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Survey o
TO WAKE UP THE COURTS.
John D. Lawson, dean of the law
school of Missouri University, and editor
of the American Law Review, 1b soon
to eo to France to studv its courts for ?
year, as a representative of the American
Bar Association. The information
to be gathered by Judge L.awson will be
considered by the Amerfean Bar Association
in a thorough report which that
committee is to make on the changes
needed in the United States court system
In order to allay the feelings
against judges that is becoming so
prominent at present. One of Mr. Lawson's
ideas Is that there are too many
judges in America at present. He
points out that there are more of these
officials in Missouri alone than in all
England. "We need fewer and more
efficient judges and courts, that will
dispose of cases one after another and
keep up with the docket and accomplish
justice substantially, whether the word
"the" was left out of the indictment or
not, ne said in a recent address to law
students. "While England has rid herpelf
of the hampering technicalities of
by-gone ages by modern litigation,
Amerfca has been content to struggle
along under conditions that were recognized
as backward and cramping
nearly a century ago," he said. "It is
n matter of common knowledge in
America to-day that it is cheaper to pay
an unjust claim and say no more about
it than to hire a lawyer and vindicate
your rights. A criminal with enough
money can appeal and appeal, delay and
delay, take changes of venue, take the
rase back on rehearing and delay the
ffnal verdict for years, no matter how
certain conclusive evidence is against
him.
UNCLE SAM SCOOPS MORE ISLANDS.
All doubt as to the sovereignty of the
American government over the group or
PalmyTia inlands, in the South Pacific,
was dispelled recently upon the report
of Rear Admiral Southerland, who, in
command of the second division of the
Pacific fleet , visited the islands and
made a survey and thorough inspection.
Admiral ;Southerland )stated that he
found no traces of British occupation, as
hrd been claimed, hut that he did And
traces of a previous occupation 01 Japanese
bird hunters. Investigation made
by the navy department shows that the
islands had been surveyed by American
government in 1882, and were recognized
at that time as a part of the Hawaiian
group. It was held, accordingly, that
their sovereignty was transferred to the
Unite* States when the Hawaiian
islands were taken over.
THE GOLD PLAGUE.
The annual production of gold is more
than four times as large to-day as It
was in 1890, and the effect of the flood
upon business,.particularly upon prices,
has engaged the attention of financial
economists Che world over. The argument
of the advocates of the theory that
increased production of gold is responsible
for high prices of commodities and
high cost of capital engaged In business
runs something Ifke this: Gold is the
measure of value, more universally
adopted to-day than ever before in the
world's history. Increased1 production
of gold means a larger amount of the
metal exchangeable for commodities,
and the larger amount thus actually exchanged
acconnts fOr higher prices, as
measured In gcrtd. The Increased cost of
capital Is due to the fact that the income
derived from capftal at the old
rate of Interest or dividends doea not
have the same purchasing powers as
formerly. Production for twenty-one
years Is shown to mount steadily up
THE PRESBYTER I.
>/ Curren
ward, save for the interruption caused
by the Boer war, from $113,000,000 In
1890 to $454,000,000 in 1910. The twentyone
years are divided into two periods,
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the first period Is estimated at $1,960,000,000.
During the second period production
amounted to $4,037,000,000. Industrial
consumption about douhled
during the period under review and for
1910 is estimated to have totaled $111,848,500.
Consun^ition of leading countries
for 1910 follows: United States,
$33,756,500; Great Britain, $18,000,000;
France, $16,836,000; Germany, $15,536,000;
Switzerland, $5,670,000; Italy, $3,000,000;
Russia, $4,000,000, and Canada,
$1,850,000.
TO SUPPRESS EXPRESS EXTORTION.
Representative Martin, of South Dakota,
has introduced a bill In the House
which would deprive the express companies
of their exclusive right to transport
freight on fast trains. The bill
would compel all railroad companies to
carry on passenger trains and accept
for transportation all parcels and packages.
The rates would be subject to the
review of the interstate commerce commission.
The bill would enjoin the
railroad companies from discrminating
in favor of any express company. It
was referred to the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
TOO MITCH BIG?ARMY.
An attack on extravagant military expenditures
was made by Senator Williams,
of Mississippi, when the army
appropriation bill was brought up in
the Senate. Senator Williams declared
that this country was no more of a
world power now than it was before the
Spanish War, and that he had no more
use for the attempt of the white man to
rule a brown man's country than for the
black and the browns to attempt to
rule In a white man's country.
He did not regard Hawaii as of militarv
importance, because that island
could not defend this country, nor could
this country defend the island, more
than 1,000 miles away.
COAL SUPPLY LOCKED UP.
Under the present scheme of classifying
government coal land 56,089,214
acres of withdrawn land bad been, or
August 1, examined In geologic detail
and classified by the United States geological
survey. The lands found to contain
workable coal beds aggregated 16,7
873,370 acres. These lands, in 40-aere
tracts, have ben appraised at a total
valuation of 5711,992,537. At the minimum
prices which were In effect before
the government withdrawals of coal
lands, the 16,873,370 acres referred to
would have been priced at only 5266,652,431.
"Before withdrawal they were
available for settlement on the same
terms as other public lands.
NATIONAL TRADE ORGANIZATION.
Business men representing various
commercial and industrial organizations
of the United States met in Washington
last week in the first convention ever
called to organize a board of trade
which will take in all sections of the
country and be prepared to< give the
government,, whenever called upon, the
concrete Judgment of American commerce
and Industry on any pending
ouestlon. There were in attendance on
the meetings in the banquet room of the
bTew Wlllard hotel between 700 and
1.000 men representing 200 bualneng or*<?nl7*tlons.
all of them enthusiast!?
rs^or- tv? Moo rtf ne'*fe^ 1r^ , ?neh en o**ganlzatlon
us Secretary Nagle ontltned
in hie address before the convention.
There are now 114 national, commercial
A. N OF THE SOUTH
it Events
and industrial organizations in this
country, each one speaking for a particular
business or industry and none
of them pretending- to speak for the
business men of the oountry as a whole.
It was the idea of Sn*#?tarv Nn ?lo
the convention should result In the organization
of a society which will speak
for these 114 organizations, authoritatively
and intelligently and that the
new organization should secure a charter
from Congress and In a measure assume
such a position in American
affairs as is taken by the British Board
of Trade in the affairs of that country,
although without being a part of the
government. .
TO BE THRESHED OUT ITT COURT.
Another case of "reasonable restraint
of trade" is likely to develop sooa In the
Harvester Trust prosecution. Hope of
dissolving the $146,060,000 international
Harvester Company without a fight In
the courts has been practically abandoned.
A suit against, the corporation
under the Sherman anti-trust law probably
will be filed at Chicago within a
week. There remains one bare possibility,
however, that an agreement maybe
reached, but those familiar with the
problem have lost expectations that the
government and the corporation will
bridge the differences as to a. plan of
disintegration. After a protracted conference
Attorney-General Wickersham,
Assistant to the Attorney-General
Fowler and counsel for the Harvester
Company, who have conducted negotiations
extendlngover several months, declined
to comment on the situation.
Edgar A. Bancroft and John P. Wilson,
representing the corporation, will return
to Chicago for further consultation
with officials there. The crux at the
whole difficulty, It Is beUeved, lies In
the contention of the Harvester Company
that the MoCormlok and Deerlng
Companies, which- are subsidiaries,
should not be separated in any scheme
of reorganization. The government
wanted these integral' parts made distinct.
THE WOOD PULP GRIND.
The government mills are still grinding
away on the wood pulp oase. The
question of free entry of- wood pulp and
paper to the United States from all foreign
nations having commercial treaties
with this country will be appealed to
the Custom* Court. The Board of General
Appraisers at New York has sustained'the
government's contention that
the favored nations clause of treaties
cannot, be invoked-to-abolish the duties
epneraltv ni? wood rmVn and ratnar
ground that the free entry privilege 1?
being enjoyed by Canada, under the only
operative eetlon of the Canadian reciprocity
agreement! The American Express
Company and other importers of
European wood pulp will appeal. It is
known that President Taft wishes to
have the Customs Court pass- upon the
question, which has been raised diplomatically
by several European nations.
PATENT MONOPOLIES DEFENDED;
Efforts to amend the patent la we sinoe
the United States supreme court decision
In the Diok-Henry Mimeograph
case and make It impossible for a company
to control supplies aflieged "by-it to
be necessary to the complete success of
a patented article are opposed by the
National Board of Trade. ''When It is
recalled that- there is nearly $760,i000,000
Invested in patented articlea in this
country which might be directly affected
if radical legislation were enacted, it
would seem that good sense and good
Judgment demanded that no hasty or HI
considered legislation should be tolerated,"
it saya in a. statement "Big con.
[ May 1, 1912.
cern with millions of money behind
them are engaged in the sale of patented
articles themselves and are not seeking
to control the articles, that go with
the patent." While Chief Justice
White's dissenting opinion says that almost
every household article might be
included In a patent monopoly under the
prevailing opinion of his colleagues the
National Board of Trade contends that
as the law has existed for fifteen or
twenty years there can be no crying,
need of changing it now.
A STRIKE CURE.
When a strike of more than 30,060
locomotive and electrical engineers on
fifty eastern railroads, with a mileage
of more than 50,000, seemed fmminent,
the United States government, through
Martin A. Knapp, the presddlng judge of
the United States court of commerce,
and Charles P. Neill, the United States
commissioner of labor, changed the
whole situation bv takiner the Inttlattro
looking first to mediation and Anally
to arbitration of the wage dispute between
the railroad? and the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers. The intervention?or,
rather, tender of kindly
offices?it was said in railroad circles,
was without precedent in the railway
history of the country. Both the United
States oommisstoner of labor and the
judges of the federal court of commerce,
by the provisions of the Erdman act,
are duly authorized to give their services
as official mediators to either side
in a labor dispute. In this case, however,
they took the initiative, thus preventing,
at least temporarily, a strike
that seemed inevitable and opening the
way to a peaceful settlement.
ENTIRELY TOO GENEROUS.
The fact that the Persian government
has submitted to the terms dictated to
it by Russia and Great Britain proves
very little beyond the argument of force.
Persia certainly needed money, but It Is
a curious fact that a country needing
money should have hadtohave a loan
forced upon it at the point of the bayonet.
It la the contention of the Persian
government, backed hy the opinion
of Morgan Shuster, from which there
seems no valid reason for dissenting,
that if the reorganization of Persian
finance had been carried out on the
lines whiohhad been already proposed,
so far from requiring a loan Persia
would have been able at once to pay its
own way and even, to show a surplus.
No doubt if the terms enforced try the
two great powers are strictly adhered
to, the conditions of things In Persia
will improve, though it by no means
follows that the acceptance of them was
a prime necessity to that iraprovemenrt.
GERMANY'S FIGHT FOR PEACE.
The debate on the bills increasing the
German army and navy is under way in
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Holkweg, the imperial chancellor, in introducing
the measures justified the increase
on the grounds of Germany's exposed
continental position and the everpresent
danger ot war. He was sore, he
said, that no great power wished for or
was planning a war with Germany, hut
the wars of the past had developed unexpectedly,
and the possibility of a conflict
remains in a higher degree than
before, owing to the increased facilities
for fanning public agitation. The chancellor
defended the government for not
uuupiius me mneruance Tax- in u#w
to finance the army and navy KiTla, ?f"
Ing adequate funds were avaMCWe without
this project, on which.the ReifchsUK
was divided.