically declared. however, that
government agents violate the
Fourth and Fifth amendments when
they search homes for liquor with
out warrants.
Tax on Liquor Invalid.
The Kentucky statute of 1920.
placing a tax on distillers and on
liquor sent out of the State, was
held unconstitutional. The measure
applied to liquors made for legal
purposes. such as medicinal. under
the Volstead law, and places a tax
of so cents a gallon on all whisky,
withdrawn from bond or transport
ed in bond out Of the State. Re
straint of trade was alleged.
The court held the taking secret
ly and without force by members
OF the army intelligence, service of
private papers of a person suspected
OF breaking a law violates the
Fourth and Fifth amendments. TIL q.
case arose out of the action of In
telligence Service in obtaining pos
session of papers of Felix Gouled
New York. suspected of having
attempted to bribe an army officer
to obtain a contract
The Detroit United Railways lost
its tight to prevent the City of De-
troit from acquiring or constructing
municipal street car system as
ordered at an election last April.
The court refused to grant an in
junction restraining the city from
carrying on the work or issuing
t1b,OOO,OOO in bonds.
New York Gas Case.
The court refused to advance ar
guments on the appeal from a de-
cision of New York district court
restraining enforcement of the
law fixing so cents a thousand as a
maximum charge for gas in New
York State. The suit was brought
by the Brooklyn Union Gas Com
pany in lower courts.
The Supreme Court ordered a re-
argument of the governments anti
trust suit against the hardwood
lumber combine and upheld the
judgment of s1S,029.24 against the
DeLamar Company for timber
wrongfully cut on government lands
In Boise, Idaho. land district. Own
ers of land condemned by the gov
ernment may receive s per cent in
terest on the amount of damages
from the date the land is taken to
the time of the award by jury or
the payment of such compensation,
the court decided.
Judgment of lower courts in hold
ing that the Central Pacific Railway
Company Is entitled to ninety acres
of public land on which il filed claim
despite the fact that the land was
Withdrawn and placed in a power
site reserve before the railroads
claim was passed upon, was upheld.
Behind the government fight was
the effort to keep waterpower sites
from passing unreserved1y into pri-
vate hands. thing which conserva-
tionists have opposed
Pass Users May Recover.
Persons riding on passes are en-
titled to damages if injured in train
wrecks, the Supreme Court held.
Suit was brought up from Bartles-
vile, Okla, cour. by the NJ. X. and
T.. and the Santa Fe railroads, after
Hannah L. Suther, mother of +. |
B. Suther, Baltimore and Ohio
brakeman, obtained Judgment.
Amendments to the Indiana work.
mems compensation law making il |
mandatory for all coal mining com
panies to protect their workers
against industrial accidents were
upheld. The amendment was attack
ed by the Lower Vein Coal Company.
The Conklin Mining Company lost |
its suit against the Silver King Co
alition Mines Company to obtain
title to property in Utah valued at
a n0n n00