Evening star., 1927-10-03
NEW TERM OPENED
By SUPREME COURT
Cases Received in Summer
Exceed Any Recorded in
Recent Years.

any record III recent years. Inc tOldi
number awaiting it's consideration, in
cluding those carried over from the
last term is less than a year ago,
however.
: The court has a list of "a cases set
for oral arguments, but it is expected
to follow precedents and deliver no
opinions during the first week in any
of the five cases 1t has in hand from
the last term awaiting decision. These
include the famous Teapot Dome case,
brought to evict Harry f. Sinclair
and his companies from the naval oil
reserve in Wyoming. The others are
one attacking the validity of coopera'
tive marketing laws, raised by the
Liberty Warehouse Co., in Kentucky;
an effort by the Skinner & Eddy Co.
to force Controller McCarl to pass on
a SO, ,000, 900 claim against the Govern
ment; the right of States to tax the
gross receipts of taXicab companies,
in a case from Pennsylvania. and
boundary dispute between Texas and
New Mexico, involving land near Ell
Paso.
The most important dispute between
States before the court, which prob
ably will be decided during the term,
involves Chicago's diversion of water
from Lake Michigan. Former Justice
Charles L. Hughes. by direction of the
court, took evidence in the Wisconsin
suit against Illinois and the Chicago
Sanitary District, and the case will be
set for argument soon after his re-
port, including his findings, is filed.
There are two other cases, one by
Michigan and the other by New York,
which may be controlled in large
measure by the Wisconsin decision.
All told, the court will be confronted
with approximately SIS cases, COM
pared with 66S at the beginning of
the last term, some of them OF out
standing Importance. Owing to
extraordinary efforts made by the
court in recent years to expedite the
disposal of accumulated business, it
closed it's last term in June with 2S3
cases awaiting consideration. against
400 the year previous. In the sum
mer recess about 292 cases were filed,
compared with only 259 during the
previous vacation recess.
About $50 of the cases placed on the
docket since last June are petitions
asking the court to grant reviews, and
of these one in five will remain there
to be disposed of on their merits.
About 200 will be stricken from the
list as soon as the court has had an
opportunity to examine the questions
presented.
Advanced for Argument.
The "a cases advanced for argu-
nlent, all of which will be heard dur
ing October, present IS different ques-
tions, and are headed by an attack
upon the law regulating jitneys in
Detroit. Near the top of the list is
the cases of Swift & Co. and other
packers to set aside consent decree
xrrhich fhnxy m onnf1rn
their activities to the meat packing
business.
The list includes number of tax
cases. one from Michigan, attacking
the Federal gift tax on State securi-
ties; another from northern Ohio,
questioning when dividends were tax
able under the act in effect in 1917;
one from Minnesota, asking when net
earnings could be treated as non-tax-
fable surplus under the revenue act of
1918; an Oklahoma appeal whether
taxpayers in the recovery Of money
paid the Government are restricted to
the grounds stated in their claims;
whether their settlements made by
the Commission of Internal Revenue
are renewable by the Board of Tax
Appeals and the courts, in case from
Cincinnati, and whether incomes from
leases on Indian land can be taxed by
the Federal Government, in two cases
from Oklahoma.
Several prohibition cases also have
been advanced for hearing. including
those of John p. DonnelIy, former
prohibition director of Nevada, to de-
termine whether prohibition agents
are required to report alleged law vio-
1ations to United States attorneys;
whether national prohibition super
seded the Alaska dry law in the mat
ter Of searches of private residences
without a search warrant, raised by
Joseph E. Marion of San Francisco,
and whether State police in New York,
cooperating with Federal prohibition
agents, can lawfully search automo-
biles without a search warrant.
One Of the more interesting Of the
prohibition cases awaiting argument
questions whether premises in Detroit
can be padlocked when violators Of the
law have been evicted by the owners
Of the property. There are cases
brought by persons to set aside their
convictions on various grounds, most
ly technical.
Among cases Of general interest
awaiting decision are those of the
National Alliance Of Furniture Manu-
facturers to withhold it's books from
-the Federal Trade Commission in an
investigation at Chicago, and a case
attacking the validity of the flexible
provisions Of the tariff act under
which the President is authorized to
raise or lower duties under certain
conditions.
Railroad Valuation.
Included in the cases in which re-
views have been asked is that involv-
ing the question whether the valua-
ton placed by the Interstate Com
merce Commission on the Kansas
City Southern and other railroads was
properly set aside by the lower courts
This decision is expected to have far
reaching effects in the commissions 3
valuation proceedings.
Other cases awaiting argument and
decision involve:
Another attack upon the Pennsyl
vania, anthracite coal tax.
The question Of the jurisdiction Of
the Interstate Commerce Commission
over joint rates on news print when a
part Of the haul is in Canada.
The validity of the Walker law in
New York, under which George w.
Bryant was convicted for not making
certain reports concerning the affairs
OF the Ku Klux K1an.
The Oklahoma-Tex boundary dis
pute.
The right Of Kentucky to tax mort
cages.
The right Of the Kentucky State
Tax Commission to increase the as.
sessments upon property made by
local county tax commissioners.
The validity of the Minnesota area
.ca ttle.testing law.
Validity of the tax imposed by Ken
tucky and West Virginia upon the
United Fuel Gas Co.
The regulation of dentists by Ten