the commission shall have power to authorize specially in each case temporary exceptions to the general conditions of the application of rates. No unreasonable rate shall be charged, and no undue preference or advantage given. Upon complaint the commission may order a given rate discontinued and substitute another.

APPEALS TO THE SUPREME COURT. The decisions of the commission shall be considered as a decision of the government. However, appeals are allowed from the orders of the commission to the supreme court, which, sitting as a court of administration, shall review and revise such decisions, orders, recommendations or actions of such commission upon the facts as well as upon the law. All appeals must be taken within thirty days after service of the decision of the commission.

The right of appeal is given to all railroad companies or corporations and private individuals, parties to proceedings before the railroad commission.

Orders of the commission upon complaints of unlawful rates or practices are only binding upon the companies for six months, but such orders may be reissued from time to time after due hearing, with, however, the same right of appeal to the supreme court.

THE SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC AND OF RAILROAD EMPLOYES PROVIDED FOR.

All accidents resulting in loss of life or injuries to persons must be immediately reported to the commission. The health and safety of employes and the security and convenience of the public are provided for. The commission is to investigate all matters relative to the safety of the road, the operation of the same, the care upon the part of the employes and the cause of accidents; but such examinations do not prevent the railroad from being liable for the consequences of its acts or for the neglect or mismanagement of any of its agents or employes.

APPEALS AND LIMITATIONS TO ACTIONS.

Actions for injuries must be brought within six months next after the cause of such actions shall have accrued.

All appeals from the commission to the supreme court shall be taken within 30 days from the date of the commission's decision. Private parties also have the right of appeal. The court reviews and revises such decisions, orders, recommendations or actions of the commission, upon the facts as well as upon the law.

COLLECTION OF UNSECURED DEBTS OF RAILROAD CORPORATIONS.

The operation of a railroad shall not be interrupted by government unless dangerous to the public. In cases where creditors unsecured by mortgage shall have obtained judgments, then the judge can appoint the trustee of mortgages, if there is such, or a receiver, if there is no trustee, to take immediate possession of the railroad and administer the same, and after paying expenses of administration, interest on mortgages and sinking fund, pay the judgment creditors, and then turn the property over to the debtor railroad company. The holders of the mortgages and bonds are properly protected in every case. In no case shall a railroad be sold at public auction to make effective the execution of any judgment. Public sales can be had only in case of default of payment of mortgages or debts.

CRIMINAL LAW AFFECTING RAILROADS.

Anyone wrecking or attempting to wreck a train with intent to injure or to endanger life is liable to imprisonment for life; if he does cause the disaster and death ensues, the penalty is death. Stopping or attempting to stop a train for purposes of robbery, or entering or obstructing the train for such purposes, is a crime punishable by imprisonment for life, or for any term not less than twenty years; or if death result** the penalty shall be death. To cause danger to private property without endangering life is punishable by two years' imprisonment. Stealing anything in actual use on any railroad, interruption of free use of a railroad, riding without paying fare, walking on track, violation of by-laws or regulations and other similar acts are made criminal and punishable by appropriate penalties.

RAILROAD EMPLOYES AND THEIR REPRE

SENTATIVES RECOGNIZED.

The commission is to revise and approve the by-laws and working regulations of railroad companies, and all such

regulations pertaining to and affecting employes are to be approved only after the aforesaid employes or their representatives have had opportunity to be heard before the commission.

for 1902 estimates the total miles open for traffic at 484,348, of which 220,657

Austria-Hungary, 22,919; Great Britain and Ireland, 21,700; Canada, 17,657; British Australasia, 15,266; Argentina, 10,419; Italy, 9,810; Mexico, 9,603; Brazil, 8,718, and Spain, 8,300 miles.

Of these half-million miles of railway in the world, it is estimated that about one-third are owned by the governments of the countries in which they are 10cated. About nine-tenths of the railways of Germany, are owned by the national or state governments; about two-thirds of those of Russia are owned by the government, and nearly one-half of those of Austria-Hungary are also owned by the government. A large proportion of the railways of France will become the property of the government about the middle of the present century. In Italy nearly all of the railroads are owned by the government, but are operated by private companies which lease the lines from the government. Australasia nearly all of the railways are owned by the governments of the various colonies, and in India a large proportion of the 25,035 miles in operation is owned or guaranteed by the Indian government.

In

It is especially with reference to the railways of the United States that the Bureau of Statistics figures present details suitable for comparative purposes. They show that the railway mileage of the United States was, in 1830, 23 miles; in 1840, 2,818; in 1850, 9,021; in 1860, 30,626; in 1870, 52,922; in 1880, 93,262; in 1890, 166,654; and in 1900, 194,321; and the addition of the mileage construction for this year, estimated by the Railway Age at 5,057 miles, brings the grand total for 1901 to 199,378 miles. It is only in more recent years that statistics of operation are available. According to the Bureau of Statistics figures, the number of passengers carried was, in 1887, 428 millions; in 1890, 520 millions; in 1895, 529 millions; and in 1900, 584 millions. The growth in the freight business is shown by the figures which state the number of tons of freight carried one mile. These figures are: For 1883, 39 billions; for 1887, 61 billions; for 1890, 79 billions; for 1895, 88 billions; and for 1900, 141 billion tons. While the

length of railways and amount of freight tonnage have been increasing, the cost of transportation has greatly decreased. The average cost of freight transportation is given by the Bureau of Statistics figures at $1.24 per ton per mile in 1882; $1.03 in 1887; 93/100 in 1890; 84/100 in 1895; 80/100 in 1897, and 75/100 in 1900.

**

American locomotives continue popular on the railways of India where they are in competition with English engines. Col. Constable, the manager of one of the great railway lines of India, recently visited the United States to study the railway system, and the Treasury Bureau of Statistics has just received a summarization of his report submitted to the Indian government, and, through it, laid before the British board of trade.

Colonel Constable states in his memorandum that no doubt the American engine burns more fuel and wears out sooner than the English locomotive, and the former is unquestionably a dirty looking machine, but Americans do not expect their engines to last more than fifteen years, by which time they are ready to put them on the scrap heap and adopt a different design and a more efficient article, and it must be remembered that coal is exceedingly cheap in America. Colonel Constable also states that their great hauling capacity makes up for any defects in their details, and that in his opinion weak and out of date engines are not discarded often enough in India.

The memorandum continues as follows: "The first duty of an engine is either to run fast or to pull a big load, and I would sooner have a dirty looking engine that would haul 3,500 tons, than a beauty to look at that could only haul 600 or 700 tons, as in England, or 1,200 tons, as in India. The cost of coal is only one factor in the cost of carrying a unit and the East India railway would be better, if with its cheap coal, its engines hauled American loads, even if its coal consumption per engine mile were doubled and its engine had to be scrapped at the end of fifteen years."

Colonel Constable concludes by say

ing that as a matter of practice, American lines like to run an engine for all it is worth, provided traffic is offering, just allowing sufficient time for clean

ing and repairs, and that some engines on the Pennsylvania railway are said to do 15,000 miles a month, keeping remarkably good time.

knocking down. We have in our national legislature some of the brightest minds that the world has ever known. And yet, in the face of these facts, a single judge-than whom there were, no doubt, a hundred wiser and better qualified to fill his position, who had voted to make the law-will bring forth such an opinion as would make the gods weep in disgust. With argument so dense and simile so vague, they flounder along, until one wonders if they really think that the public will ever see it, and if they do what must be their opinion of the public. Not unlike one whose name is well known and who inadvertently gave to the public his most candid opinion of it, no doubt, viz.: "The public be." In order to make the above statements good, let us examine decisions which have been rendered upon laws passed for the benefit of labor, and endeavor to give citations from our standpoint. In the first place, we will see what they have done for the "Alien Contract Labor Law." We find in the Federal Reporter, 95, page 226, U. S. vs. Gay. There were two cases under this title and as the facts were identical, they were heard and submitted at the same time. The first section of the act of congress of Feb. 26, 1885, 23 Statutes at Large, 332, chap. 164, was authority for bringing these actions and reads as follows:

"From and after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, into the United States, its territories or the District of Columbia, under contract or agreement, parole or special, express or implied, made previous to the importation or migration of such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labor or services of any kind in the United States, its territories, or the District of Columbia."

The United States brought suit to recover the penalty, which under the act was $1000. The case had a hearing in the United States circuit court for the

district of Indiana, and was dismissed, the opinion of the court being that a draper, window dresser and dry goods clerk, did not come within the prohibition of the statute. From this court it was carried to the United States circuit court of appeals, seventh circuit, on a writ of error, and District Judge Bunn affirmed the action of the lower court in an opinion rendered.

Here both courts had a statute that could not have been made more emphatic and explicit by any words in the language, and yet they presume to have a knowledge, as Judge Bunn says, “beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law." What an absurd assertion, when we consider the mountain of opinions that have been rendered, where the judges based their arguments on the fact that they were not responsible for the meaning of the law only as its meaning was conveyed to them by the statutory words. Judge Bunn proceeding,

says:

"It must be construed in the light of the evil which it was intended to remedy, which, as is well known, was the importation of manual laborers, under contract previously entered into, at rates of wages with which our own laboring classes could not compete without compelling them to submit to conditions of life," etc., etc., etc.

Did any man who has ever read a law book, ever run across a thing so plain as the statute under which this case was tried? Why, no; most assuredly not. And yet this "learned judge; this second Daniel come to judgment," wants to tell us, and does tell us, that the law don't mean what it says, that the legislators who passed the bill and caused it 'to be enacted, were a set of nincompoops, and didn't know what they wanted to say. It is expressly stated that they shall not be brought here for "labor or service of any kind.”

Every vocation that could be followed by mankind is comprehended in that sentence. The intelligent laboring men of America have spent time, money and exhaustless energy in having laws passed for their protection, and have seen the whole structure ruthlessly de