Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/372

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Review of Periodicals has no rights in the matter until the through rate has been duly established; then, of course, he may demand it, as a Texas case holds. The question has been raised as to whether such statutes are constitutional; but in view of the modern notion of obligatory connection for proper service for all concerned, there seems to be little doubt." "The Story of the Wonderful Watermelon Patch, III." By Charles Edward Russell. Hampton's, v. 22, p. 818 (June). Dealing with the financial methods em ployed by James J. Hill and those associated with him in the management of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific. The recent Spokane case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the arguments of Brooks Adams and other counsel in favor of Spokane and against the railroads, receive much atten tion. See Railroads. Labor and Wages. "The Sliding Scale of Wages in the Cotton Industry." By Jonathan Thayer Lincoln. Quarterly Journal of Eco. nomics, v. 23, p. 450 (May). "Because Fall River [Mass.], is the largest centre of the cotton industry in America, that city has long held an unenviable reputa tion for strikes and every other form of indus trial unrest. "The plan for a sliding scale of wages, first tried and found wanting, but afterwards per fected, is still in force and meeting with the approval of both parties to the agree ment. . . . The plan has brought vividly to the attention of both the manufacturers and the operatives a realization of their common interests, and has revived, in a measure, that sense of partnership between the man who buys labor and the man who sells it which once existed in the earlier stages of our indus trial development." See Injunctions. Legal Education. "The Dignity of the Maxim." By W. T. Hughes. 4 Illinois Law Review 87 (June). "Numberless decisions of courts show that both bench and bar are groping in the dark. Attempting to teach the law by erroneous definitions and in disregard of the maxims of old has made of jurisprudence in American states a jargon, and practically at least fifty tribes, each following its own wild orgies, in clamorous acclaim for its own ghost-dance to exalt above the greatness of antiquity the ever-questionable output of 'native sons', and of literature that has been characterized as the product of book-factories." Legal Ethics. "Legal Ethics." By Chief Justice James F. Ailshie. Lawyer & Banker, v. 2, p. 7 (June). "There is no reason why a lawyer should not acquire wealth, as well as another, if he does it honestly and legitimately; but as his

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temptations, in the way of opportunity, are greater than others, so are his obligations to keep strictly within the lines of probity and integrity. And that in so doing he is adopt ing the course best calculated to insure success, all experience verifies." Legal History. "The Genesis of Roman Law in America." By William Bennett Munro. 22 Harvard Law Review 579 (June). A scholarly article in which the modern application of the Roman law to be found in the civil jurisprudence of the Province of Quebec is keenly analyzed from a historical standpoint. Legislative Procedure. "Defective Methods of Legislation." By Ernest Bruncken. Ameri can Political Science Review, v. 3, p. 167 (May). "This almost entire absence of machinery to promote discussion and detailed considera tion of bills is, in my opinion, the principal cause of the poor quahty, as well as the excess ive number of American statutes. The wonder is, not that the result of these methods is so bad, but that it is not worse. . . . The lack of thorough discussion, which characterizes the drafting of bills and their committee stage, also follows them on the floor of the house. A vast majority are not the subject of debate at all; not a few, however, are amended, and rarely are these amendments given any intelligent consideration by any member except the one proposing it. . . . "Turning now to the possible remedies for these evils, I would suggest three feasible reforms, which I believe would go far towards improvement. The first is to give very much greater facilities for thorough discussion of all measures coming before the legislature. The next is some device for the establishment of legitimate leadership within the legislature itself; and the third is provision for expert workmanship in the preparation of bills." On the subject of the third of these reforms, probably that which would be deemed by readers of the Green Bag the most important, this writer refers to the legislative reference bureau which has recognized and to some extent supplied the need of more careful draftsmanship in several states, and adds:— "The work of the bureau, both in drafting bills and the gathering and collating of infor mation, falls in admirably with the proposi tion of dividing the legislative session into one for the introduction and one for the dis posal of bills. For during the recess the bureau will have time to re-draft crudely drawn bills, as well as collect data for dis cussing them." "The Speaker of the House of Representa tives." By Asher C. Hinds. American Po litical Science Review, v. 3, p. 155 (May). "One familiar with the procedure of the House for the last fifteen years cannot be otherwise than surprised at the confidence of the assertions that the House has ceased to be a deliberative body or an efficient legislating