LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL. 



467 



The new State Colored Normal School has 

 been located at Frankfort. 



Election. On August 2 an election was held 

 for county and judicial officers. Caswell Ben- 

 nett, Democrat, was chosen a Justice of the 

 Court of Appeals from the First Appellate Dis- 

 trict, without opposition. On November 2, 

 Congressmen were chosen, the Republicans 

 electing three and the Democrats eight. 



Tobacco and Liquors. The report of the Com- 

 missioner of Internal Revenue for the year 

 ending June 30, 1886, gives statistics in regard 

 to liquors and tobacco. In Kentucky the col- 

 lections were large, as the following figures 

 will show : 



Second District $1,714,514 9T 



Fifth District 6,946,473 84 



Sixth District (A) 142,54014 



Sixth District (B) 3,505,022 92 



Seventh District 2,435,332 58 



Eighth District (A) 1,862 68 



Eighth District (B) 940,593 46 



Aggregate collections $15,746,940 59 



The number of Kentucky cigar-manufact- 

 urers is 2,601, using 735,936 pounds of tobacco, 



manufacturing 32,C92,560 cigars. Number of 

 tobacco-factories in Kentucky, 82, using 14,- 

 790,777 pounds of leaf, 43,445 pounds of scraps, 

 2,618,605 pounds of licorice, 2,298,285 pounds 

 of sugar, and 177,016 pounds of other mate- 

 rials. Those in Kentucky who pay taxes for 

 the manufacture of liquors consist of 59 rec- 

 tifiers, 3,691 retail liquor-dealers, 227 whole- 

 sale liquor-dealers, 1 manufacturer of stills, 

 255 manufacturers of cigars, 1,079 dealers in 

 leaf-tobacco, 71 manufacturers of tobacco, and 

 29 brewers. Total of persons taxed, 15,663. 

 Number of distilleries registered and operated, 

 760; number operated in the Second District, 

 57 ; Fifth, 82 ; Sixth, 22 ; Seventh, 29 ; Eighth, 

 64. Gallons of spirits rectified in the Second 

 District, 139,742 ; Fifth, 993,538 ; Sixth, 2,- 

 916,419; Seventh, 4,687 ; Eighth, 3,416. The 

 number of cattle fed at registered grain-distil- 

 leries was 20,371. Spirits exported: Second 

 District, 77,362 gallons; Fifth, 565,251; 

 Sixth, 222,784; Seventh, 691,610; Eighth, 

 356,429 ; number of gallons remaining in dis- 

 tillery warehouses, 37,856,072 gallons. 



LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL. Th e i mportant opin- 

 ion rendered by the United States Supreme 

 Court in the Virginia coupon cases is given in 

 the "Annual Cyclopesdia" for 1885, under 

 the title "COUPON CASES." The power of a 

 legislature to punish witnesses for contempt 

 was affirmed by the New York Court of Ap- 

 peals in an opinion outlined in the article on 

 "CONTEMPT OF LEGISLATIVE AUTHOKITY," in 

 the same volume. For the opinion of the Ohio 

 Supreme Court, declaring the registration law 

 of that State unconstitutional, and the opinion 

 of the Supreme Court of Michigan, holding 

 that the Legislature has no authority to pre- 

 scribe party qualifications for office, see "ELEC- 

 TION LAWS," also in the same volume. 



State Regulation of Railroads. An important 

 opinion on this subject was rendered by the 

 United States Supreme Court, Jan. 4, 1886, in 

 the case of Stowe and others composing the 

 Railroad Commission of Mississippi against 

 the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company. The 

 suit was brought by this company to restrain 

 the commission from enforcing against the 

 Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company the pro- 

 visions of the Mississippi statute, passed March 

 11,1884, and entited "An act to provide for 

 the regulation of freight and passenger rates 

 on railroads in this State, and to create a com- 

 mission to supervise the same." The United 

 States Circuit Court decided against the com- 

 missioners, who thereupon appealed to the Su- 

 preme Court. 



In behalf of the company it was contended 

 in the Supreme Court that the statute under 

 which the commissioners were authorized to 



act was unconstitutional, first, because it im- 

 paired the charter contract of the railroad 

 company, and second, because it was a regu- 

 lation of commerce among the States. The 

 charter gave the directors "full power" to 

 manage the affairs of the company by regula- 

 tions "not contrary to this charter, or the laws 

 of this State, or of the United States." It 

 further empowered the company " from time 

 to time to fix, regulate, and receive the toll 

 and charges by them to be received for trans- 

 portation of persons or property on their rail- 

 road." 



The Supreme Court held the law to be con- 

 stitutional. Chief-Justice Waite delivered the 

 opinion. It is a settled principle, he said, that 

 a State has power to limit the amount of 

 charges by railroad companies, unless restrained 

 by some contract in the charter, or unless what 

 is done amounts to a regulation of foreign or 

 interstate commerce. No contract was vio- 

 lated by the legislation in this case. The 

 power of the directors to manage the affairs 

 of the company was expressly limited by the 

 proviso that it should be subject to the laws 

 of the State. The company was not, therefore, 

 exempted by its charter from the operation of 

 laws enacted within the scope of legislative 

 power for the regulation of the business in 

 which it was authorized to engage. To the 

 argument that by giving the company express 

 authority to fix rates, the State* had surren- 

 dered control over charges, the Court said: 

 " We see no evidence of any such intention. 

 Power is granted to fix reasonable charges, 

 but what shall be deemed reasonable in law is 



