vate wrong in the wrong to the public. The public wrong deserves a punishment which shall be permanently established and avowedly inflicted upon the offender as a criminal and which shall be regulated by law and by the constitutional protections of a fair trial, before a jury, with witnesses and counsel. If it be argued that under an Altgeld the State criminal laws are insufficient, I admit that some States may need the lesson of a too lax criminal law. But the offenses under consideration are all Federal offenses also. Let the United States troops be called in, not as a kind of assistant marshal to an equity court, but to enforce the criminal laws of the United States; to maintain order; to put down insurrection; and to guarantee, as the Constitution demands, a republican form of government. Then the people will understand why the troops are there, and I believe the murmuring at their presence will cease. Second. Let no person be punished in an equity action for contempt not committed in presence of the court, unless he is a party to the suit, or the servant or agent of a party, or has been personally served with a copy of the injunction order. It is perfectly easy to observe this rule, and I have said enough as to the danger when one judge sitting in equity attempts to control the actions of the world. Furthermore, since the very essence of the injunction is a definite prohibition, upon which a contempt may be shown as precise as an indictment, let us beware of the mandatory injunction giving indefinite orders to an army of men to do their duties. Third. In any case where both a crime and an infringement of a property right are involved the injunction will have to issue as to the property right and be valid as a concurrent remedy with the criminal process; but let not ex post facto punishment be inflicted where there is a criminal penalty. For the object of process for contempt is only to meet an emergency or to prevent a threatened disobedience. After the emergency and the possibility of disobedience have gone by, and the need of equity preventive jurisdiction has ended, let not an equity judge sentence as a criminal judge, for what is now simply a crime or a misdemeanor, without any trial. It is probable that our courts may settle back to this position, logical, simple, and justified by all equity authority up to five years ago; if not, a simple statute so defining their powers in injunction and contempt would be defensible; if a change is not effected in the one way or the other, there is danger that all equity jurisdiction, so valuable and so effective, which was established in many States only after a fifty years' struggle with the suspicion of the people and the jealousy of the common-law courts, may be repealed at a blow. It would be easy to provide that the finding of a judge in the contempt process should take effect as the presentment of a grand jury. Then Debs, or any other person complained of, could be at once handed over to an ordinary officer of the criminal courts, to be locked up or bailed until the time of trial, then to be tried by a jury of twelve men, and, if found guilty, to be sentenced, as a criminal, according to the law of the land and the Constitution of the United States. F. J. STIMSON. House Report No. 1049, Fifty-third Congress, second session. RECEIVERSHIP OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY. JUNE 8, 1894.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. BOATNER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT: In accordance with the following resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted on the 6th of March ultimo: Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary of the House be, and is hereby, authorized to speedily investigate and inquire into all the circumstances connected with the issuance of writs of injunction in the case of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, complainant, against the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, defendant, in the United States circuit court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, and the several matters and things referred to in the resolution introduced on the 5th day of February instant, charging illegalities and abuse of the process of said court therein, and report to this House whether in any of said matters or things the Hon. J. G. Jenkins, judge of said court, has exceeded his jurisdiction in granting said writs, abused the powers or process of said court or oppressively exercised the same, or has used his office as judge to intimidate or wrongfully restrain the employés of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, or the officers of the labor organizations with which said employés or any of thein were affiliated in the exercise of their rights and privileges under the laws of the United States, and, if so, what action should be taken by this House or by Congress. a subcommittee of the judiciary proceeded to the city of Milwaukee, Wis., and on the 9th and 10th of the present month investigated all the circumstances connected with the issuance of writs of injunc tion in the case referred to in the resolution now pending in said court, being a proceeding by which the Northern Pacific Railroad Company had been placed in the hands of receivers by order of Hon. J. G. Jenkins, judge of said court. The testimony taken by the subcommittee is herewith presented as a part of this report. The facts as found are substantially as follows: On the 15th of August, 1893, Thomas F. Oakes, Henry C. Payne, and Henry C. Rouse were appointed receivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company by Judge Jenkins, judge of the circuit court for the eastern district of Wisconsin. On the 18th of October following another proceeding was instituted in the same court by the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, which, by order of the court, was consolidated with the suit previously filed, and the receivers previously appointed continued in office. Ancillary proceedings were had in all the courts through whose territorial jurisdiction the line extended, and the receivers thus appointed by Judge Jenkins were recognized by the other courts and acquired full control of the entire system. On the 17th of August, 1893, the receivers ordered a reduction in the salaries of all employés, which amounted to $1,200 per annum or more, the reduction varying from 10 to 20 per cent, to take effect from and after the 15th of August. This reduction, it is said, was cheerfully accepted by the employés affected by it. On the 25th of August, in view (as the receivers state) of the insolvent condition of the company, and increasing depression in the transportation business, and consequent falling off of earnings, and the obvious necessity of further reducing operating expenses, the receivers adopted the following order: Ordered, That a further reduction be made in salaries and wages of employés of 5 per cent of all salaries aggregating $50 per month and under $75, and that a 10 per cent reduction be ordered to apply on all salaries from $75 to $100 per month. This order to take effect at once. Thereafter the receivers, considering it best not to make a horizontal reduction in salaries and wages, but to establish an entirely new schedule, adapted, as they say, to present conditions, framed a general schedule, and on the 28th of October, 1893, issued the following order: Resolved, That existing conditions, both with respect to the decreasing traffic and the rates received therefor and the consequent heavy decrease in gross and net earnings, make it necessary to extend the reduction of salaries and wages to all classes of the service, the rates of pay of engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, dispatchers, and telegraph operators which have been established by the various schedules adopted from time to time: It is now ordered, That all existing schedules in which are recorded rates of pay to be received by employés will, upon the 1st of January, 1894, be abrogated or canceled. Ordered, That the general manager be instructed to put into force and effect the amended schedules prepared for enginemen and trainmen, and that the new schedules shall take effect January 1, 1894, and after that date the pay of employés mentioned therein shall be governed thereby. Ordered, That the general manager be instructed to put into force and effect January 1, 1894, the revised list prepared of salaries of employés in the telegraph service. Ordered, That the general manager be instructed to reduce salaries and wages of all other employés upon January 1, 1894, as follows: All salaries and wages aggregating $50 per month and less than $75 per month, 5 per cent; all salaries and wages aggregating $75 per month and less than $100 per month, 10 per cent. Great dissatisfaction among the employés of the road having been created by this order, the receivers applied to the court on the 18th of December, 1893, for authority to make the reduction of wages proposed by the schedule which they had adopted, and filed an injunction against the employés affected thereby, restraining and prohibiting them from the commission of all sorts of unlawful acts which could injuriously affect the company in its property, the operation of its trains, and the conduct of its business, and, in addition— from combining and conspiring to quit, with or without notice, the service of said receivers, with the object and intent of crippling the property in their custody, or embarrassing the operation of said railroad, and from so quitting the service of said receivers, with or without notice, as to cripple the property, or to prevent or hinder the operation of said railroad. Both applications were granted by the following order rendered at chambers and ex parte: Order on said petition. Circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Wisconsin. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, complainant, v. Northern Pacific Railroad Company et al., defendants. On reading and filing the petition of Thomas F. Oakes, Henry C. Payne, and Henry C. Rouse, receivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, appointed by this court, as in said petition set forth, said petition being verified by Henry C. Payne, one of said receivers, and after considering the same and the court being fully advised in the premises; now, therefore: It is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the said receivers, Thomas F. Oakes, Henry C. Payne, and Henry C. Rouse, be, and they are hereby, authorized and instructed to put in operation and maintain upon the Northern Pacific Railroad the revised schedule and rates, more specifically in said petition described, and ordered by said receivers to take effect January 1, A. D. 1894, and for that purpose and to that end, their action in abrogating and revoking the schedules in force on said railroad at the time of their appointment as such receivers, August 15, A. D. 1893, is hereby confirmed. And it is further ordered and adjudged and decreed that the said receivers, Thomas F. Oakes, Henry C. Payne, and Henry C. Rouse, are entitled to a writ of injunction, as prayed for in their said petition, and the clerk of this court is hereby directed to issue the same in due form, under the seal of this court, and to deliver the same to the marshal for execution, who is hereby ordered to protect the receivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in their possession of the property of the Northern Pacific Railroad and in their operation thereof. It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that said receivers, Thomas F. Oates, Henry C. Payne, and Henry C. Rouse, file in the courts wherein they have been appointed receivers of said property upon ancillary bills a petition similar to that upon which this order is based, to the end that the power of each court may be seasonably invoked for the protection of the receivers in the possession and enjoyment of the property within its territorial jurisdiction. December 19, 1893. BY THE COURT, A writ of injunction, mandatory in terms, and in accordance with the allegations of the bill of complaint, was issued on the same day, the words used in the writ to which exception has been taken being as follows: "And from combining and conspiring to quit, with or without notice, the service of the said receivers, with the object and intent of crippling the property in their custody, or embarrassing the operation of the said railroad, and from so quitting the service of the said receiv ers, with or without notice, as to cripple the property or prevent or hinder the operation of the said railroad." The receivers, in support of their application to the court for authority to enforce the schedule they had proposed and for the injunction to accompany the same, made the following allegations: Your receivers further show unto the court that the reductions made in salaries and wages, as herein above set forth, are not greater than should be made in view of the paucity of business upon the railroad controlled by your receivers, and in view of the insolvency of the company and the continuing decrease in its earnings, and that the rates of compensation provided for by said revised schedules and the order of the receivers is a fair and just rate of compensation, all things considered, to the employés to whom they relate, and that the schedules, as revised, are, in the opinion of your receivers, just to the different classes of employés to which they severally relate. Your receivers further represent that they conceived it to be within their power as such receivers, and to be their duty, to make and carry into effect such reductions and such revision of the schedules, without application first made to the court in that behalf, and that they have been and are now so advised by counsel, and that this, their petition for instruction in the premises, is made for the reason that your receivers are informed, and aver the fact to be, that among the employés affected by said schedules and said rates so proposed by said receivers to be put in force on the 1st day of January, 1894, are many who claim that the schedules and rates in force when your receivers took possession of said property and entered upon the administration thereof constituted contracts between the said several classes of employés and your receivers, terminable only by their consent; whereas your receivers aver that the same were not and are not contracts binding upon them, and have refused and do refuse to adopt the same for the reasons herein before stated, and because they deem them, in their operation, unjust and burdensome to the trust. Your receivers further aver that it is claimed by the employés to be ffected by said schedules and rates, as aforesaid, that they have in good faith rendered the services and performed the conditions to be by them performed by and for the company and for your receiv ers, under said schedules and rates of compensation, loyally and faithfully, which your receivers admit to be true. Your receivers further represent and aver the fact to be that there is, among the employés to be affected as aforesaid by said revised schedules and rates, discontent and opposition to the enforcement thereof, based upon the assumption that the receivers have no right or power to make or enforce the same in the premises, without their consent, they being contracts, and that it is therefore important in the interests of said trust and of the safe and continued operation of said railroad that the power of your receivers in the premises, if the same exists, as your receivers aver it does, should be declared by the court. Your receivers further represent that they are informed and believe, and aver the fact to be, that among the employés to be affected by said proposed revised schedules and rates there are some who give out and threaten that if the said schedules and rates are enforced they will themselves suddenly quit the employment and service of the receivers; that they will compel by threats and force and violence other employés to quit the service of the receivers; that they will prevent by an organized effort and by force and intimidation others from taking the places in the service of the receivers of those who quit said service as aforesaid, and that they will thereby, as a means of forcing the receivers to abandon their purpose of revising the rates and schedules as aforesaid, disable the receivers from operating the said railroad and from discharging their duty to the public as common carriers. And your receivers further represent that they are informed and believe, and so charge the fact to be, that there are among said employés those who give out and threaten that if the said revised schedule and rates are put in force, they will disable locomotives and cars so that the same can not be safely used, or used at all without expensive repairs; that they will take possession of the cars, engines, shops, roadbeds, and other property in the possession of your receivers under and by virtue of their appointment by this court and the said courts aforesaid, and that they will otherwise destroy and prevent the use of the property of the company, and will so conduct themselves with regard thereto as to hinder and embarrass the receivers and their officers and agents in the management of said property and the operation of the trains thereover, and to bring upon said trust incalculable loss and upon the public great inconvenience and hardship. And your receivers are informed and believe, and aver the fact to be, that unless restrained and prohibited by order of the court the said threats will be carried out and your receivers prevented from operating the said road and carrying the mails of the United States thereover, performing the duties of a common carrier thereon, and that great loss of property and jeopardy to life may ensue; and your receivers are unable to ascertain or state the names of the employés who give out and threaten and who are contriving secretly to perpetrate the violence and wrongs hereinbefore referred to, and to interfere, as aforesaid, with the possession and operation by the court through your receivers of the said property. That the said combination includes, not simply dissatisfied employés of the receivers, but others who are not in the service of your receivers, but who, from a spirit of sympathy or mischief, threaten to join the said employés in perpetrating the said wrongful acts and things hereinbefore set forth, and will so do unless restrained and prohibited by this honorable court. That your receivers, being advised of the said combination and conspiracy, as aforesaid, and being powerless, without the aid of the court, to prevent the same or to protect the property in their custody as such receivers, have felt it to be their duty to bring the subject to the attention of the court seasonably, to the end that the court may, by such orders and writs as to the court shall seem proper in the premises, take measures to protect the property so in its care, and to enable the receivers, as its officers, to continue, without interruption or obstruction, the management and operation of the said property, and the performance of the duties of common carrier in relation thereto. Wherefore your receivers respectfully pray the court― First. That they be instructed as to their power and duty to carry out and enforce the revised schedules and rates so promulgated and proposed to be put in force on the first day of January, 1894, as aforesaid. Second. That it may please the court to grant a writ of injunction, restraining, enjoining, and prohibiting any and all persons, associations, or combinations, voluntary or otherwise, whether employés of your receivers or not, from disabling or rendering in any wise unfit for convenient and immediate use any engines, cars, or other property of the receivers, and from interfering with the possession of locomotives, cars, or property of the receivers, or in their custody, and from interfering in any manner by force, threats, or otherwise with men who desire to continue in the service of the receivers, and from interfering in any manner by force, threat, or otherwise with men employed by the receivers to take the places of those who quit the service as aforesaid, or from interfering with or obstructing in any wise the |