Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/671

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The Green Bag

government and its proceeds utilized not only to diminish the burden of the national in direct taxes, but more especially in order to facilitate the reform of the state general property tax; and . . . the corporation tax and the inheritance tax should be levied as national taxes by the federal government but under a clear understanding with the separate states that the proceeds should be distributed in whole or in greater part to them. To determine the exact methods of repartition would be comparatively easy. For that would be a matter of detail, not of principle." Treaty Power. "The Treaty Power and its Relation to State Laws." By William C. Coleman. 43 American Law Review 641 (Sept.-Oct.). "Conceivably, a treaty could grant to aliens greater rights than are granted to American citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment, and such a treaty would be constitutional. But it is not admitted that those greater rights could be of such a nature as to conflict with the state's exercise of that class of governmental functions which bear a peculiar relation to the welfare of the state as a unit, and the exercise of which, for this very reason, must be peculiarly within the state's discretion. Schools are within that class. . . . "It is sufficient to say that the Japanese should bear in mind our country's constitu tional limitations, and that we, too, should equally bear. in mind that we are a nation, and that there underlies every treaty a ques tion of policy—a question of national, as well as of state interests." Vagrancy. "The American 'Tramp' Ques tion and the Old English Vagrancy Laws." By Bram Stoker. North American Review v. 190, p. 605 (Nov.). "The time is fast coming when something must be done regarding the willfully-idle class. Already in Germany if they refuse to work they must starve. ... In this age we do not, and could not kill, because of mere idleness. But the offender could be given a life sentence. In England a life sentence really means twenty years."

Waters. "Origin and Basis of the Rule that in Determining Riparian Rights the United States Courts Follow the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the State in Which the Controversy Arises." By W. A. Coutts. 69 Central Law Journal 262 (Oct. 8). "The court in Pollardv. Hagen, 3 How. 212. 11 L. Ed. 565, held that Alabama must be regarded as entering the Union upon an equal footing with the original states; . . . that the shores of navigable waters, and the soils under them, were not granted by the Consti tution of the United States, but were reserved to the states respectively, and the new states have the same rights, sovereignty and juris

diction over this subject as the original states. . . . "It thus appears that the doctrine of state sovereignty, a doctrine which at the time of its assertion in Pollard v. Hagen was closely allied with the doctrine of nullifica tion, is the ground work upon which rests the rule that in determining riparian rights the federal Supreme Court is guided by the decisions of the court of the state from which the case in hand comes." Miscellaneous Articles of Interest to the Legal Profession Cleveland. "Grover Cleveland: A Group of Letters.—IV—A Record of Friendship." By Richard Watson Gilder. Century, v. 79, p. 24 (Nov.). "It has come to this, that his fellowcountrymen in general, even those that dissent from his political opinions, recognize in Grover Cleveland a man who, being mortal, was not without fault and limitation, yet who stands pre-eminent for unfeigned purity of intention, for singular frankness, for scrupulous and unusual honesty, for faith fulness to duty, for resolution, for courage, and, above all, for absorbing, dominating patriotism. It is not strange that almost the last words that were heard from his lips were these: 'I have tried so hard to do right.'" Harriman. "Mr. Edward Henry Harriman: The Most Powerful Man in America." By Burton J. Hendrick. Fortnightly Review, v. 86, p. 577 (Oct.). "Harriman's railroad domination means everywhere the elimination of competition, the curbing or the ruthless crushing of rivals, the increased efficiency of management, the general use of the cheapest and most ex peditious routes for traffic, and consequent economies in many directions. Up to the present time, however, Harriman had not let the public share in the prosperity with which his system everywhere overflows. In this respect his influence is an unquestioned evil. Evidently Harriman has drawn from his Standard Oil alliance other things than mere financial backing." Irish Home Rule. "Ireland's Need." By Stephen Gwynn. Nineteenth Century, v. 66, p. 618 (Oct.). "For my own country—apart from the paramount consideration of racial pride, national sentiment— I want a government that can attend rationally to local affairs, big and little, that can do the constructive work of legislation. And, above all, I want law and order. I want a government which, by keeping legislation and administration in harmony with the country's needs, will remove the sanction which at present attaches, and rightly, to breaches of the law."