being shown, makes a prima facie showing of negligence, requiring defendant to overcome it.

The commonly accepted doctrine is that the mere communication of fire by a railroad engine is sufficient of itself to raise a prima facie presumption against the company. Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Marbury Lumber Co., 125 Ala., 237. And the burden of proof is on the railroad company to show that it was not negligent in causing the fire. Kornegay v. Railroad Co., 154 N. C., 389. But the burden is only of proving that the company used the best and most improved appliances. White v. Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co., 1 S. D., 326. In Colorado, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina there are statutes making the railroad company absolutely liable irrespective of negligence. The above cases hold the modern and better rule. The older and now obsolescent rule is that the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to show not only that the fire was caused by the sparks, but also that the emission of such sparks was caused by the negligence of the company. Garrett v. Southern Ry., 101 Fed., 102. For there exists no presumption of negligence on the part of the company in such a case. B. & O. S. W. R. R. v. O'Brien, 38 Ind. App., 143; Babbitt v. Erie R. Co., 95 N. Y. Supp., 429. And the plaintiff must also show absence of contributory negligence on his part. Wabash R. Co. v. Miller, 18 Ind. App., 549; Louisville, N. A. & C. Ry. Co. v. Carmon, 20 Ind. App., 471. But if the railroad company pleads that its engine was furnished with a proper spark arrester, the burden of going forward with evidence is thereby shifted. Ill. Cent. R. Co. v. Barrett, 23 Ky. Law Rep., 1755; contra, Toledo, St. L. & W. R. Co. v. Fenstermaker, 163 Ind., 534. Here the title case is clearly on the side of the better and more modern authorities.

TORTS-INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACT.-MEALEY V. BEMIDJI LUMBER Co., 136 N. W., (MINN.), 1090.-Held, that one who wrongfully interferes or intermeddles with the contract relation between two others, and thereby prevents one of them from carrying out the contract, which results in loss to the other, is liable for such loss.

That a contract existing between two parties may give rise to rights in rem, as well as rights in personam, is well established in England. Lumley v. Gye, 2 E. & B., 216; Temperton v. Russell, 1 Q. B., 715. It is also established in this country. Walker v. Cronin, 107 Mass., 555; Angle v. Chicago Ry. Co., 151 U. S., 1; London v. Horn, 206 Ill., 493. This is denied in a few jurisdictions. Chambers v. Baldwin, 91 Ky., 121; Glencoe v. Hudson, 138 Mo., 439. If the contract is one of employment the great weight of authority is that one who induces another to break such a contract is liable to the party injured thereby. Bowen v. Hall, 6 Q. B., 333; Bixby v. Dunlap, 56 N. H., 456; May v. Wood, 172 Mass., 11. Contra, Bourlier v. Macauley, 91 Ky., 135. In contracts other than employment the authorities are more divided. Many Courts hold that liability in tort for causing a breach in a contract between others does not exist outside of

contracts of employment. Boyson v. Thorn, 98 Cal., 578; Raycroft v. Tayntor, 68 Vt., 219. But the modern tendency is strongly toward the view that contract rights are property and are entitled to protection. Garst v. Charles, 187 Mass., 144; Tubular Rivet Co. v. Exeter Root Co., 159 Fed., 824; Mahoney v. Roberts, 86 Ark., 130. The gist of the action, applying both to contracts of employment or other contracts, is the existence or nonexistence of the malicious motive. Joyce v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 100 Minn., 225; Hushie v. Triffin, 75 N. H., 345. Malice in its legal sense means a wrongful act, done intentionally, without just cause or excuse. Com. v. Goodwin, 122 Mass., 19. Applying the law, as thus found, to the principal case, it is in accord with the better opinion both in this country and in England.

BOOK REVIEWS

Anuario Estadistico de Venezuela. Published by the Venezuelan Government. Imprenta Nacional. Caracas, 1911. pp. xxii,

652.

This is a year-book of statistics on the Republic of Venezuela. It consists largely of tables setting forth social, economic and governmental conditions. Among the subjects covered are The General Movement of Population, Public Instruction, Sanitation, Courts, Prisons, Worship, Associations and Libraries, Penitentiaries, Custom Houses, Chambers of Commerce, Railways, Credit and Banks, National Administration, Budgets, Revenues, Debts, This is the first Venezuelan year-book to be published since the new Constitution of 1909 went into effect, and is of particular interest because of that fact. The book is printed in Spanish, French and English, and should be of value to one interested in Venezuela.

etc.

I. M. E.

l'aluation of Public Service Corporations. By Robert H. Whippen, Ph.D. Banks Law Publishing Co. New York. 1912. Pp. xl, 798.

This book is mainly devoted to the law of valuation of Public Service Corporations for the purposes of rate making and municipal purchase, and well illustrates the quite recent developments in governmental regulation and municipal business activity in the field of public utilities. To a less extent, valuation for the purposes of taxation, and accounting and capitalization is included. Of the one hundred and fifty cases including reports of commissions, ninety-eight have occurred within the last four and one-half years, the other fifty-two being scattered over a period of thirty-one years. The law of the subject necessarily consists of such economic principles as have received legal sanction by the courts or by specific legislation. The book is not so much

a formal statement of principles as a relatively full discussion by the courts and commissions of the economic and legal questions involved, with instructive comments by the author.

This method

makes the book of great practical use in this new and rapidly developing field of law. Such chapter headings as Market Value, Reproductive Value and Cost Value as Standards, Overhead Charges, Depreciation, Going Concern Value, Franchise Value, Rate of Return, indicate sufficiently the subject matter of the book. The author's method is indicated by his treatment of the case of Norwich Gas and Electric Co. v. City of Norwich, 76 Conn., 565 (1904). It is cited to the points of going concern and franchise values. The analysis of the case and quotations from Judge Baldwin's opinion and the report of the commission occupy three pages of the text.

Several accounts are included showing the practical application of theories to the determination of overhead charges and franchise values. In connection with some cases the method adopted by the expert is stated with considerable detail.

A special chapter is devoted to the Wisconsin Rule as to Going Value. The point of view of the author is well indicated by the following extract from the preface: "As the entire question is still in a developmental stage and as many of the points involved may not receive final authoritative determination for many years, it has seemed particularly important to include a rather full statement or discussion of the economic principles involved."

The book is recommended as convenient and useful for professional and non-professional men interested in framing or administering laws which may involve the valuation of public service utilities.

E. B. G.

The New Competition. By Arthur Jerome Eddy. D. Appleton & Co. New York. 1912. pp. 375.

To the reader of ordinary economic books, The New Competition will seem like the revival of old "heresies". It is another proof that the pendulum of economic thought is swinging back toward the middle ages. Prof. Fisher tells us that there is no such thing as a "fair price”. Mr. Eddy convinces us that there should be nothing else. The general tone of the book is unorthodox in its treatment of economic principles.

The New Competition starts on the basic assumption that there can be a healthy, a desirable, a fair kind of competition in the field of industry. The orthodox economist argues that "free" competition is all that is desirable. The lawyer-economist answers that just as freedom may mean destructive lawlessness and dangerous license, so "free" competition may mean and have meant brutal and cut-throat tactics which have rendered impossible industrial stability. In the chapters entitled "The Open Price Policy" and "Open Price Associations," the author presents his most original ideas; he sketches the outline of the plan which if enforced would brush aside the secret methods which are the props of the "Old Competition", and establish the "open price policies", the supports of the "New Competition". If analogies

do not confound, the framework and purpose of these "Open Price Associations" for corporations in general may be compared to the function and makeup of the "Freight and Tariff Associations", which although declared illegal, operate, in effect, the same as before. They would act as a kind of coöperative-clearinghouse, to gather information as to conditions of business, methods of accounting, payment of wages and changes in prices. All parties, whether producers or consumers, employers or employes, would be represented in the association. The very logical argument is made that since the coöperative principle—as embodied in the union has been adopted in toto by the labor world; since it has been rapidly and extensively applied by the farmer in the thousands of coöperative associations throughout the great agricultural States, therefore we should not make an exception in the case of the manufacturing corporations. If the union can be of benefit to the laborer, the coöperative association to the farmer, equally beneficial will be the "Open Price Association" to the manufacturer and business man.

The New Competition is a work of striking originality. Certainly the average books written by lawyers cannot approach it either in novel suggestive power or in simplicity of style. All should read this truly remarkable book.

F. R. S.