Georgia Historic Newspapers

    vol. vm.
WORLD-WIDE PERCE
THROUGH ALL AGES
PLEA OFGONGRESS
National Peace Congress Meets
In Chicago to Advocate Ter
mination of Wars Among
Nations.
TAFT SENDS LETTER
URGING ALL POWERS
TO CULTIVATE PEACE
Noted Men and Women of the United
States Meet to Perpetuate the Olive
Branch as Opposed to the Sword.
fWy Associated Proas-)
CHICAGO. May X—The second national
peace congress was opened formally here
today. Orchestra hall was well filled with
delegates. Robert Treat Paine, of Bos
ton. president of the American Peace so
ciety, was in the chair.
Addresses of welcome were made by
Governor Charles 8. Deneen and by May
or Fred A. Busse, of Chicago.
Rev. A. Eugene Bartlett, chairman of
the reception committee, welcomed the
delegates to the work of the congress and
told thn of the arrangements that had
been made for their comfort and conven
ience.
Taft Sends Letter
A letter from President Taft was read
by Secretary of the Interior Ballinger,
who had been degeiated to represent the
administration. Miss Anna B. Eckstein,
of Boston, announced a “world petition
to the third Hague conference." Dr. Ben
jamin F. Trueblood. secretary of the
American Peace society, told of the pres
ent position of the peace movement, and
Dean W. P. Rogers, of the Cincinnati
Law school, spoke of "The Dawn of Uni
versal Peace.’ in his address of welcome
Dr. Bartlett said:
"We welcome you to the serious work of
the conference. Large have been the ex
penditures. but we expect you to do your
work so faithfully that the achievements
of this gathering will be immeasurably
greater than its expenditures. This con- i
gress must be more than a spasmodic
expression of protest against wa. and a
resolution that disarmament woula be de
sirable.
A World-Wide Peace
"It should inaugurate a still more ef
fective campaign of education of the peo
ple in the interests of permanent, world
wide peaie. The burdens of war are
borne by the common people and in the
end the verdict of war or peace must
rest jrith the mnk and file of the peo
ple."
Exercises of many kinds were held in
this city yesterday as a preliminary to
this session. Special peace services were
held in all of the churches in the morn
ing. In the afternoon there was a labor
demonstration and the Socialists held sev
eral meetings. In the evening a big mass
meeting was held under the auspices of
the Sunday Evening club.
The congress will last for three days.
Th folowing is the text of a letter writ
ten by President Taft to Secretary Royal
L- Melendy. of the National Peace con
gress. and which was read at the open
ing of that body today:
"My Dear Sir: I greatly regret that I
am unable to attend the coming national
peace congress at Chicago, and there to
express my earnest sympathy with the
object of the assembling of so many dis
tinguished men in Interest of the world
peace. That progress has been made in
the matter of peace everywhere by inter
national action and by the moral pres
sure of the peoples of the earth, anyone
who has examined the record must admit.
"It is true that armaments go on in
creasing tn cost, but it is also true that
the burdens presented by this compe
tlon in armament aye growing heavier
and heavier, and the problems for so
lution consistent with their increase, be
eome more and more difficult.
"The possibilities of war now arising
come chiefly from irresponsibilities of
government, and tn those countries where
stability of internal control is lacking.
America for Peace
"The United States has contributed
much to the cause of peace by assisting
countries weak in respect to their inter
nal government so as to strengthen in
them the cause of law and order. This
relationship of guardian and ward as be
tween nations and countries. in my
judgment, helps along the cause of inter
national peace, and indicates progress m
civilization. The policy of the United
States in avoiding war under all circum
stances except those plainly inconsistent
with honor or its highest welfare has
been made so clear to the world as hardly
to need statement at my hands I can
only say that as far as my legitimte
influence extends while at the head of
this government, it will always be exert
ed in the full in favor of peace, not
only as between this country and othe*
countries, but as between our sister na
tions.
"Very sincerely yours,
WILLIAM 11. TAFT."
Paine Makes Address
"Some power which the world will heed
must take the initative in proposing peace
to the world.” said Robert Treat Paine,
of Boston, in his opening address at the
peace congress today.
Continuing, he said:
"We meet here in Chicago in hopes
that Chicago will move the United States
tn take this initiative, for which the
whole world waits.
"Action of this character has In It a
little noble audacity. When the world
was weary of the bloody fight between
Japan and Russia, at last America made
hold to intervene: remember how cordiily
the world approved and how this inter
vention was sustained til! at last it tri
umphed and peace triumphed over war.
President Roosevelt felt the sympathy
of the whole civilized world rally behind
him.
Mad Policy of War
"Even so far a long time the world
has condemned the mad policy of war
Rare outbreaks of actual war occur, yet
ail peorie* are coming to condemn the
folly of perpetually increasing prepara
tions.
"The coat of this annual burden is
bankrupting the nations.
"The wealth of the world refuses any
longer to be wasted.
"The second Hague conferance with its
glorious union of all the forty-four na
tions on earth coulff not quite agree on
the details of the supreme court of r.»-
« drafted by Hon. James Brown Scott
Atlanta Semi-Weekly Sournnl
HUNT ON SABBATH
NETS ROOSEVELT
ANOTHER BIG LION
As There Was No Sunday-
School to Attend, Kermit
Took a Try With His Gun
And Bagged a Cheetah.
(By Asssoittsd Press.)
NAIROBI, British East Africa. May X
Theodore Roosevelt bagged one more lion
yesterday at Waml, near Kapiti.
This gives him a total of three lion*
and one lioness on the present expedi
tion.
Kermit Roosevelt succeeded in bringing
down a cheetah.
The hunting was excellent, and both
marksmen did excellent work.
It is rumored in native sources, but
the report lacks confirmation, that the
*.oosevelt party will arrive at Nairobi,
May 15. before proceeding to Sotlk.
The TTon killed by Mr. Roosevelt yester
day was brought down at close range
His quick work with the rifle saved the
lives of some of his mounted escort, who
had narrow escapes from the infuriated
beast.
BBOTHEWiINS
ON WITNESS STAND
DEFENSE HAS DECIDED TO CALL
AGED MOTHER OF CAPT. PE
STER C. HAINS AS ITS LAST WIT-
NESS IN GREAT MURDER CASE.
. (By Associated Press.)
FLUSHING, N. Y., May X—With Major
John P. Hains, the defendant’s brother,
on the witness stand, the third week of
the trial of Captain Peter C- Hains, Jr.,
for the killing of William E. Annis, open
ed in the supreme court here today.
John F. Mclntyre, chief counsel for
Captain Hains, concluded the direct ex
amination of the witness by having him
identify the round-trip ticket coupons
which Thornton Hains testified he had
bought for the defendant and himself the
day they visited Bayside and Annis was
shot. The witness said Thornton Hains
had showed them to him several times af
ter the tragedy. t
According to present plans the defense
will call Mrs. Virginia Hains, the mother
of the defendant, as their last witness.
She is expected to'tell of the eccentricities
of Captain Hains as a child.
District Attorney DeWitt began ids
cross-examination of Major Hains by ask
ing him about the first interview he had
with the defendant after the latter’s re
turn from the Philippine Islands. The
district attorney went into this conversa
tion in detail again with the view of
showing that each separate act of the
defendant at that time was not necessar
ily irrational.
Major Hains was then excused:
Raw Annis Kias Mrs. Hains
Emma Lavelle, a colored domestic
employed in Captain Hain's home dur
ing 1907 and 1908, was then called as a
witness by the defense. Site first met
Captain Hains with his brother, Thorn
ton. at Fort Hamilton in June, 1908, the
witness satu.
"I said to Thornton," the witness
testified, "that it was too bad the cap
tain’s home was broken up, and Thorn
ton said, ’Yes. and I want you to tell
me all you know about it.’ I told Thorn
ton Hains that I saw Mr. Annis in Cap
tain Hains' home with his arms around
Mrs. Hains, and kissing her, and when
Mrs. Hains saw me she said, ’Emma,
this is my affinity.’ ”
The witness testified that Annis made
frequent visits to the captain’s home
while the captain was.in the Philippines,
bhe said:
"The way they carried on was some
thing dreadful. They would stay up all
night and drin«t and act ridiculous.”
The witness told of a quarrel between
Mrs. Hains and Annis, during which
Mrs. Hains saiu:
’io with your wife. Am I not
more to V’ou than she is?” To which
Annis replied, “Yes, in away.”
The witness said as she was relating
these things to Captain Hains the mus
cles in his face were drawn and he
glared and said:
"My God—What am I coming to? This
is enough to drive a man mad. I can't
stand it."
The Mountain Trip
Referring to the trip which Mrs. Hains
took “to the mountains" during her hus
band's absence in the Philippines, the wit
ness said:
"If one of her children had died we
would not have known where to And the
mother.”
On cross-examination, the witness said
that, although the captain frothed at the
mouth and cried out when she was tell
ing him and Thornton about Annis and
Mrs. Hains' she did not stop talking
about it. She said the captain kept ask
ing her to go on.
Major Timothy D. Kelleher, of the
! United States army, now stationed at
! Chicago as chief paymaster of the depart-
I ment of the west, was the next witness.
While stationed in a similar position at
the army building in New York he said
the defendant on August 5, 1908, came to
him to get his salary.
Captain Was Abnormal
The witness said that Captain Hains
• twice demanded half pay on the same
day, and on being told he would have to
wait p few minutes, abruptly left the
building only to return soon afterward
and again demand his check. His conduct
was irrational, the witness said.
Robert C. Sutton, a clerk in the office
of the chief paymaster in the army build
ing in New York, corroborated Major
Kelleher’s testimony, and told of other
erasions when he had seen Captain Hains
at the paymaster s office, when he acted
irrationally, in the opinion of the wit
ness.
to whom was entrusted that great task
by our American deputation under the
lead of our own Joseph H. Choate. But
this world scheme cannot long be de
layed.
"The next step should be to have
America speak up and ask the concur
rence of the world.
ATLANTA. GEORGIA. TUESDAY, MAY 4,1901 k
swaying CORPSES
BUNGLE BI HOPES
IN VIEOF TURKS
Thousands Chatter In Busy
I
Market Places of Constan
tinople In Very Shadow of
Suspended Victims.
MILITARY COURTS
KEEP EXECUTIONER
BUSY WITH ROPES
Thirteen Civilians and Soldiers Are
Hanged at Daylight Monday and
Their Bodies Left Hanging Before
Eyes of the Public.
(By Associated Press.)
CONSTANTINOPLE, May X-Thirteen
civilians and soldiers sentenced by the
military courts to death for murdefr were
hanged in different parts of Constanti
nople at 4 o’clock this morning.
Major Yussef, his son and three other
men who killed the Syrian deputy, Emir
Mohammed Arslan of the parliament,
were executed on the spot where they
committed the crime.
Five others were hanged at the entrance
of the ministry of war and three men
at the Stamboul end of the Galata bridge.
Upon the breast of each criminal had
been pinned a large placard in Turkish,
setting forth the sentence of the court.
Around the foot of the gibbets on the
bridge the early morning buying of fruits,
flowers and vegetables proceeded as usu
al, while the bodies were in full sight
of the great crowds that made their way
over the bridge between Stamboul and
Galata.
Victims Were Prominent
Major Youssef was commandant of the
first battalion of the Seventh regiment.
Among the non-commissioned officers ex
ecuted was Hamdi Bln Yechar, a ser
geant of the Fourth battalion of the Sa
loniki chasseurs. 4
The men executed on Galata bridge were
guilty of the murder of Lieut. Elissam
and the Major Youssef was the man who,
after the murder of Deputy Arslan made
his way to the house of parliament and
denounced the members (or acting against
the laws of the koran.
Yechar planned the details of the re
volt of April 13 and was commander-in
chief and practically dictator of the Con
stantinople for the two days following.
The other eleven men worked under Ye
char.
Mourad. editor of the newspaper Na
zim, is being tried by courtmartial today.
A. member of the coyrunartiaj
sultan's fTrmln~cdnHrmffig inesenrences
at eatji place of execution and priests
prayed with the condemned for two hours
before thier executions.
The bodies were left hanging until 2
o’clock this afternoon and were seen by
at least 100,WO of the population of the
city.
Massacres Were Planned
Documentary evidence has been re
quested among the records of the tele
graph offices here of the knowledge of
the Constantinople authorities that mas
sacres had been planned for the Adana
district, and that they were to coincide
with the political events here.
Other peters have been found indicat
ing also that the conspirators at the pal
ace acted in the sultan’s name in pre
paring the military mutiny of April 13.
Lists of houses with notes on the kind
of loot to be found therein, were dis
covered on some of the prisoners now in
custody. The arrangements Included a
general masacre of; foreigners tn Constan
tinople, including the diplomatic repre
sentatives, on April 24.
The Turkish cabinet resigned today.
The political situation is bewildering and
no one can tell what the outcome will be.
This latest ministry was organized April
30 with Twefik Pasha as grand vizier.
NEW (iOV r EßiioirGOE’s
INTO OFFICE JUNE 26
“When is the inauguration going to
be?”
That is a question you are apt to hear
around the capitol, on the streets, in
the hotel lobbies, on the trains, anywhere,
from politician, plain citizen or visitor. It
began intermittently a couple of months
ago, but has been growing increasingly
persistent as the middle of the summer
drew nearer—the time that everybody
knows in a general way' w’ill be featured
sooner or later by a change of adminis
trations.
And until now nobody has answered it,
though it would be foolish to suppose that
nobody knows the solution.
A man who is usually well informed
was asked this question, Monday. He
tried to change the subject, failed miser
ably. hestitated. and finally said, “June
4,” but immediately took it back and
when he was reminded that he was prob
ably thinking of the date of the pri
mary.
Article V, section 1, paragraph 3, of the
state constitution provides that th?
governor shall be "installed in office at
the next session of the general assem
bly” after he is elected. The secretary of
state holds the sealed returns till the as
sembly convenes, then transmits them to
the president of the senate, and they are
opened by that officer in company with
the speaker of the house. The result of
th election is declared by the whole gen
eral assembly.
Section 116 of the polical code provides
that the “ceremony' of inauguration shall
take place during the first week of the
session of the general assembly next af
ter the election and on such date of that
week as the general assembly by joint
resolution appoints,” and in the event the
assembly’ does not appoint a day, the in
auguration shall take place at 12 o’clock
noon "on the Saturday of that week, un
less prevented by providential causes.”
Under the law, the legislature is requir
ed to convene each year on the fourth
Wednesday in June.
WOMAN~KILLS HER '
I SON AND HERSELF
STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn.. May X-
Drtven Insane apparently by the sight of
a memorial card which she had ordered
for her daugther, Elsie, who died about
a month ago, Mrs. Bernard Rister this
morning beat Charles E. Emory, of Bos
ton, who had called to deliver the cards,
over the head with an axe, inflicting very
serious wounds, shot and killed her two
year-old son, Bernard, and then took her
own life by sending a bullet through her
heart.
SLW-- 7j
Sms%
Wd Z
* *
HARK!
200 KILLED IN STORM;
21 ARE DEAD IN GEORGIA;
SCORES ARE INJURED
Twelve Persons Are Killed in
. . ..
Cedartown,Six Near Albany
and Three by Lightning
Bolt Near Monroe.
■ i
PROPERTY DAMAGE
PROBABLY REACHES
SEVERAL MILLION’’
——
Late Saturday Night Storm
ing East Into the Atlantic Ocean, j
Savannah Very Badly Damaged by (
Wind and Rain.
The storm, which for three days has j
been sweeping eastward across the south- ;
ern states, last night was passing out |
of the south Atlantic states into the [
Atlantic ocean. •
Despite three days of snuffing out hu
man lives, crushing habitations, doing
perhaps millions of dollars’ damage and
for a few hours in some extensive sec
tions well nigh demoralizing business
and communication, this tremendous at
mospheric disturbance Saturday appar
ently had lost none of Its vicious energy.
Saturday, afternoon wires sud
denly regained, flashed the news of
one more death in Georgia, lives taken
by a storm,? the coming of which some
of the victims had been reading for
two days in the newspapers. Friday
night when the news of the extent of de
struction in Tennessee, with between
60 and 100 deaths, was speeding from the
presses toward Albany and Cedartown,
Ga., and when even old hands at predict
ing the course of tornadoes were draw
ing a sigh of relief and saying it was all
over, the winds were racing with the
trains toward those towns.
Before daylight the tornadoes struck
both places, killing twelve in the vicin
ity of Cedartown and six a few miles'
south of Albany.
At Savannah, the tornado had lost J
much of Its fury. It tore through the!
old town, however. unroofed many
houses and destroyed much property not
only in the city, but in adjacent coun
try.
From Norfolk came news of high winds
and some damage to property, while the
towns in North Carolina and many in
Florida contributed their quota of storm
devastation.
That the worst is over, now seems cer
tain, and it only remains to cast up the
cost in human life and property. That
this list will be incomplete for several
days is probable, for wires are down and
railway communication is seriously in
terrupted in the interior of several
states in the patn of the tornado.
With the information at hand, how
ever, it seems certain that at least 200
have been killed, probably twice as
many injured and that property w’orth
several millions of dollars has been de
stroyed.
SIX DEAD; THREE DYING,
RESULT OF CYCLONE
BUCHANAN, Ga., May I.—A cyclone
which left death and. destruction in its
path passed seven miles north of here
Friday afternoon about 5 o’clock, just
missing the little town of Felton. Six
people were killed outright and two or
three others will die. The dead are:
MRS. HEZ. SMFTH AND A GRiAND
CHILEfr
MRS. THOS. BROOKS AND TWO
CHILDREN.
MISS RICE. ,
The first damage done was at Hez i
Smith s, his house being blown away and
Mrs. Smith and a grandchild killed.
’“others were hurt:
Near Feiton. the negro schoolhouse was
blown away and the home of W. P. Cor
bin was completely destroyed. Mr. Cor
bin, his wife and two cMMren escaped by
running out in the field.
At Mr, H. L. Brooks’, a half mile from
Felton, the barn was blown away and a
cow killed. Several large oaks around
the house were blown up by the roots,
but the house was not damaged.
The home of Calvin Davis was unroofed,
the family being away from home. Sam
Carter, a negro, who lives two miles east
of Felton, escaped with his wife and two
children by running from the house just
as it was blown away.
The next place struck was that of Mr.
Thomas Brooks, where the destruction
was the greatest. The wife and two chil
dren lie dead and Mr. Brooks and another
child are said to be dying. One child, a
little girl of four years, will likely live.
The timbers from the house and the fur
niture are scattered for three or four hun
dred yards.
The bodies of Mrs. Brooks and the two
dead children were found about two hun
dred yards away, and the child which
will live was found a hundred yards
further, standing by a stump. Not even
the dog and cat escaped, and dead chick
ens were numerous.
The home of Mr. Henry Rice was blown
away and a daughter about 16 years old
was killed. Mrs. Rice has a broken arm.
Mr. Rice was considerably bruised and
the other children more or less injured.
All the physicians from here and sev
eral from Cedartown are on the scene as
sisting Dr. Cobb, of Felton, in the relief
of the suffering.
MAN, WIFE AND CHILD
KILLED BY FLASH
MONROE, Ga., May I.—During a thun
der storm here yesterday afternoon light
ning struck the home of M. B. Barrett,
on the plantation of Thomas Darby, four
miles southeast of Monroe, and instantly
killed Mr. Barrett, his wife and their six
teen-year old daughter.
Their thirteen-year-old son, who hap
pened to be in a near-by room, was ren
dered insensible by the shock.
When the flash came Mr. and Mrs. Bar
rett and their daughter were presuma
bly on the front veranda, as that was
where they were found when the storm
subsided. Mr. Barrett was horribly
burned by the lightning.
Mr. Barrett was a son of the late Dr.
Barrett, one of the best known physicians
of the county in his day. He was a broth
er of B. R. Barrett, a prominent mer
chant and cotton buyer of Monroe, and
W. B. and Charles Barrett, of Jersey,
Ga., and was 40 years o®age.
His wife was the daughter of Mr. Dial,
a well known planter of Walton county.
Both Were members of Corinth Christian
church in the western section of the coun
ty and their funeral and that of their
daughter will be preached at that place
today.
The interment will be in the church
yard bemetery and the three bodies will
be deposited in the same grave.
The Barrett home from the time of the
accident until late last night was 'visited
by curious crowds.
Mr. and Mrs. Barrett leave three other
children, the one shocked and whom it
was believed would die, aged 13, one nine,
a baby and one aged eleven.
The only damage to the building was
the tearing off of the top of the chimney,
a two-foot streak down across the shin
gles and the shattering of a considerable
place in the porch about where the vic
tims of the stroke were standing.
TOWN OF MEIGGS
WRECKED BY STORM
PELHAM, Ga., May I.—A cyclone
struck the town of Meigs/ five miles be
low here, this morning at 4 o’clock, to
tally destroying the new’ fertilizer plant,
wrecking the HubJr brick block, taking
the roof completely off Durens' stores and
flooding his stock with water; also de-
stroying the Atkinson Ginning company’s
plant.
The cyclone razed several houses, many
completely, while other partially.
No one was killed or hurt in the city
It blew down the house of Mr. Fuller,
blowing the bed out from Under two ot
the occupants, and leaving the mattress
on the floor, and blowing the floor of the
I dining room and kitchen over on top of
I everything without hurting the occupants
! of the house.
At a plantation about four miles east
of the town a young lady the ngm«
o? Miss Alitri, hacPTTer geek broken nnd
her mother, who is a widow, was seri
ously injured.
About seven miles from the city the
Fields plantation was struck and n>t a
house left standing.
[ The Meigs Telephone company Is al
i most a complete wreck, the people of the
I town are losing no ume in clearing the
streets and rebuilding. Telegraph cr»m
rpunlcations are out.
HARTWELL IS VISITED
BY SEVERE STORM
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
HARTWELL. Ga., May I.—A severe
wind storm passed over Hartwell Friday
night. In Reed Creek, a targe dwelling
house on one of Hon. James H. Skelton’s
places was completely demolished. Mr.
Pickens and family was living tn the
house but no one was hurt. A number
of outhouses were blown away.
SIX REPORTED KILLED
IN ALBANY TORNADO
(By Associated Press.)
ALBANY. Ga., May L—Six dead an<J
inestimable to property following a tor
nado which passed south of this place
today. Three negroes were killed on one
farm and two on another, while one
death is reported from Meigs, Ga., 40
miles south of here.
TWO PERSONS HURT
IN SAVANNAH STORM
(Specie’ Dispatch Jo The Jo»maL»
SAVANNAH. May L—A tornado struck
i this city this morning, injured two per
sons and caused >IOO.OOO damage.
TWELVE ARE KILLED
IN POLK COUNTY
(By Associated Press.)
CEDARTOWN. Ga., May I—The torna
do last night killed 12 persons near here.
The dead include Thomas Brooks, two ot
his children, Mrs. Hessle Gagle, an In
fant child of Guy Doctor, and a family
of seven negroes. Many buildings were
wrecked.
ONE HOUSE IN MOBILE
DESTROYED Bi’ FLASH
(By Associated Press.)
MOBILE, Ala., May I.—Mobile did not
suffer much damage from the storm ex
cept the destruction of one house from
lightning, the ruining of another and
a scare that another storm was about to
visit the place. The storm was at its
worst last night and during that time
chree fires occurred. On the river and
bay the weather was very rough and the
continuous lightning caused much
anxiety.
Western Union reports that Florida had
rough weather and wire conditions last
night were bad.
TWO LITTLE GIRLS
KILLED IN STORM
(By Associated Press.)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., May L—A
special to the Times from Decatur. Ala.,
says two little girls, aged about six and
seven years, daughters of Tom Stover, a
well known farmer, were killed two mile«
west of Danville w’hen a storm passed
over the southwestern section of Morgan
county, Alabama, yesterday afternoon.
Considerable property damage was done
in Danville and New Decatur.
NINI LIVES LOST
WHEN BARK SANK
HOUGHTON, Mich., May 1.-The lum
ber bark George Nestor foundered at an
early hour this morning between Huron
Islands and Keweenaw bay while in tow
of the steamer Schoolcraft, up-bound
light for Duluth. The entire crew of nine
was lost. The boat went down in 100 feet
of water.
The Schoolcraft and her tow was badiy
buffeted in Thursday's gale on Lake Su
perior, the barge springing a leak. Pumps
were kept going, but it is believed the
leak suddenly opened wider.
It was impossible for the Schoolcraft
to get to the Nestor because of high
seas and a blinding snowstorm. The two
Continued on Page Three
GOVERNMENT WINS
COMMODITIES CASE
IN SUPOIE COURT
Famous Clause of Hepburn
Railroad Rate Law So Vi
ciously Attacked Now De
clared To Be Constitutional.
U. S. CIRCUIT COURT
PREVIOUSLY DECIDED
AGAINST GOVERNMENT
First Decision, Which Was Rendered
by Justice Gray, Attracted '
sal Attention—Summary of Decis
ion Handed Down Monday.
By Ralph Smith
WASHINGTON. D. C„ May 3.—Some of
the biggest railroad sy’stems in the coun- j
try sustained a severe blow today when f
the supreme court of the United Statas -
reversed the decision of the lower courts
in connection with the commodities clause
in the rate law. Under the decision of
the court today many of the big roads
will have to divest themselves of thetr
coal properties provided congress does
not come to their relief.
In the brief time allowed for an analy
sis of the decision, which was read b&y
Justice White, it appears that as constru- !
ed by’ the court, the rate law provides
that a road may not haul in interstate
traffic an article, such as coal, when it
directly owns and controls the production ’♦
of such article, a road, however, is not
barred from hauling such commodity
merely because it owns the stock of the
concern producing the commodity. This j
interest in the article does not constitute *
a legal interest in or title to the commod
ity on the part of the hauling railroad.
Body Blow to Railroads
Under this interpretation the Pennsyi- g
vanla railroad, which owns shares of a '■
large number of coal companies, may
haul the product of the companies. The -j
Reading company will not be greatly hurt |
as much of its interest in coal properties
is in the shape of stock ownership in sub
sidiary companies.
The Delaware and Hudson, the Delaware
and Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley, the
Norfolk and Western all stated in the evi-:
dence that they owned and operated coal t
mines directly. Under the court’s decis- >
ion they will have to get rid of these
properties. Some of them also have stock
interests in outside mining properttaa.♦ \
The decision today overturns Tn large
part ths recent decision of the circuit
court of the Eastern district of Pennsyi
vania, which declared the ccmmoditk»‘
clause to be unconstitutional.
The announcement as to the commodl- 4
ties clause was made in deciding ths /
twelve injunction and mandamus cases
brought by’ the government against the
Delaware and Hudson, the Erie, the New 1
Jersey Central, the Delaware and Lack
awanna. the Pennsylvania and the Le
high Volley’ railroads.
The cases came to the court from ths j
United States circuit court for the east
ern district of Pennsylvania, whose de
cision as announced by Judge George
Gray, in 1903. attracted much attention.
They originated in the circuit court and
in its petition the government charged
that the railroad companies in question
were engaged in transporting interstate |
commerce in anthracite coal mined by
themselves in their own mines, which are
located in Pennsylvania.
What Act Provides
The Hepburn act makes it unlawful “for
any railroad company to transport from n
any state to any other state or to any J
foreign country any article or commodity, i
other than timber, manufactured, mined,
or produced by it, or under its authority,
on which it may own in whole or in part. £
or in which it may have any interest, di- j
rect or indirect, except in such articles :
or commodities as may be necessary and
intended for its use in the conduct of its |
business as a common carrier.”
The circuit court decided against the I
constitutionality of the provision because, ®
as it was alleged, it deprives the corpora
tions of their liberty and of property in i
away that is prohibited by the fifteetnh
amendment to the constitution.
It was also held by that court that ths
clause "not indirectly but directly." work 4
a practical confiscation of the property 3
of the railroad: hence the law was held
to be invalid, and "in its nature and es- }
feet a discriminative prohibition."
That verdict was reversed by today s
decision.
Summary of Opinion
The following is a summary of the opin- ■
ion in the commodities eases:
1— The claim of the government that '
the provision contained in the Hepburn I
act approved June 29. 1906, commonly call- 1
ed the commodities clause, prohibits a
railway company from moving com modi* '4
ties in interstate commerce because the
company has manufactured, mined or J
produced them, or owned them in whole J
or in part or has had an interest direct ■
or indirect in them, wholly irrespective of I
the time of transportation is decided to
be untenable. It is also decided that the
provision of the commodities clause re- >
lating to interest, direct or Indirect does |
not embrace an interest which a carrier
may have in a producing corporation as
the result of the ownership by the car
rier of stock in such corporation irres
pective of the amount of stock which the 1
carrier may own in such corporation, pro- 1
vided the corporation has been organizedvJ
in good faith.
2 Rejecting the construction placed by 9
the government upon the commodities J
clause, it is decided that that clause, when !
all its provisions are harmoniously con- <4
strued has soleiy for its object to prevent J
carriers engaged in interstate commerce-J
from being associated in interest at the
time o f ’ransportation with the commqd
ities transported, and therefore the com
modities clause only prohibits railroad 3
companies engaged in interstate com
merce from transporting such commerce 4
commodities under the following circum
stances and conditions:
Not In Oo<l Faith ♦
r —When the commodity has been manu- ;
factored, mined or produced by a railway
•.‘rm.pan or under its authority and at
the :.;me of transportation, the railway
company has not in good faith before the
Continued on page Three
NO. 66