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Index to Periodicals

character which it entails cannot, therefore,

“Yet the court complacently comments thus on the committee's report: ‘Assuming as the committee did, that the company would be permitted to charge the same prices in the future which in the past had resulted in these "enor

be condoned on the plea of its commercial suc

mous" or "excessive" dividends, it need not be

cess."

matter of surprise that a franchise by means of which such dividends had been possible was not iiiggsairded as over-valued at the sum stated in

of taxation;

that its other ﬁnancial results,

whether good or ill, are at present so indeﬁnite as to be almost negligible; and that the many and varied abuses of a political and economic

Panama Canal. "Necessary Panama Canal Legislation." By Emory R. Johnson. North American Review, v. 194, p. 714 (Nov.). Treating questions connected with the admin istration of the canal and of the Canal Zone. Procedure. "Right of Trial Judge to Com ment on the Evidence." Editorial. 26 Bench 8 Ba: 94 (Sept.). Here are collected a large number of quota tions from New York decisions deﬁning the powers of the trial judge. By way of summary: “Under the authorities it is clear that while the trial judge in both civil and criminal cases may comment upon the testimon, his comments,

especially in criminal cases, must he very guarded. He must make it absolutely plain to the jury that the decision of every question of fact rests with them, and that whatever opinion he may have expressed is not binding upon them, but that they are to examine the evidence and decide the questions for themselves. At the same time, it seems desirable that judges should exercise to the full the powers which they have of commenting upon the evidence. Their train ing and experience peculiarly qualify them to weigh the evidence, to determine its sufficiency and to pass upon the credibility of witnesses." "Progress Toward Reform in the Adminis tration of Law." By Ralph W. Breckenridge. Editorial Review, v. 5, p. 943 (Oct.).

Mr. Breckenridge, who is chairman of the Committee of the National Civic Federation on Reform in Legal Procedure, describes the general movement for the reform of procedure, without dealing with special problems. Property and Contract. "Privilege Becomes Property under the Fourteenth Amendment: The Consolidated Gas Decision." By Jesse F. Orton, A.M. Independent, v. 71, p. 797 (Oct. 12).

"The opinion of the Supreme Court, nominally against the company, but really in its favor on the most im rtant issue in the case, was given by Justice Pec am, and received the concurrence of all the other membersof thecourt — Chief Jus tice Fuller and Justices Harlan, Brewer, White, McKenna, Holmes, Day and Moody. Thus

was the legislative sword, drawn against monop oly, turned back into the vitals of the people, in whose protection it had been raised. A prohibition designed to check over-capitaliza tion had been transformed, in the 'udicial crucible, into a license for extortion. hus, as often happens, the people got the decision, but the corporations got the law — for future use."

Public Ownership. See Municipal Trading. Public Service Corporations. See Prop erty and Contract.

Rate Regulation. "jurisdiction of Certain Cases Arising Under the Interstate Commerce Act." By Henry Wolf Bikle. 60 Univ. of Pa. Law Review 1 (Oct.). "In short, strict obedience to the provisions of duly filed tariffs is the imperative mandate of the interstate Commerce Law, and no court

can relieve the carrier, or by the same token the shipper, from their necessary and proper opera tion. Relief is obtainable only from the Inter state Commerce Commission, and then only in those cases where the rate or regulation in ques tion is, in the judgment of that tribunal, unrea sonable. The decisions are well summarized by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Morrisdale Coal Co. v. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in which case the Court says (183 Fed.929, at p. 936 (1910) ):—— “ ‘These cases [the cases referred to in the opinion] conclusively establish the doctrine that ‘the

In Consolidated Gas Co. v. City of New York,

Interstate

Commerce

Commission alone

has original jurisdiction to determine whether

212 U. S. 19, 157 Fed. Rep. 849, the Supreme

an existing rate schedule, or an existing regu

Court "reviews the report of a legislative com mittee appointed in 1885 ‘to investi ate the facts surrounding the consolidation’ 0 the gas companies. The committee concluded that under conditions existing in 1884, ‘the valuation

lation or practice affecting rates, or an existing regulation or practice of any other kind affecting matters sought to be regulated by the act, is unjust or unreasonable, or unjustly discrimina tory, or unduly preferential, or prejudicial, and

of $7,781,000 for the franchises was not more

that the courts cannot, by mandamus, in‘unction,

than their fair aggregate value.’

or otherwise, control or modify any or er of the Commission made by it in the due performance of its merely administrative functions.’" Socialism. “The Rising Tide of Socialism: A Study." By Robert F. Hoxie. Journal of

those ‘conditions?’

What were

(1) The enormous dividends

paid by the as companies; (2) a law which virtually pro ibited the laying of any more gas pipes in the streets’; (3) an agreement be tween the gas companies ‘ﬁxing the price of gas at a ﬁgure that paid these dividends’; (4) a contended public paying this price ‘without objection or protest’; and (5) the existence of no law that made these high rates or excessive

"Socialism has quite suddenly made its appearance in American_po_litics as something

dividends ‘illegal.’

more than a mere doctrinaire sect or party of

Political Economy, v. 19, p. 609 (Oct.).