ALABAMA. 



ALASKA. 



the disease, born doubtless of the belief, once very 

 prevalent, that insanity implied demoniac possession, 

 does still a vast deal of harm. It causes too often a 

 concealment of the disorder until the curative stage 

 has passed away. It invests it with attributes not 

 only mysterious and forbidding, but alike prejudicial 

 to its proper humane and scientific treatment. It 

 adds greatly, toOj to the afflictive burden of those who 

 Buffer from its lighter forms, or who have recovered 

 from its more serious attacks. 



The report of the physician (Dr. Bryce), after 

 designating alcohol " as the most active of all 

 the exciting causes of insanity," presents the 

 following statement compiled from facts of 

 the total annual expense of alcoholic stimu- 

 lants in this country : 



There are consumed in this country each year 561,- 

 000,000 gallons of alcoholic liquors, which' at manu- 

 facturers' prices cost the consumers the round sum of 

 $1,841,204,000. It kills 164,062 persons each year, 

 whose days are shortened ten years, making a total 

 of 1,640,620 years of time, which at $50 per year 

 makes $82,031,000. There are 1,523,662 regular or 

 moderate drinkers, who it is estimated lose one third 

 of their time as a consequence of the gratification of 

 this appetite, entailing a pecuniary loss alone of $76,- 

 182,100. The total amount of crime costs the Govern- 

 ment annually $32,528,437, three fourths of which, or 

 $24,396,328, is attributable to intemperance. Add 

 the cost of pauperism caused by this evil, $21,375,000, 

 and \f& find the total annual expense of alcoholic 

 stimulants to the people of the United States to be 

 $2,041,249,428. 



Some cases of indictment for election frauds 

 occurred in Dallas County, and were brought 

 up for trial before the United States Court 

 (Judge Bruce), at Montgomery. The counsel 

 for the defense maintained that the jury law 

 in the statute-hook was operative and valid, 

 whereas the Court and District Attorney held 

 the reverse, as follows: The counsel for the 

 defense moved to quash the indictments based 

 upon the provisions of section 820 of the Re- 

 vised Statutes of the United States, Boutwell 

 edition. This section constitutes the pith of 

 the somewhat celebrated ironclad oath. (See 

 CONGRESS, UNITED STATES.) One at least of 

 the members of the recent grand jury of the 

 United States was a Confederate soldier, and 

 consequently could not take this oath. The 

 counsel for the defendants held that so long 

 as the oath was contained in the Revised 

 Statutes it was operative and of full force and 

 effect. Judge Bruce maintained just the re- 

 verse. He held that the ironclad oath was 

 effectually repealed prior to the passage of the 

 act adopting the Revised Statutes of the Unit- 

 ed States by Congress, and that its appearance 

 in the new edition of these statutes did not 

 reenact it. The law which was passed by 

 Congress, accepting the Boutwell edition of 

 the Revised Statutes of the United States, in- 

 cluded all laws of a general and permanent 

 character in force on the 1st day of December, 

 1873. Judge Bruce held that the test-oath 

 act was repealed before December 1, 1873, 

 and consequently, not being one of the acts in 

 force on that date, its appearance in the Re- 

 vised Statutes did not reenact it. Hence the 



motion to quash indictments found by the 

 late grand jury of the United States, because 

 a Confederate soldier was a member thereof 

 (and of course could not take the ironclad 

 oath), was denied. Upon a similar state of 

 circumstances Judge Woods, of the United 

 States Circuit Court, held precisely the oppo- 

 site of the opinion of Judge Bruce, and quashed 

 several indictments in Louisiana because upon 

 the grand jury which presented them there 

 were members who could not take the iron- 

 clad oath. Their decisions were final, because 

 in these cases, which really involve the liberty 

 of the citizen, there is no appeal from the 

 decision of the Federal Judge. 



Many revenue cases brought before the 

 Court developed the fact that Commissioners 

 were in the habit of issuing blank affidavits to 

 agents and deputy marshals, to be filled up 

 with the names of such parties as the agent or 

 deputy marshal might be able to charge, on 

 his own oath, with violation of the law, as he 

 had reason to believe. On such warrants 

 many innocent persons have been arrested, 

 and subjected to great expense, injustice, and 

 oppression, and the Commissioners, agents, 

 and marshals have reaped a large amount of 

 unlawful fees. Judge Woods read an able 

 opinion, setting forth these facts, and de- 

 nounced such proceedings as contrary to the 

 United States Constitution, which declares 

 that " no warrants shall issue but upon prob- 

 able cause, supported by oath or affirmation, 

 and particularly describing the place to be 

 searched, and the persons or things to be 

 seized." He concluded with an order that 

 no Commissioner shall issue any warrant of 

 search, seizure, or arrest, unless a witness 

 shall first appear before said Commissioner 

 and make the proper affidavit. 



The statute of Alabama declares that " all 

 railroad companies in the State . . . may, for 

 the transportation of local freight, demand and 

 receive not exceeding fifty per cent, more than 

 the rate charged for the transportation of the 

 same description of freight over the whole 

 line of the road." The Supreme Court of the 

 State held that, as it is the policy of railroad 

 corporations to so connect their lines as to 

 effect a long continuous connected line of 

 transportation, and under such arrangement 

 the saving of labor and increase of business 

 resulting from such connection enable each 

 road to accept its share of the sum realized 

 from this branch of the business, a sum which 

 would fall much below fair remuneration for 

 receiving, loading, transporting, unloading, and 

 delivering the same quantity and description 

 of freight, whose departure and distribution 

 were each within the limit of the one road, 

 hence the words " over the whole line of its 

 road " mean, and only mean, freight which is 

 taken at one terminus and discharged at the 

 other. 



ALASKA. This distant region, belonging by 

 purchase to the United States, has not yet been 



