Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/745

709 Harvard Law Review Published monthly, during the Academic Year, by Harvard Law Students SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, $2.60 PER ANNUM 85 CENTS PER NUMBER Henry H. Hoppe, Case Editor Harold F. Reindel, Case Editor Carl H. Baesler James A. Fowler, Jr. Leo Gottlieb Isaac B. Halpern Harold W. Holt Cloyd Laporte Victor Levine Editorial Board George E. Osborne, President Charles M. Thorp, Jr., Note Editor Clifton Murphy, Note Editor Harold J. Laski, Book Review Editor George F. Ludington Stanley Morrison Arthur D. Platt H. William Radovsky Sigurd Ueland Clarence J. Young WiLUAM P. Palmer Railroad War Bonds. — In "An Act to provide for the operation of transportation systems while under Federal control, for the just com- pensation of their owners, and for other purposes," ^ approved by the President, March 21, 1918, there are two passages relating to the issue of railroad securities. "Section 7. That for the purpose of providing funds requisite for maturing obligations or for other legal and proper expenditures, or for reorganizing railroads in receivership, carriers may, during the period of Federal control, issue such bonds, notes, equipment trust certificates, stock and other forms of securities, secured or unsecured by mortgage, as the President may first approve as consistent with the public in- terest. ..." "Section 15. That nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend, repeal, impair, or affect the existing laws or powers of the States in rela- tion to taxation or the lawful police regulations of the several States, except wherein such laws, powers or regulations may affect the trans- portation of troops, war materials. Government supplies, or the issue of stocks and bonds." It will be noted at once that section 15 mentions only "stocks and bonds," and says nothing about "notes, equipment trust certificates . . . and other forms of securities, secured or unsecured by mortgage" mentioned in section 7. Although section 15 purports to be only a construction clause, obvi- ously no cautious lawyer could afford to approve a note or equipment trust certificate with the same freedom he would a certificate of stock or a bond, in view of the fact that the framers of the statute enumerated
 * C. 107, Sixty-fifth Congress.