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THE JEFFERSONIAN Vol. IL No. 47. Watson Calls U. S. Judges Usurpers Washington, D. C., Dec. 10.—Hon. Thomas E. Watson has been shown many attentions during his visit to Washington. After lunching with President Roosevelt yesterday, he was dined last night at the Higgs hotel by Representative Hardwick. Pres ent at the dinner were Senator Clay, Representative Bartlett, J. F. Usry, of Thomson, Ga., Mr. Watson’s nephew. Mr. Watson today lunched at the senate restaurant with Senators Cul berson, of Texas; Tillman, of South Carolina; Bacon and Clay, of Geor gia; Representatives Champ Clark, of Missouri; Bartlett and Hardwick, of Georgia. Aside from lunching at the white house and outlining his financial views to the President, Hon. Thomas E. Watson, who was here yesterday, dis cussed with Mr. Roosevelt at least two other important subjects in which the people of the South are inter ested. He touched upon the way in which federal judges of inferior juris diction usurp authority over states in the matter of railroad rate regu- ♦ lation, and he touched upon the li con fiscatory” plea the corporation law years are setting up in all litigation with the states. Mr. Watson has decided views on these subjects, and he did not mince words in discussing them with the President. He referred to Federal Judges Jones, of Alabama, and Pritchard, of North Carolina, as “ju dicial accidents,” and claimed that circuit and district United States court judges are without legal au thority to take jurisdiction over a case brought by a railroad against a state, or its duly constituted officers. Congressman Hardwick, of Georgia, has introduced a bill to prevent in ferior federal courts from taking ju risdiction in such eases, and the rep resentatives from several other states have followed the lead set by him. When seen at the Riggs house last night Mr. Watson dictated the fol lowing interview: “One subject upon which I spoke to him was the way in which federal judges of inferior jurisdiction had usurped jurisdiction over states in suits brought them by private indi viduals or corpations. By the act of 1789, a clause which was introduced by Oliver Elsworth, of Massachusetts, provided that any suit to test the constitutionality of a state law should be brought in the state court, and that by writ of error, such a case might be carried from the Supreme Court of the state to the Supreme Court of the United States. “The original act of 1789 is still ra part of the law of the land, there fore, a federal judge of inferior ju risdiction, such as a district or a cir cuit judge, has no legal right what ever to take jurisdiction of a case brought by a railroad eorporation apaiast a state, er itb ceiMitatiosal A Weekly Paper Edited by THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON. authorities. It is gimply intolerable that judicial accidents like Jones, of Alabama, and Pritchard, of North Carolina, should arrogate to them selves powers which, by the expressed terms of the laws, are vested solely in the United States Supreme Court. Anarchy is Threatened. “Unless this usurpation of power by federal judges of inferior courts is checked by congress or resisted by the states, anarchy is bound to pre vail, because of the confusion and conflict growing out of inconsistent decisions of the inferior court judges. “Another * thing about which I trr.z:. , 'h I ’ -U $ . ■* Sfe- JwsMßr llllill I • 1 /’iW Pi ; ■ ■■■ -■ A. ' - ■ ■■ •' *' ■ THOS. E. WATSON. As He Appears Today. From a Photograph Taken by the Times Photogra pher.—Washington Times. * talked to the President was the his toric origin of this confiscatory plea that the corporation lawyers have been pushing to such monstrous ex tremes. In those years preceding the great charter in England, the vassal had not .been safe from the arbitrary seizure of his property and person by his lord, neither had the lord been secure from his king; just as the lord arbitrarily imprisoned his vas sal! and took his property, to ths lang imprisened the loris and teak Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, December 19, 1907. his estate by force. The great char ter simply meant to safeguard every citizen from arbitrary seizures of property and imprisonment of per son. “There can be no confiscation of property where the owner is left; in full possession with title unimpaired. If the laws should be so that the farmer can not. make a het profit out of his farm, such a law would be unjust and should be repealed, but it does not by any means confiscate the farm. In like manner, if rates and other statutory burdens should be of such a character that a railroad or other public service corporation could not make net profits on actual capital involved, such a law would be un just and ought to be repealed, but if the law left the corporation in full >nssession of its property with title unimpaired, it is folly to say that the law is confiscatory. Confiscation Defined. “Suppose such a principle as the corporations are contending for in theta sontsaatary pleas was reeop aized as paod law, hew eeuld it Price five Cents. duce a tariff schedule? A knitting mill, for instance, could combat an act of congress which lowered the protection it enjoyed by pleading that a reduction caused a loss of part of its profits, if not all of them. If a law of any sort which deprives a corporation of all its profits is con fiscatory, a law which takes away any of its profits is confiscatory, for the reason that the legislature has no more right to confiscate a part of the property than to confiscate all of it, consequently the logical results of establishing the principle for which the corporation lawyers are contend ing will be that congress can never lower a single tariff without laying the foundation for a confiscatory law suit. ’ ’ By special appointment Thomas E t XX atson this afternoon conferred with Secretary of the Treasury Cor telyou in reference to the financial situation. Mr. Cortelyou was pres ant at Mr. Watson’s conference with the President yesterday, and this morning arranged for a lengthier con fab with the former Populist leader. To what extent Mr. Watson inter ested the President in his project ’or issuing greenbacks under an old law which has never been repealed has not been divulged, but the fact that Secretary Cortelyou renewed the conference may indicate that the president was impressed with Mr. Watson’s views. At the conference this afternoon Mr. Watson urged the secretary to issue fifty millions in greenbacks to be scattered throughout the South and West. He took the position that thia alone will check the panic, which, he says, will be most felt next spring, when the merchants and farmers and manufacturers will be badly in need of money.—Atlanta Journal. NATIONAL FINANCE. The annual meeting of the Amer ican Academy of Political and Social Science, held recently in Philadelphia, drew together a number of the most eminent economists and financiers of the country, men who are the heads of large banking and monetary insti tutions and who have devoted their lives to the practical and successful handling of large sums of money. The subject discussed at this meeting was “The Remedy for the Present Amer ican System of Banking and Curren cy. ” There was a consensus of opin ion that the present banking and cur rency system of the country is faul ty and the prevalent idea concerning a remedy was that there should be a central bank, after the manner of the leading European nations. Mr. William A. Nash of the Corn Exchange Bank of New York de clared that a central bank “will put us on a par with England, France and Germany, with their benign national banks,” and Mr. Isaac H. Seligman, of the well-known banking house of J. H. Seligman & Co., quoted Lord Rothschild as saying that this country (ton tinned an Pape Tweltn.)