Case and Comment

"Before this expense of taking up my floor I put my wits to work, and they suggested a scheme to me, a scheme that worked. I caught a pair of blue bottles, and I set them loose in my sitting room. They buzzed about a minute or two, and then they settled, side by side, upon a certain corner plank. We took up that plank. The rat lay directly beneath it.

"The flies had saved me $10 and I was well pleased. To reward them I gave them their freedom-and the rat. They are enjoying both gifts immensely at the bottom of my garden at this moment."

They Had a Charter Too. The town of Suffolk, Virginia, is "dry," but this does not prevent those with a thirst from "irrigating," and as in all "dry" towns there are a number of clubs, and one of the favorite brands was "Old Charter" whisky. The Eagles have a club in this town, and until recently had employed as one of the servants of the club an old negro, named Jake. The way things were running at this club looked pretty good to Jake, and he determined to organize a club of his own. He managed to get a copy of the rules of the Eagles Club, and had some printed for his own use, and got several other negroes to go in with him and organized a club. They called their club the "Y. M. C. A.", and held services there on Sundays. Jake was elected manager and one of the other negroes president. Not long ago Jake and the president had a disagreement, and the president demanded of Jake, the manager, the books of the club. Jake refused to give up his books, and the manager insisted that he must turn the books over. This riled Jake very much, and he said, "I's got to turn dese books over is I? Well, if I's got to turn dem over, I'll turn dem over to the white folks." So he took the books and gave them to the chief of police, who, upon examination of the books, found they had been running a "blind tiger," and arrested the men who had been running the club. They were fined $50, sentenced to thirty days in jail, and put under bond for $500 each. The judge who heard the case had known Jake for years, and said to him, "Look here, Jake, I've

known you for a long time, and thought you were a pretty good darkey, and I don't understand you getting into this trouble. I want you to explain the whole matter to me. Now, you called your club the 'Y. M. C. A.,' what does that mean?" and Jake replied, "Dat means, sir, "You May Call Again." Then the judge said, "Jake, what was the initiation fee in your club?" "Ten cents, sir," said Jake, "and dat entitled you to a drink. When you took dat drink your membership expired, and when you called again, you had to be reinstated, and dat cost you ten cents more, which entitled you to another drink." "But judge," continued Jake, "dere is one thing I don't understand. Why is it you pull us niggers up here and fine us and put us in jail, for doin' the same thing de white folks is doin' up de street, and you don't do nothin' to dem?" What white folks up the street?" asked judge. "Why, de Eagles, sir," said Jake, "dey are sellin' whisky same as we was. "Oh, no, Jake, you are mistaken," replied the judge, "the Eagles have a charter." "Charter, charter," said Jake, "so had we judge, we had two cases of dat "Charter" right on de flo,' sir."

Change of Air. An occasional change of air may be said to be almost necessary to the perfect well-being of every man. The workman must leave his workshop, the student his library, and the lawyer his office, or sooner or later his health will pay the penalty; and this, no matter how great his temperance in eating and drinking—no matter how vigorously and regularly he uses his limbs -no matter how open and dry and free from sources of impurity may be the air of the place in which he is employed. In the slighter cases of impaired health, the sleeping in the suburbs of the town in which the life is chiefly spent, or even the spending of a few hours of detached days in some accessible rural district, at a few miles' distance from the dwelling, may suffice to restore the healthy balance of the bodily functions, and maintain the bodily machine in a fit state for its duties; or in cases of somewhat more urgency, or of somewhat more aggravated character, a more decided change

of air, for even a few days, once or twice a year, may suffice to adjust or restore the due economy of the system.

Human Skeleton a Court Witness. With a human skeleton over his shoulder, Dr. Frank N. Plummer, an osteopath of Orange, strutted into the supreme court room during the trial of a suit for $10,000 damages, brought by Mrs. Catherine E. Laine, of Caldwell, against the Public-Service Railway Company.

Everybody in the room shuddered, and it seemed to be particularly repulsive to Howard MacSherry, counsel for the defendant corporation.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked MacSherry, when he saw the doctor heading for the witness stand with his burden.

"Going to testify," laconically replied the doctor.

"I object," shouted MacSherry. "I would not be permitted to bring a trolley car in here as an exhibit."

"You have never asked permission," said Judge Adams, as he overruled the objection.

The witness then, holding the skeleton on his knee, pointed out on the vertebræ the exact location where it is asserted the plaintiff's spine is injured, and explained the nature of the alleged injuries.

"What is that, the skeleton of a man or woman?" asked Mr. MacSherry, when he took the witness for cross-examination.

"The skeleton of a woman," replied the witness.

"How old a woman?"

"Something over twenty-five." "How can you tell?"

"By the teeth," replied the doctor. After Dr. John C. Wilson, who was called, had qualified as an expert for the defense by testifying to his connection with Flower Hospital and several New York state institutions, Mr. MacSherry sarcastically remarked:

"I wonder how all these big institutions get along when you're away, doctor ?"

"Oh, easily, counselor. They shut up," was the reply, and the laugh was on the lawyer.

Ethics of the Street. A law has been enacted in Prussia which makes it a prison offense for anyone to fail to answer a cry for help or to go to the rescue of a person in danger when it is possible to do so without endangering one's own life.

Such a law would not be amiss in Chicago, says the Chicago Tribune. Not only ethics, but ordinary decency and manliness, are too frequently forgotten here. Let a thug assault a person in the street, and the majority of men who happen along, instead of going to the assistance of the person assaulted, will scurry away so as not to be dragged into the affair. Let a person be injured by a street car, and half the people who witnessed the accident will refuse to give their names to be called upon as witnesses by the victim.

Whether all the ethics of citizenship. can be enforced effectively through laws and ordinances may be doubted, yet the legal declaration of some primary duties would help to develop a conscience in such matters now apparently sadly lacking.

The English Barrister. In the matter of dress the barrister is bound by unwritten but stringent rule. He must not appear in court robed and at the same time arrayed in a white waistcoat, or in any coat or waistcoat except black or very dark blue, or wear any but a white tie beneath his starched bands, or sport a flower in his buttonhole. Fancy buttons and colored shirts are not allowed, while trousers must be of a sombre hue. "I always listen," Mr. Justice Byles once said, "with little pleasure to the arguments of a counsel whose legs are encased in light grey trousers."

And I have two friends, both of them from the same college as mine, one a barrister, the other a solicitor. They dine together frequently, they week-end and golf together. But one day, when I was collecting them to lunch, the barrister stood outside the solicitor's office while I went in. For the etiquette of the bar forbids the barrister to call upon the solicitor-who must solicit!-London Chronicle.

"The Organization and Management of Business Corporations." By Walter C. Clephane, LL. M. of the Washington, D. C., Bar. Second Edition. (Vernon Law Book Co., Kansas City, Mo.) $5.00.

This is a new and enlarged edition of Mr. Clephane's well-known work. It is designed as a practical guide to students, officers of corporations, and lawyers whose practice has not caused them to specialize in the law of corporations.

The book originally grew out of the lectures prepared by the author for his classes studying the subject in the George Washington University. It has now been almost entirely rewritten, and its scope somewhat enlarged so as to include brief discussions of topics not touched upon in the first edition. In order to increase the value of the treatise the number of cases cited has been many times multiplied.

Special attention has been paid to the subject of voting trusts, and the decisions of the various American courts on this subject have been classified by states. Many forms have been inserted which may be used in any jurisdiction.

This convenient handbook, in its new form, will doubtless acquire added popularity.

"Accident and Employers' Liability Insurance." By Hubert Bruce Fuller, A. M., LL. M. of the Cleveland, Ohio Bar. (Vernon Law Book Co., Kansas City, Mo.) $5.00.

A new text-book on a growing and important subject. It has been the author's aim to present an accurate and complete work on this branch of the law.

Every possible effort has been made to exhaust those questions which are peculiar to the law of accident and employers' liability insurance, and to cite the decisions of the courts thereon. Where it has been possible these decisions have been harmonized, though this task has been made the more difficult by the large number of variant and distinct types of policies and the varying verbiage in which they are expressed. The author has confined his treatment of this branch of the law

to the general principles as laid down by the courts, and does not attempt to cover statutory employer's liability, for the reason that the constant changes which are now going on would make such a treatment of only temporary value.

The volume presents the various questions which arise in connection with the contract itself, the cause of injury, risks which are excepted, the amount of liability, notice and proofs of death, arbitration, payment, and discharge.

The book will adequately meet a wellrecognized need.

"Experiments in Government and the Essentials of the Constitution." By Hon. Elihu Root. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J.) $1.00 net.

The two lectures included in this volume treat of the assault against existing institutions upon the ground that they do not adequately protect and develop the existing social order.

The first discusses those experiments in government now being made or advocated, such as direct nominations or preference primaries, and similar methods of extra-constitutional political organization and procedure. These are viewed as tentative expedients in no way affecting our system of government, their value to be determined by their practical workings.

The initiative, referendum, recall and popular review of judicial decisions, which obviously relate to the structure of government, are considered with a view of ascertaining whether, if carried into the national system, they would sacrifice any of the essentials of that system which ought to be preserved. These essentials are held to be the representative character of the government and those characteristics which aim to preserve rights by limiting power, such as the recognition of the liberty of the individual citizen; the separation of the legislative, executive, and judicia! powers; the power of the national government to act directly upon the citizens of each state within certain limitations, and the en

forcement by the judicial power, of the superiority of the Constitution to the laws.

In his closing sentence the author says: "Let us change and adapt our laws as the shifting conditions of the times require, but let us never abandon or weaken this fundamental and essential characteristic or our ordered liberty."

"Corporation Forms and Precedents, Annotated." By William M. Fletcher. 1 vol. Buckram, $10.

McQuillin on "Municipal Corporations." Volume 5 now published. Volume 6, containing Index, will be ready early in the fall. Parker's "New York Criminal Code and Penal Law." Flexible, $4.

Abstracts.

Chase's "New York Pocket Code of Civil Procedure." Flexible, $4.

Parker's "New York Banking Law." Buckram, $3.

Parker's "New York Insurance Law." Buckram, $3.

Bender's "New York Penal Law and Criminal Code." Buckram, $4.

Cook's "New York Annotated Penal Law and Criminal Code." Buckram, $7.50.

Parsons' "New York Code of Civil Procedure." $4.

"Pacific States Digest." Covering all Pacific States Reports prior to the Pacific Reporter. 3 vols. Buckram, $30.

Books

Case and Comment, Volume 20