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IMPORTANT LEGAL DECISIONS IN 1907.

[Compiled from "Case and Comment" and other sources.]

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ACQUIRING TERRITORY BY TREATY. Warren B. Wilson of Illinois as taxpayer sought to restrain the secretary of the treasury from paying out money for the purchase of the Panama canal zone and for the construction of the Panama canal. His suit was dismissed on demurrer. The court denied that the plaintiff's arguments had any merit and held that it was too late in the history of the United States to question its right of acquiring territory by treaty. contention that the United States has no power to engage in the construction of the canal because the canal zone is no part of the territory of the United States is met by the terms of the treaty. The court says: "It is hypercritical to contend that the title of the United States is imperfect and that the territory described does not belong to this nation because of the omission of some of the technical terms used in ordinary conveyances of real estate."

ASSIGNMENT OF WAGES.

An assignment of wages to be earned in the future under an existing employment was held in the case of Rodijkeit vs. Andrews in Ohio to be valid.

WAGES OF DISCHARGED SERVANTS. Where a servant is employed for an entire term at wages payable in installments at specified intervals he is entitled, upon being wrongfully discharged, to treat the contract as existing and to sue at each period of payment for the salary then due, according to the decision in the North Carolina case of Smith vs. Cashie and C. R. & L. company.

Where a contract for service is an entire one and not severable and a servant is discharged for disobedience of the reasonable orders of the master he is held in the case of Von Heyne vs. Tompkins, Minnesota, not to be entitled to recover for his services.

WILLS.

A condition attached to a bequest requiring the beneficiary to attend a certain church was held in the Paulsen case in Wisconsin not to be invalidated by a constitutional provision giving every one the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and providing that he shall not be compelled to attend any place of worship against his consent.

HOURS OF WORK FOR WOMEN.

In a decision handed down June 14 the New York Court of Appeals held that the penal law providing that women shall be employed in factories only within certain hours was unconstitutional. The court declared that adult women must be recognized as on an equal plane with men in matters of employment and not as a ward of the state. The language of the decision was in part: "In this section of the labor law it will be observed that women are classed with minors under the age of 18 years, for which there is no reason. The right of the state as parens patriæ to restrict or regulate the labor and employment of children is unquestionable; but an adult female is not to be regarded as a ward of the state or in any other light than the man is regarded when the question relates to the business, pursuit or calling. In the gradual course of legislation upon the rights of a woman, in this state, she has come to possess all the responsibilities of the man and she is entitled to be placed on an equality of rights with the man. Considerations of her physical differences are sentimental and find no proper place in the discussion of the constitutionality of the act." HOMICIDE.

Where two. in furtherance of a common design, enter upon the perpetration of a burglary armed and prepared to kill if opposed and, while so engaged, are discovered, and, in the effort to escape, one of the burglars kills one who is trying to arrest him, it is held in Conrad vs. state (Ohio) that both burglars are equally guilty of the homicide. although one of them was not armed with

a deadly weapon and although such killing was not part of the prearranged plan.

THE FLAG AND ADVERTISING.

In the case of Halter vs. Nebraska it was held by the United States Supreme court that the Nebraska state statute forbidding the use of the American flag for advertising purposes was valid. The contention that the protection of the national flag against illegitimate uses belonged exclusively to the federal government was overruled. The contention that it was a privilege of American citizenship to use the flag for advertising merchandise was also denied, as well as the claim that to do this was a right of personal liberty under the constitution. Another contention exclu sively made was that the statute invaded property rights without due process of law. An exception made by the statute in favor of newspapers, periodicals. books, pamphlets, etc.. on which representations of the flag were printed disconnected from any advertisement, was held reasonable and valid. STREET-CAR TRANSFERS.

A street-car passenger who is given an invalid transfer check upon paying his fare and asking for a transfer to which he is entitled was held in an Arkansas case to have no right, upon refusal by the conductor of the connecting carrier to honor it, to refuse to pay his fare, thereby rendering necessary forcible ejection, and hold the carrier liable for the assault; and his remedy was held to be confined to damages for the breach of contract, including reasonable compensation for the indignity put upon him through the fault of the company.

VOTING MACHINES.

It was decided by the Supreme court of Massachusetts Oct. 31 that voting machines could not be used in the election of representatives in the state legislature for the reason that the constitution requires that such election shall be by written vote. "The new method," it was declared, "is entirely unlike the writing of a name of a choice of candidates upon a piece of paper and the deposit of the paper in a box, to be taken out afterward and counted. In the use of the machine the voter must trust everything to the perfection of the mechanism. He cannot see whether it is working properly or not. This chance of error, whether greater or less than the chance that a ballot deposited in a box will not be properly counted, is different from it. It was not within the knowledge or contemplation of the framers of the constitution."

In the Minnesota case of Elwell vs. Comstock it was held that the use of a voting machine at an election does not contravene the constitutional The provision that elections shall be by ballot. court said: "In view of the objects sought to be attained and secured by the framers of the constitution it is unnecessary to consult the lexicographers for a definition of the word 'ballot.' It was not employed in its literal sense, but only for the purpose of designating a method of conducting elections which would insure secrecy and the integrity of the ballot."

The use of voting machines was held, in United States Standard Voting Machine company vs. Hobson (Iowa) not to be prohibited by a constitutional provision that all elections shall be by ballot.

FRATERNITIES IN SCHOOLS.

In the case of Wayland vs. school directors, involving the right of a school board in Seattle, Wash., to deprive certain students belonging to secret societies or fraternities of certain privileges such as connection with athletic teams and also of the customary graduation honors, the Supreme court of the state sustained the board. The contention was that the school board exceeded its lawful authority in dictating what the children should do or not do out of school hours with their parents' consent. But the court held that the board had not invaded the homes of pupils nor sought to interfere with the parental custody and control. Under the state law the board was given authority to adopt rules for the well-being of the

school and this statutory authority was deemed sufficient to justify the regulations made against fraternities. Because the Seattle board did not deny to members of the fraternities the right to continue in school the court distinguished that case from that of state ex rel. Stallard vs. White, in which the Indiana court denied the right of. the board of trustees and faculty of Purdue university, which is a state agricultural college, to exclude from the university students who were members of a fraternity or who refused to sign a pledge to keep out of such society while in the university. The court held that the institution had a relation to the public analogous to that of other public schools, in which all the inhabitants of the state had a common interest. But in the Seattle case the pupils in the fraternities were not denied the privileges of the school so far as the pursuit of their studies was concerned. In people ex rel. Pratt vs. Wheaton College, 40 I.

186. the power of the college authorities absolutely to prohibit any connection between Greek letter fraternities and the university was upheld; but that case is distinguishable because the institution involved rested on a private endowment, without aid from taxation or other public source. SEATS IN STREET CARS.

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"A common carrier does not fulfill its legal duty until it provides a seat for each passenger," the Georgia Court of Appeals. The decision was rendered in a suit for damages brought against the Georgia Electric and Railway company of Atlanta by Dr. Oscar Linden, who, it is alleged, was injured by the sudden starting of a car in which he was standing. "There can be no question," the decision continues, "that it is, one of the duties of a common carrier to furnish its passengers with seats and that such failure to furnish a seat may be proximate cause of an injury."

ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT.

On Aug. 31, 1907, at St. Petersburg, a convention between Great Britain and Russia was signed and ratifications were exchanged Sept. 23. The treaty concerns the relations of the two countries with respect to Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet. The essential portions of the document follow:

PERSIA.

The governments of Great Britain and Russia having mutually engaged to respect the integrity and independence of Persia, and sincerely desiring the preservation of order throughout that country and its peaceful development, as well as the permanent establishment of equal advantages for the trade and industry of all other nations; considering that each of them has, for geographical and economic reasons, a special interest in the maintenance of peace and order in certain provinces of Persia adjoining or in the neighborhood of the Russian frontier on the one hand and the frontiers of Afghanistan and Baluchistan on the other hand; and being desirous of avoiding all cause of conflict between their respective interests in the abovementioned provinces of Persia, have agreed on the following terms:

Great Britain engages not to seek for herself and not to support in favor of British subjects, or in favor of the subjects of third powers, any concessions of a political or commercial nature, such as concessions for railways, banks, telegraphs, roads, transport, insurance, etc., beyond a line starting from Kasr-i-Shirin, passing through Ispahan, Yezd. Kakhk and ending at a point on the Persian frontier at the intersection of the Russian and Afghan frontiers, and not to oppose, directly or indirectly, demands for similar concessions in this region which are supported by the Russian government. It is understood that the above-mentioned places are included in the region in which Great Britain engages not to seek the concessions referred to.

Russia, on her part, engages not to seek for herself and not to support, in favor of Russian subjects or in favor of the subjects of third powers, any concessions of a political or commercial nature. such as concessions for railways, banks, telegraphs, roads, transport, insurance, etc., beyond a line going from the Afghan frontier by way of Gazik, Birjand, Kerman and ending at Bunder Abbas, and not to oppose, directly or indirectly, demands for similar concessions in this region which are supported by the British government. It is understood that the above-mentioned places are included in the region in which Russia engages not to seek the concessions referred to.

It is understood that the revenues of all the Persian customs, with the exception of those of Farsistan and of the Persian gulf, revenues guaranteeing the amortization and the interest of the loans concluded by the government of the shah with the "Banque d'Escompte et des Prets de Perse" up to the date of the signature of the present arrangement, shall be devoted to the same purpose as in the past.

It is equally understood that the revenues of the Persian customs of Farsistan and of the Persian gulf, as well as those of the fisheries on the Per

sian shore of the Caspian sea and those of the posts and telegraphs, shall be devoted, as in the past, to the service of the loans concluded by the government of the shah with the Imperial Bank of Persia up to the date of the signature of the present arrangement.

AFGHANISTAN.

The high contracting parties in order to insure perfect security on their respective frontiers in central Asia and to maintain in these regions a solid and lasting peace have concluded the following convention:

His Britannic majesty's government declare that they have no intention of changing the political status of Afghanistan.

His Britannic majesty's government further engage to exercise their influence in Afghanistan only in a pacific sense, and they will not themselves take, nor encourage Afghanistan to take, any measures threatening Russia.

The Russian government on their part declare that they recognize Afghanistan as outside the sphere of Russian influence and they engage that all their political relations with Afghanistan shall be conducted through the intermediary of his Britannic majesty's government; they further engage not to send any agents into Afghanistan.

The government of his Britannic majesty having declared in the treaty signed at Kabul on the 21st of March, 1905, that they recognize the agreement and the engagements concluded with the late Ameer Abdur Rahman, and that they have no intention of interfering in the internal government of Afghan territory, Great Britain engages neither to annex nor to occupy in contravention of that treaty any portion of Afghanistan or to interfere in the internal administration of the country, provided that the ameer fulfills the engagements already contracted by him toward his Britannic majesty's government under the above-mentioned treaty.

The Russian and Afghan authorities, specially designated for the purpose on the frontier or in the frontier provinces, may establish direct relations with each other for the settlement of local questions of a nonpolitical character.

His Britannic majesty's government and the Russian government affirm their adherence to the principle of equality of commercial opportunity in Afghanistan, and they agree that any facilities which may have been or shall be hereafter obtained for British and British-Indian trade and traders, shall be equally enjoyed by Russian trade and traders. Should the progress of trade establish the necessity for commercial agents, the two governments will agree as to what measures shall be taken, due regard, of course, being had to the ameer's sovereign rights.

TIBET.

The governments of Great Britain and Russia, recognizing the suzerain rights of China in Tibet and considering the fact that Great Britain by reason of her geographical position has a special interest in the maintenance of the status quo in the external relations of Tibet, have made the following arrangement:

The two high contracting parties engage to respect the territorial integrity of Tibet and to abstain from all interference in its internal administration.

In conformity with the admitted principle of the suzerainty of China over Tibet, Great Britain and Russia engage not to enter into negotiations with Tibet except through the intermediary of the Chinese government. This engagement does not exclude the direct relations between British commercial agents and the Tibetan authorities provided for in article V. of the convention between Great Britain and Tibet of the 7th of September, 1904, and confirmed by the convention between Great Britain and China of the 27th of April, 1906; nor does it modify the engagements entered into by Great Britain and China in article I. of the said convention of 1906.

It is clearly understood that Buddhists, subjects of Great Britain or of Russia, may enter into direct relations on strictly religious matters with the dalai lama and the other representatives of Buddhism in Tibet; the governments of Great Britain and Russia engage, as far as they are concerned, not to allow those relations to infringe the stipulations of the present arrangement.

The British and Russian governments respectively engage not to send representatives to Lhassa.

The two high contracting parties engage neither to seek nor to obtain, whether for themselves or their subjects, any concessions for railways, roads. telegraphs and mines or other rights in Tibet.

The two governments agree that no part of the revenues of Tibet, whether in kind or in cash, shall be pledged or assigned to Great Britain or Russia or to any of their subjects.

JAPANESE TROUBLES ON THE PACIFIC COAST.

The exclusion of Japanese from the public schools of San Francisco, Cal., in the fall of 1906, which led to emphatic denunciation by President Roosevelt in his message to congress, was followed early in 1907 by action on the part of the government to compel the local authorities to adopt a different line of policy. Jan. 17 the United States district attorney. Robert T. Devlin, applied to the California Supreme court for a writ of mandate compelling the San Francisco board of education to admit Keikichi Aoki, a 10-year-old Japanese boy, to the Redding primary school. also began suit in the United States Circuit court for the same purpose. These proceedings promised at one time to be of great interest, as they involved the determination of certain state rights, the enforcement of the treaty of the United States with Japan and the constitutionality of a law of California.

EXCLUSION LAW.

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The action of congress in passing an amendment to the immigration law by which Japanese laborers are virtually excluded from the United States and the explanation of the San Francisco authorities that their chief objection was to the presence of adult Japanese in the public schools made these legal steps unnecessary. March 14 President Roosevelt ordered the suits against the San Francisco school board dismissed and at the same time began the enforcement of the new exclusion law. (For text of this law see page 77 of this volume.) The first cases under this enactment came before the secretary of commerce and labor April 6, when five Japanese laborers were excluded Many who sought admission by way of Canada and Mexico were turned back in the course of the year.

The agitation against Japanese laborers on the Pacific coast and attacks on Japanese residents in San Francisco by mobs, as well as the enforcement of the exclusion law, caused considerable resentment in Japan, leading to much loose talk of war, especially in Europe, but the authorities in Tokyo and Washington were in accord and there was at no time in 1907 any serious danger of an armed clash between the two nations. The sending of an American battle-ship squadron for a cruise in Pacific waters also caused some comment late in the year until it was explained that it was simply for training purposes and had nothing to do with the relations of Japan and the United States.

VANCOUVER RIOTS.

In Bellingham, Wash., Sept. 5, a mob attacked the lumber mills along the water front and drove out the Japanese and Hindoos working there. Six of the latter were so badly injured that they had to be taken to a hospital. Most of the others escaped across the border to Canada. The agitation against the orientals was not, however, confined to the United States. In Vancouver on Sept. 7 there was a parade and antioriental demonstration in which 10,000 men took part. At its conclusion the effigy of Lieut.-Gen. Dunsmuir of British Columbia was burned and the agitators made a raid upon the Chinese quarters of the city. Two thousand Chinese were driven from their homes and $5,000 worth of property destroyed. Later in the night fifty Japanese stores and offices had their windows smashed. The laboring classes of Vancouver had been much excited by the report that Japanese were to be shipped into British Columbia at the rate of 1,000 a month. The particular ground for this belief was the arrival of the steamer Kumeric from Honolulu carrying 1.300 Japanese, followed by the Indiana with a smaller number. These steamers had been chartered by Hawaiians interested in the exportation of Japanese from the islands and each Japanese had been provided by them with the $25 requisite for all immigrants under the Canadian law. On the following day the mob attacked 500 Japanese landing from a steamer and in the riot Baron Ishii, chief of the bureau of foreign commerce, and Saburo Hisamidzu, consul at Seattle, were mistreated.

The governor-general of Canada at once expressed his regrets to the Japanese government and steps were taken to prevent a recurrence of the rioting. An investigation was made and in November the damage claims of the Japanese were settled by the payment of $10,775 to the fifty-six persons who had sustained losses through the riots.

JAPANESE IN THE UNITED STATES. In 1900 there were in the United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii, 25,077 Japanese. Of these 10,151 lived in California, 5,617 in Washington, 2,501 in Oregon, 1,281 in Idaho, 2,441 in Montana and 228 in Nevada, the remainder being scattered through the other states. The Japanese

in Hawaii numbered 61,111 in 1900. After the close of the war between Japan and Russia the emigration of Japanese to the United States largely increased and it is estimated that the figures for 1900 have been more than doubled.

GENERAL FOREIGN EVENTS OF 1907.

Jan. 16-Election of President Figueroa of Salvador announced.

Jan. 20-Count Okuma resigned presidency of Japanese progressive party.

Jan. 23-Augustine Birrell made chief secretary for
Ireland to succeed James Bryce, appointed am-
bassador to the United States,

Jan. 29-Revolt in province of Kediri, island of
Java, announced; many Dutch officials killed.
Feb. 9-13-Demonstrations by female suffragists in
London.

Feb. 11-Cabinet crisis in Holland.
Feb. 12-British parliament opened by King Ed-
ward.
Feb. 19-German reichstag opened by kaiser.
March 2-Socialists defeated in London county
council election.

March 3-Canada's new Sunday law put into effect.
March 8-Female suffrage bill killed in British
house of commons.

March 11-M. Petkoff, premier of Bulgaria, assassinated; succeeded by M. Coudev, March 16.

March 18-Railways of Canada ordered to reduce passenger fares to 3 cents a mile.

March 21-New Transvaal parliament opened; Gen. Beyers elected speaker.

March 22-Evacuation of Manchuria completed by Russians.

March 23-Celebration of De Ruyter centenary begun in Amsterdam.

March 27-Peasant disorders began in Roumania. Mareh 30-Sydney Oliver appointed governor of Jamaica to succeed Gov. Swettenham.

April 11-Lord Cromer resigned as British agent in
Egypt; succeeded by Sir Eldon Gorst.
April 18-King Edward and King Victor Emmanuel
met at Gaeta, Italy.

May 2-King Edward and President Fallieres exchanged visits in Paris.

May 10-Son born to Queen Victoria of Spain. May 13-Bill establishing colonial ministry passed by German reichstag.

May 14-German-American commercial agreement approved by reichstag.

May 18-Herr Dernburg appointed head of German ministry for colonies.

May 21-Birrell Irish home-rule bill rejected by Irish nationalist convention; bill withdrawn by British prime minister June 3.

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ARMIES AND NAVIES OF THE WORLD.

[Data chiefly from the Statesman's Year-Book and Brassey's Naval Annual for 1907.]

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Active militia. Troops of the line. In 1906. Authorized standing army, 100.000. except those absolutely worthless, including torpedo boats, submarines, guard boats, etc. Figures are chiefly for 1906-1907. A few are estimates. Appropriations of 1907.

Warships of all kinds

CLIMATOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES.

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Tennessee-Knoxville

Memphis

Texas-Abilene

Galveston

933 34 100 1887 -16 1884 49.4 271 34 104 1901 -9 1899 50.3 .1,718 21 110 1886 -6 1899 24.7 6 35 98 1901 8 1899 47.1 Utah-Salt Lake City..4,248 33 102 1889 -20 1883 16.0 Vermont-Northfield 739 20 95 1901 -32 1904 33.8 Virginia-Norfolk 11 36 102 1887 2 1895 49.5 Washington-Spokane ..1,883 26 104 1898-30 1888 18.8 West Virginia ersburg 616 18 102 1901 -27 1899 40.2 Wisconsin-Milwaukee.. 634 36 100 1901 -25 1875 31.4 Wyoming-Cheyenne ..6,054 34 100 1881 38 1875 13.6 *Corrected to Dec. 31, 1906. Precipitation normals adopted in 1907.

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COLD SPRING OF 1907. MARCH.

The temperature of the third decade of March, 1907, averaged 12 degrees to 21 degrees above the normal generally east of the Rocky mountains. In the eastern states this remarkable and probably unprecedented ten-day period of March heat was due to the passage of two well-marked warm waves that advanced from the great plains to the Atlantic coast. These warm waves had their origin in a heated area that set in over the middle western and southwestern states from the 16th to the 18th and continued in that region for about ten days, with maximum temperatures of 90 degrees to 100 degrees in Oklahoma and Kansas. The first offshoot from this heated area advanced over the Mississippi valley on the 21st and reached the Atlantic coast on the 22d, attended at many points by the highest temperatures on record for March. At Washington, D. C., 90 degrees or higher was reached on three days, the highest, 93 degrees, being registered on the 23d. This was 10 degrees above the highest March temperature previously recorded for Washington. The second warm wave of this decade advanced from the eastern Rocky mountain slope to the Atlantic coast from the 24th to 29th, with temperatures at many points On that exceeded those of any previous March. the 29th the heated area in the middle west and southwest was dissipated by an area of high barometer from the Pacific. This high area was attended by a cold wave that carried the frost line to northern Florida by April 1.

APRIL.

April was exceptionally cold from the Rocky mountains to the Atlantic coast, and at many points average and minimum temperatures were the lowest recorded in many years. Frosts were frequent in the gulf and south Atlantic states during the first and second decades of the month. On the 3d light frost occurred over the Florida peninsula as far south as the twenty-eighth parallel, and was noted on the 14th and 15th in northern Florida. After the 10th frost was frequent in parts of the north Pacific states. At the close of the month freezing temperature was reported in northwestern Texas. In the latter portion of the third decade wintry weather prevailed in Europe and snow fell in Germany and thence over the northern portion of the Italian peninsula. Snowfalls over interior and eastern districts of the United States were the heaviest in many years, if not for the whole period of observation; during the third decade one inch to twelve inches of snow fell in the Dakotas. Minnesota, Wisconsin, upper Michigan and northern lower Michigan. During this period snow and sleet storms occurred in the states of the middle Mississippi valley and heavy rains in the southwestern states. At New Orleans, La., a depth of nearly seven inches of rain was recorded on the 25th.

MAY.

In extreme western districts May temperature was about or slightly above the normal. During the early portion of May heavy frosts occurred in northern districts of the United States and light frosts in northwestern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and the interior of the middle Atlantic states. In the second decade of the month light to heavy frosts were reported in the lake region and north central valleys, and light frost in Arkansas, Tennessee and interior districts of the middle Atlantic states. In the third decade cold weather records for the season were broken in some sections of the interior central, east central and northeastern states. On the 27th a temperature of 42 degrees was noted at St. Louis-the lowest noted for that date and place in seventy one years. On the same day the temperature was below freezing in southwestern Kansas. From the 20th to 22d a frost-bearing cool wave swept from the northwestern states over the lake region, Ohio valley and the middle Atlantic states.

In the second decade excessive rainfalls occurred in the central and lower Mississippi valley and the east gulf states. In the third decade heavy rains caused the overflow of many streams in Texas. On

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