774 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



has been at least no marked improvement in the determination of 

 common carriers to obey the law, as evidenced by the statistics of the 

 enforcement of the law for the fiscal year 1910. Of the 598 cases 

 reported, together with those coming over from the fiscal year 1910, 

 there were 807 cases pendmg at the close of June 30, 1911. Penalties 

 wore assessed in 254 cases and 66 cases wore dismissed. In the pre- 

 ceding fiscal year, of the 438 cases reported, together with those 

 coming over from the preceding fiscal year, 559 were pending at the 

 close of June 30, 1910. Penalties .were assessed in 139 cases and 29 

 cases were dismissed. In the fiscal year 1910, 19 cases were lost, or 

 about 6 per cent of the total number; in the fiscal year 1911, 30 cases 

 were lost, or about S per cent of the total. In 1910 penalties in the 

 sum of $16,500 were recovered, and costs in the sum of $2,919.35 

 were paid; in 191 1 penalties in the sum of $26,075 were recovered, and 

 costs in the sum of $5,783.85 were paid. In short, there were 160 

 more cases reported in 1911 than in 1910, $9,575 more in penalties, 

 and $2,864,50 more in costs collected in 1911 than in 1910, and there 

 were 248 more cases pending on June 30, 1911, than on June 30, 1910. 

 Two biUs are pending before Congress, each providing for an 

 amendment to the twenty-eight-hour law with regard to a minimum 

 speed requirement in the transportation of stock trains. Senate bill 

 No. 5538, introduced by Mr. Lodge on January 19, 1910, provides, in 

 effect, for an average minimum speed of not less than 16 mUes per 

 hour on aU stock trains operating in interstate commerce, and H. R. 

 No. 11164, introduced in the House of Representatives on June 6, 

 1911, by Mr. Daniel A. Driscoll, provides, m effect, for an average 

 minimum speed of 15 miles per nour in the case of stock trains. 

 These bills were referred to committee, no further action being taken. 



DECISIONS OF THE COURTS. 



During the fiscal year 1911, the following important decisions of the 

 Federal courts were handed down in cases arising under the twenty- 

 eight-hour law: 



United States v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. 



(Circular No. 42, Office of the Solicitor; not reported in the Federal Reporter.] 



In answer to a complaint in the usual form the defendant company contended that 

 •t was within the exception to the statute in section 3, reading, "Provided, That when 

 animals are carried in cars, boats, or other vessels in which they can and do have 

 proper food, water, space, and opportunity to rest, the provisions in regard to their 

 being unloaded shall not apply." In support of this it was shown that those in charge 

 of the train asked the shipper how he was faring, and he answered "all right" and 

 that he could feed and water his stock. No effort, other than this inquiry, was made 

 by the defendant's employees to ascertain whether the animals had food and water. 

 The court overruled this defense, saying that it is not enough to show that animals 

 "can " have food and water, as for instance that the one in charge of them may procure 

 food and water at the stations where stops are made, but it must be shown that the 

 animals "do" have proper food, water, space, and opportunity to rest in the cars, 

 boats, or other vessels where carried. 



United States v. Wabash Railroad Co. 



[182 Fed., 802; Circular No. 43, Office of the Solicitor.] 



Complaint was made in this case because the court below overruled a demurrer to 

 an answer which asserted that the claim of the United States to recover the statutory 

 penalty from the Wabash Railroad Co. was barred, because the United States had 

 there*^ofore recovered a penalty from the St. Louis Merchants Bridge Terminal Rail- 

 way Co., for its receipt from the defendant and subsequent detention of the same 



