it must be remembered that the safety, speed, comfort, and service
have greatly improved. The marked reduction in freight rates has been
made possible only by a still greater and more remarkable reduction in
the cost of transportation. This has been effected by consolidation
of companies, by improvements in roadway, bridges, etc., and by the
introduction of heavier trains, with engines of greater power and cars
of greater capacity. This economy can be still further extended. The
reduction in rates has been much greater than that in the prices of
commodities. Rates for wheat and hay, for instance, have decreased 23
and 20 per cent more than the market prices, and the rate for shipping
anthracite coal to tidewater has decreased 50 per cent in the past ten
years, while the price of the coal has decreased only 10 per cent. The
average freight rate on the Pennsylvania Railway in 1898 was 0.536
cent per ton per mile, while the cost was 0.369 cent. The cheapness of
transportation in the United States is shown by the following figures
for 1898:—
Passengers carried one mile 13,000,000,000
Tons of freight carried one mile 95,000,000,000
Revenue from passenger service $26,000,000
Revenue from freight service $62,000,000
Distance railway carries 1 passenger to earn $1 profit 500 miles
Distance railway carries 1 ton to earn $1 profit 1530 miles
Average profit per passenger (including baggage) per mile 2-10 cent
Average profit per ton per mile 1-15 cent
The lowest passenger rates in the world are on the Indian railways. In
Europe the passenger rates average higher than in the United States,
though the accommodation is inferior.
Railway transportation has almost entirely superseded barge, canal,
and river transportation, except in special cases. This is due to the
greater speed, the greater efficiency of service, the greater carrying
capacity, and the extent to which spurs and branches are built to
enable cars to reach mills, factories, and other industrial plants. It
was for a long time held that the low rates of water transportation
exerted an influence in keeping railway rates down, but with the
present condition of the latter this no longer holds good as a general
proposition, especially for the limited capacity of barge canals.
The rates established for wheat and corn from Buffalo to New York by
rail in 1899 are about 0.23 and 0.18 cent per ton per mile, which is
but little above the canal rates, while rail shipments are much more
advantageous.
The railway system is a vast employer of labor, directly and
indirectly, and several million persons in the United States derive
their support from the various railway industries, without taking into
account such allied industries as rail mills, bridge works, locomotive
works, and car works, etc. The number of direct railway employees
(exclusive of the employees of terminal and sleeping-car companies,
fast freight lines, etc.) is over 820,000, or over 1.2 per cent of the
total population. A large proportion of these represent skilled labor
of a high degree of intelligence. France has about 1110 employees per
mile of railway, and 10 per cent of these are women. The figures for
the United States and Great Britain are as follows:—
-----------------------+-----------------+--------------------------
| United States | Great Britain
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
| 1890 | 1897 | 1857 | 1889 | 1895
-----------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
Miles of railway |163,597 | 184,428| 8,942| 19,943| 21,174
Number of employees |749,301 | 823,476| 109,660| 381,626| 465,412
Number of employees per| | | | |
100 miles | 479 | 449| 1,230| 1,900| 2,197
Number of employees per| | | | |
cent of population | 1.2 | 1.2| 0.4| 1.0| 1.2
-----------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
The railway service especially demands some better and more intimate
relation between the employers and employees than that of the
mere buying and selling of labor for a price. Both humanity and
self-interest have led several railways in this country and abroad to
establish relief departments, providing temporary financial aid in case
of accident or sickness, with other forms of benefits in addition, the
object being to induce men to continue permanently in the employ of the
road. Such associations have existed in England since 1850, in Canada
since 1873, and in the United States since 1880, when one was started
by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. In 1896 there were six of these
associations in the United States, with an aggregate of about 125,000
members. The six railway systems owned 15 per cent of all the mileage
and had 20 per cent of all the railway employees in the country.
Before closing this review of railway development, brief reference may
be made to certain special classes of railways.
[Illustration: VIEW NEAR VERRUGAS, ON LINE OF OROYA RAILWAY, PERU.]
MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS.—These include lines either isolated or forming part
of main lines, having grades so steep as to require special means of
traction. They may be operated by (A) cables, (B) grip rails, or (C)
rack rails. Cables are used for many short lines, but are now rarely
adopted for regular railway working. The grip rail system was first
used on the Mont Cenis railway in 1867, and has been used in later
years in Brazil and New Zealand. Rack rails were used in 1848 on the
incline near Madison, Indiana (U. S. A.). In 1866 they were used on the
Mount Washington railway (U. S. A.), (with the Marsh rack), this being
the first mountain-climbing railway. In 1885, the Abt rack-rail system
was introduced, and is a great improvement. It has been used both for
ordinary railway service and for special mountain lines.
RAPID TRANSIT.—Street or surface railways for city traffic date
from 1831, in New York, and were operated by horses until 1873, when
cable traction was introduced. Electric traction was introduced in
Germany in 1881 and in the United States in 1884, and the growth
of this system was such that in 1894 it was in use on 9000 miles in
this country and 195 miles in Europe. Locomotives operated by steam,
gas, compressed air, etc., have been used to a limited extent. For
high speeds it was necessary to remove the railway from the street
surface. The first elevated railway was built in New York in 1869, and
now New York, Brooklyn, and Chicago have about 100 miles, operated
by electricity and steam. The only foreign railway on this system is
at Liverpool (England), the line being 5 miles long, and operated by
electricity. The first underground railway was opened in London in
1863, and that city now has several miles of such railway, mostly
operated by steam locomotives. Two underground electric lines are in
operation and another is being built. Budapest (Hungary) and Boston
(Mass.) have also underground electric railways. New York has for
years needed and demanded a railway of this character, but political
methods and extravagant demands for franchise rights have prevented the
commencement of work upon the line.
MILITARY RAILWAYS.—Railways cannot be made available to any extent for
tactical purposes, but are of great importance as a means of supply
and communication. They were used by the Russians in the Crimean war
(1854), and were prominent features in some of the campaigns of the
American Civil War (1861–65). In the Franco-German war (1870), the
German army advancing on Paris was closely followed by a military
railway, and in the Soudan campaign of 1898–99, the British army
carried with it the head of a railway communicating with the base of
supplies on the Nile.
PORTABLE RAILWAYS.—These are narrow-gauge lines of light construction,
for use on plantations, in lumbering operations, on engineering
construction works, and for pioneer railways. The rails are riveted to
steel ties, forming complete sections of track, straight or curved,
which can be laid down, taken up, or shifted, as required. Such a line,
of 24 inches gauge, was used to carry passengers around the grounds of
the Paris Exhibition of 1889.
SHIP RAILWAYS.—These are projected as substitutes for ship canals, but
none have been built in modern times, if we except a few small ones
for canal boats, including one at the Columbia River rapids, in Oregon
(U. S. A.). One was proposed for the Isthmus of Suez in 1860, and in
1879 Captain Eads strongly advocated one across Tehuantepec (Mexico),
to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This line would be about
150 miles in length, and the cost is estimated at $50,000,000. In 1888
work was commenced on the Chignecto ship railway (Canada), at the head
of the Bay of Fundy, but it has never been completed. The general
principle of the system is to float the ship into a dock and deposit it
upon a wheeled cradle of suitable form. This would then be raised by
machinery and hauled along the railway by a number of locomotives.
ADVANCE IN LAW AND JUSTICE
BY LUTHER E. HEWITT, L.B.,
_Librarian of Philadelphia Law Association_.
I. INTERNATIONAL LAW.—Exclusive rights asserted in past centuries have
been succeeded by freedom of the seas and privileges on the rivers.
The principle back of the American guns off the Barbary coasts has
prevailed. Crimes of one country against another are punishable in
either. Extradition for nonpolitical crimes is general. Expatriation
has been won for those who would change their country. Internal
affairs of countries are free from interference; but a rule may be
so revolting, or so hurtful to foreign interests, as to justify
intervention. The Monroe doctrine was intimated in the Declaration of
Independence, and has developed with our country. Regard for other
nations has increased. Protectorates and spheres of influence are
respected, while recognition of insurgent States will not be hurried.
Devastation and weapons causing needless pain are condemned, while
guerillas are regulated by requirement of a responsible head, a badge
recognizable at a distance, and subjection to rules of war. The sick
and wounded, attendants, and appliances are protected from intentional
attack.
Open, unfortified places are in practice spared, and ransoms no
longer extorted. Twenty-four hours are allowed for withdrawal of
noncombatants from places to be attacked. Military occupation no longer
confers sovereign power; and compensation on the closing of war has
been recommended for private property of an enemy used in military
operations.
Impartial neutrality is demanded. Nations once bound themselves for
troops in case others went to war. This has ceased. Passage of troops
through neutral territory is not allowed. Even sick and wounded will
be denied if their passage would relieve a combatant’s own lines; but
neutrals have interned such refugees. The neutral cannot allow fitting
out of armed expeditions or enlistment of troops. Jefferson advanced
international law by demanding Genet’s recall for such offenses.
Carriage of signals, dispatches, or persons in military operations is
unneutral, and the United States insisted that this ruled the Trent
affair. A belligerent’s ship of war can remain in port but twenty-four
hours, unless in an emergency, like need of repairs. Coal will be
afforded only to the nearest port, nor will a new supply be furnished
within three months. Statutes enforce some of these rules. Neutral
trade is not lost except on blockade, although goods which may be put
to military uses are liable to seizure as contraband. “Free ships,
free goods,” was long contended for; and at last the Declaration of
Paris, in 1856, provided even further, as follows: (1) Privateering
is and remains abolished. (2) The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods,
with the exception of contraband of war. (3) Neutral goods, with the
exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under an
enemy’s flag. (4) Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effectual.
Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States declined to adhere to
the Declaration. The United States adopted 2, 3, and 4, and offered
to agree to the abolition of privateering if noncontraband property of
the enemy were exempted under its own flag. The United States and Spain
refrained from privateering in the recent war. Private property of the
enemy on land has long been exempt from capture.
[Illustration: INDEPENDENCE HALL AND SQUARE. WINTER SCENE.]
II. LAW-MAKING BODIES.—State legislators were originally chosen from
landed proprietors, except, perhaps, in Pennsylvania. Legislatures
frequently had the selection of governors, judges, and other high
officials, but the Ohio constitution in 1802 foreshadowed the coming
democracy. Distrust has followed reliance on legislatures. Their
sessions have been limited in about half the States to an average
of less than ninety days, and almost everywhere made biennial.
Increase of the members’ own compensation is forbidden. Their duties
are carefully prescribed. Common requirements are, reading of
bills on three days; one subject for a bill, and that expressed in
title; recital of old law, upon revision; prohibition of riders on
appropriations. Nearly half the States require a majority in each
house of all members elected thereto. Constitutional restrictions
on state and municipal indebtedness and loan followed the burdens
assumed in the first exultation over inventions in transportation. The
Pennsylvania constitution, for instance, prohibits “local or special
laws” in about thirty cases, such as in municipal affairs, descent of
property, judicial proceedings, remitting penalties, exemption from
taxation, regulating labor, chartering corporations. Boundaries between
legislative and judicial proceedings have been simplified; special
legislation in marriage and divorce has been forbidden; appellate
jurisdiction has been taken from Senates once possessing it. The
British House of Lords retains such jurisdiction, but within it sit the
great judges, and the lay lords almost never vote on appeals.
Payment of expenses of members was derived from England, and although
abandoned there has continued here. Members of Congress give
attendance remote from home, so that they receive salaries rather than
compensation. Sums for expenses are allowed in the other American
republics, in France, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, chiefly in the
lower houses. Some are paid by the local constituency, but this tends
to create classes. Representatives to Congress were generally elected
at first on the State ticket, and in some States this continued until
the Congress in 1872 required district election. The Revised Statutes
appoint the day of their election, and require a printed or written
ballot.
III. THE COURTS.—A feature of American jurisprudence which excites the
wonder of foreigners is the power in the courts to declare legislative
or executive acts void because unconstitutional. Before the Revolution
the Rhode Island court struck down a statute contrary to the provincial
charter; and a recent instance is the decision of the U. S. Supreme
Court on the income tax. The power is exercised on individuals,
without direct conflict between the great departments of government.
The judicial power has otherwise widened. Civil trials without jury
are frequent. In the counties judges exercise much administrative
power. Road and bridge cases, grants of liquor licenses, appointments
to educational and other offices, are illustrations. In what has been
termed “government by injunction,” functions both of the executive and
of the jury have been assumed. Perhaps this justifies the demand that
all judges shall be elected by the people. Frequently the choice of
judges was originally by the legislature, or by the governor, alone
or with the approval of the senate. The judicial tenure of office
has generally been lengthened to a term insuring a long service. In
Pennsylvania, a supreme court judge holds office twenty-one years,
a county judge ten years. Age limit prevails in some States. In a
democracy, it is not surprising to find the doctrine sometimes asserted
that juries in criminal cases are judges both of law and fact. In
certain civil cases, the jury is a crude but powerful engine for
holding corporations to strict responsibility for the citizens’ safety,
although excessive or unfounded verdicts are to be deplored. Much of
the old law of deodands has force to-day in subtler form. A feature to
note in passing is the duty imposed on the judge to answer before the
jury points of instruction framed by counsel.
IV. CIVIL PROCEDURE.—Twenty-nine States and Territories rejoice
in escape from puzzling classifications by substitution of simple
statements. Extreme separation of law and equity had made the old
condition worse. Equity might often soften legal principles, or
law lend vigor to equity. Much of this has now been done; had been
done, in fact, in Pennsylvania, from early days. Its enforcement of
equitable rights through remedies at law was largely followed in the
English Judicature Act of 1873 abolishing forms of actions at law and
interblending law and equity. This statute has been copied largely in
British colonies. England abolished the cumbrous system of real actions
in 1834, and substituted simpler remedies for assertion of title.
The simplicity of present procedure is accompanied by ability to reach
decision more promptly, and an old reproach has been greatly lessened.
V. CODIFICATION.—The New York Revised Statutes of 1828 embraced
nearly the entire civil procedure, and in 1848 a “Code of Procedure”
was adopted, although the original draftsman, David Dudley Field,
complained bitterly of changes. Forty-two States now have more or less
complete codes of practice; and criminal codes likewise are numerous.
Codification of the branches of substantive law may be anticipated.
Something of this is going on in England. The Bill of Sales Act, the
Employers’ Liability Act, the Bills of Exchange Act, the Public Health
(Scotland) Act of 1897, the Land Transfer Act of the same year, are
instances. In Pennsylvania, there are codelets like the Evidence Act
of 1887, or the Building Law for Philadelphia of 1893. Instances
could be multiplied. A code intended for all the States on Negotiable
Instruments has been prepared by commissioners, and has been adopted in
New York, Connecticut, Colorado, and Florida. In Great Britain there
has not been general codification, whereas the continental systems run
largely that way, even in substantive law, being based on the Roman law.
VI. CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE.—The grand jury is no longer grand in
many States; indeed, less than twelve members suffice in some;
and their service may even be dispensed with under some Western
constitutions. Individual malice has been avoided by the creation of
public prosecuting attorneys. “Standing aside jurors” resulted from
33 Edward I., denying government challenge except for cause. It has
been generally abolished, and the prosecution equalized by a number
of peremptory challenges. Pennsylvania retains the old practice.
Prisoners may now testify, but refusal is not to weigh against them.
The statute 7 William III. allowed counsel in treason cases, but
England did not extend the privilege to trials for other felonies until
1836. The courts in mitigation permitted counsel to prompt prisoners
with questions. Penn’s charter gave prisoners privileges of witnesses
and counsel, and this is now universal in American constitutions.
Many States provide counsel for prisoners without means, some with
compensation. “Standing mute” has become equivalent to a plea of not
guilty. Unanimity in a verdict is essential to conviction of crime
above misdemeanor, except in Utah, and there it is limited to capital
cases. In civil and in minor criminal cases about a dozen constitutions
in the far West or Southwest either recognize verdict by proportion
of jury or else empower the legislature so to do. England refuses
criminal appeals, but in this country they are allowed. The courts of
this country have never been subservient to military passion, and all
friends of the great French Republic must rejoice at the courage of
the Court of Cassation in the Dreyfus case. The English law inflicted
death for 160 crimes, some great and many otherwise, about the period
of our Revolution, and in 1819 this number had become 200. American
jurisprudence never had such stain of blood, yet 10 crimes were
punishable with death in Massachusetts, and 20 in Delaware, at the time
of the Revolution, and the pillory, stocks, shears, branding-irons, and
lash were busy. Horrible prisons existed, filled with every foulness
and immorality. The older penitentiary system has been modified in 20
States by the parole system under police supervision, and in 4 the
policy of indeterminate sentences within fixed limits and ages has been
adopted. Bertillon and other methods of identification have greatly
lessened crime in England. The law of deodand, whereby the value of
an object causing accidental death was forfeited for charities, was
abolished in England in 1846. Societies to prevent cruelty to children,
or to animals, attest the advance of refinement and humanity.
[Illustration: HON. MELVILLE W. FULLER.
(Chief Justice U. S. Supreme Court.)]
VII. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.—In England, treason and felony, except petty
larceny and mayhem, were punishable with death. The fiction by which
males who could read were supposed to be of the clergy saved first
offenders, who escaped with branding. In the eighteenth century, the
fiction was forbidden, and death imposed on additional offenses, so
that 160 crimes were so punishable. In 1826, the efforts of Sir Samuel
Romilly and Sir James Mackintosh, and later of Sir John Russell,
resulted in a more merciful spirit, and since 1861 murder, treason, and
firing of the great dock yards, have been the only capital offenses.
The American colonies were more humane, yet Massachusetts punished 10
and Delaware 20 crimes with death. Since the Revolution imprisonment
has been the general penalty. In Maine, Wisconsin, and Colorado
capital punishment has been abolished altogether; in Rhode Island,
except where murder is committed by a life prisoner; in Michigan,
except for treason. In some States, as in Ohio, the jury may avert the
death penalty. New York and Iowa, after experiments, restored capital
punishment. The federal law imposes death for murder, piracy, robbery
on the high seas, rape, treason. The introduction of degrees of murder
has reduced the number of executions. In New York, electrocution has
been substituted for hanging. Capital punishment has been abolished
or qualified in the Argentine Republic, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Costa
Rica, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland
(in eight cantons), and in Venezuela.
VIII. POLICE POWER.—The citizen of the present day is protected by the
police power to a degree which, perhaps, would have seemed marvelous a
century ago. The sale of food is governed both in quality and quantity;
building laws prescribe yards for light and air, height and thickness
of walls, and forbid wooden buildings in many populous centres.
Explosives are placed under strict regulations. Health laws protect
from impurity of food and from pestilence, establish quarantines,
deny the importation of rags, cattle, etc., likely to breed disease;
medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing are protected from
ignorance; immigration laws exclude persons or races deemed uncongenial
or objectionable; railroads are subjected to provisions promoting
safety, comfort, and impartiality of service; lotteries, gambling,
threatening letters are forbidden; game laws preserve the various
species from extinction; women and children are guarded by special
laws. Almost the entire body of this division of law is new to this
century, and much of it is recent.