Chapter XXXII: Part 32

Railway transportation has almost entirely superseded barge, canal, and river transportation, except in special cases. This is due to the greater speed, the greater efficiency of service, the greater carrying capacity, and the extent to which spurs and branches are built to enable cars to reach mills, factories, and other industrial plants. It was for a long time held that the low rates of water transportation exerted an influence in keeping railway rates down, but with the present condition of the latter this no longer holds good as a general proposition, especially for the limited capacity of barge canals. The rates established for wheat and corn from Buffalo to New York by rail in 1899 are about 0.23 and 0.18 cent per ton per mile, which is but little above the canal rates, while rail shipments are much more advantageous.

The railway system is a vast employer of labor, directly and indirectly, and several million persons in the United States derive their support from the various railway industries, without taking into account such allied industries as rail mills, bridge works, locomotive works, and car works, etc. The number of direct railway employees (exclusive of the employees of terminal and sleeping-car companies, fast freight lines, etc.) is over 820,000, or over 1.2 per cent of the total population. A large proportion of these represent skilled labor of a high degree of intelligence. France has about 1110 employees per mile of railway, and 10 per cent of these are women. The figures for the United States and Great Britain are as follows:—

-----------------------+-----------------+--------------------------
| United States | Great Britain
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
| 1890 | 1897 | 1857 | 1889 | 1895
-----------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
Miles of railway |163,597 | 184,428| 8,942| 19,943| 21,174
Number of employees |749,301 | 823,476| 109,660| 381,626| 465,412
Number of employees per| | | | |
100 miles | 479 | 449| 1,230| 1,900| 2,197
Number of employees per| | | | |
cent of population | 1.2 | 1.2| 0.4| 1.0| 1.2
-----------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------

The railway service especially demands some better and more intimate relation between the employers and employees than that of the mere buying and selling of labor for a price. Both humanity and self-interest have led several railways in this country and abroad to establish relief departments, providing temporary financial aid in case of accident or sickness, with other forms of benefits in addition, the object being to induce men to continue permanently in the employ of the road. Such associations have existed in England since 1850, in Canada since 1873, and in the United States since 1880, when one was started by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. In 1896 there were six of these associations in the United States, with an aggregate of about 125,000 members. The six railway systems owned 15 per cent of all the mileage and had 20 per cent of all the railway employees in the country.

Before closing this review of railway development, brief reference may be made to certain special classes of railways.

MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS.—These include lines either isolated or forming part of main lines, having grades so steep as to require special means of traction. They may be operated by (A) cables, (B) grip rails, or (C) rack rails. Cables are used for many short lines, but are now rarely adopted for regular railway working. The grip rail system was first used on the Mont Cenis railway in 1867, and has been used in later years in Brazil and New Zealand. Rack rails were used in 1848 on the incline near Madison, Indiana (U. S. A.). In 1866 they were used on the Mount Washington railway (U. S. A.), (with the Marsh rack), this being the first mountain-climbing railway. In 1885, the Abt rack-rail system was introduced, and is a great improvement. It has been used both for ordinary railway service and for special mountain lines.

RAPID TRANSIT.—Street or surface railways for city traffic date from 1831, in New York, and were operated by horses until 1873, when cable traction was introduced. Electric traction was introduced in Germany in 1881 and in the United States in 1884, and the growth of this system was such that in 1894 it was in use on 9000 miles in this country and 195 miles in Europe. Locomotives operated by steam, gas, compressed air, etc., have been used to a limited extent. For high speeds it was necessary to remove the railway from the street surface. The first elevated railway was built in New York in 1869, and now New York, Brooklyn, and Chicago have about 100 miles, operated by electricity and steam. The only foreign railway on this system is at Liverpool (England), the line being 5 miles long, and operated by electricity. The first underground railway was opened in London in 1863, and that city now has several miles of such railway, mostly operated by steam locomotives. Two underground electric lines are in operation and another is being built. Budapest (Hungary) and Boston (Mass.) have also underground electric railways. New York has for years needed and demanded a railway of this character, but political methods and extravagant demands for franchise rights have prevented the commencement of work upon the line.

MILITARY RAILWAYS.—Railways cannot be made available to any extent for tactical purposes, but are of great importance as a means of supply and communication. They were used by the Russians in the Crimean war (1854), and were prominent features in some of the campaigns of the American Civil War (1861–65). In the Franco-German war (1870), the German army advancing on Paris was closely followed by a military railway, and in the Soudan campaign of 1898–99, the British army carried with it the head of a railway communicating with the base of supplies on the Nile.

PORTABLE RAILWAYS.—These are narrow-gauge lines of light construction, for use on plantations, in lumbering operations, on engineering construction works, and for pioneer railways. The rails are riveted to steel ties, forming complete sections of track, straight or curved, which can be laid down, taken up, or shifted, as required. Such a line, of 24 inches gauge, was used to carry passengers around the grounds of the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

SHIP RAILWAYS.—These are projected as substitutes for ship canals, but none have been built in modern times, if we except a few small ones for canal boats, including one at the Columbia River rapids, in Oregon (U. S. A.). One was proposed for the Isthmus of Suez in 1860, and in 1879 Captain Eads strongly advocated one across Tehuantepec (Mexico), to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This line would be about 150 miles in length, and the cost is estimated at $50,000,000. In 1888 work was commenced on the Chignecto ship railway (Canada), at the head of the Bay of Fundy, but it has never been completed. The general principle of the system is to float the ship into a dock and deposit it upon a wheeled cradle of suitable form. This would then be raised by machinery and hauled along the railway by a number of locomotives.

ADVANCE IN LAW AND JUSTICE

BY LUTHER E. HEWITT, L.B.,

_Librarian of Philadelphia Law Association_.

I. INTERNATIONAL LAW.—Exclusive rights asserted in past centuries have been succeeded by freedom of the seas and privileges on the rivers. The principle back of the American guns off the Barbary coasts has prevailed. Crimes of one country against another are punishable in either. Extradition for nonpolitical crimes is general. Expatriation has been won for those who would change their country. Internal affairs of countries are free from interference; but a rule may be so revolting, or so hurtful to foreign interests, as to justify intervention. The Monroe doctrine was intimated in the Declaration of Independence, and has developed with our country. Regard for other nations has increased. Protectorates and spheres of influence are respected, while recognition of insurgent States will not be hurried. Devastation and weapons causing needless pain are condemned, while guerillas are regulated by requirement of a responsible head, a badge recognizable at a distance, and subjection to rules of war. The sick and wounded, attendants, and appliances are protected from intentional attack.

Open, unfortified places are in practice spared, and ransoms no longer extorted. Twenty-four hours are allowed for withdrawal of noncombatants from places to be attacked. Military occupation no longer confers sovereign power; and compensation on the closing of war has been recommended for private property of an enemy used in military operations.

Impartial neutrality is demanded. Nations once bound themselves for troops in case others went to war. This has ceased. Passage of troops through neutral territory is not allowed. Even sick and wounded will be denied if their passage would relieve a combatant’s own lines; but neutrals have interned such refugees. The neutral cannot allow fitting out of armed expeditions or enlistment of troops. Jefferson advanced international law by demanding Genet’s recall for such offenses. Carriage of signals, dispatches, or persons in military operations is unneutral, and the United States insisted that this ruled the Trent affair. A belligerent’s ship of war can remain in port but twenty-four hours, unless in an emergency, like need of repairs. Coal will be afforded only to the nearest port, nor will a new supply be furnished within three months. Statutes enforce some of these rules. Neutral trade is not lost except on blockade, although goods which may be put to military uses are liable to seizure as contraband. “Free ships, free goods,” was long contended for; and at last the Declaration of Paris, in 1856, provided even further, as follows: (1) Privateering is and remains abolished. (2) The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods, with the exception of contraband of war. (3) Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under an enemy’s flag. (4) Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effectual. Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States declined to adhere to the Declaration. The United States adopted 2, 3, and 4, and offered to agree to the abolition of privateering if noncontraband property of the enemy were exempted under its own flag. The United States and Spain refrained from privateering in the recent war. Private property of the enemy on land has long been exempt from capture.

II. LAW-MAKING BODIES.—State legislators were originally chosen from landed proprietors, except, perhaps, in Pennsylvania. Legislatures frequently had the selection of governors, judges, and other high officials, but the Ohio constitution in 1802 foreshadowed the coming democracy. Distrust has followed reliance on legislatures. Their sessions have been limited in about half the States to an average of less than ninety days, and almost everywhere made biennial. Increase of the members’ own compensation is forbidden. Their duties are carefully prescribed. Common requirements are, reading of bills on three days; one subject for a bill, and that expressed in title; recital of old law, upon revision; prohibition of riders on appropriations. Nearly half the States require a majority in each house of all members elected thereto. Constitutional restrictions on state and municipal indebtedness and loan followed the burdens assumed in the first exultation over inventions in transportation. The Pennsylvania constitution, for instance, prohibits “local or special laws” in about thirty cases, such as in municipal affairs, descent of property, judicial proceedings, remitting penalties, exemption from taxation, regulating labor, chartering corporations. Boundaries between legislative and judicial proceedings have been simplified; special legislation in marriage and divorce has been forbidden; appellate jurisdiction has been taken from Senates once possessing it. The British House of Lords retains such jurisdiction, but within it sit the great judges, and the lay lords almost never vote on appeals.

Payment of expenses of members was derived from England, and although abandoned there has continued here. Members of Congress give attendance remote from home, so that they receive salaries rather than compensation. Sums for expenses are allowed in the other American republics, in France, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, chiefly in the lower houses. Some are paid by the local constituency, but this tends to create classes. Representatives to Congress were generally elected at first on the State ticket, and in some States this continued until the Congress in 1872 required district election. The Revised Statutes appoint the day of their election, and require a printed or written ballot.

III. THE COURTS.—A feature of American jurisprudence which excites the wonder of foreigners is the power in the courts to declare legislative or executive acts void because unconstitutional. Before the Revolution the Rhode Island court struck down a statute contrary to the provincial charter; and a recent instance is the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court on the income tax. The power is exercised on individuals, without direct conflict between the great departments of government. The judicial power has otherwise widened. Civil trials without jury are frequent. In the counties judges exercise much administrative power. Road and bridge cases, grants of liquor licenses, appointments to educational and other offices, are illustrations. In what has been termed “government by injunction,” functions both of the executive and of the jury have been assumed. Perhaps this justifies the demand that all judges shall be elected by the people. Frequently the choice of judges was originally by the legislature, or by the governor, alone or with the approval of the senate. The judicial tenure of office has generally been lengthened to a term insuring a long service. In Pennsylvania, a supreme court judge holds office twenty-one years, a county judge ten years. Age limit prevails in some States. In a democracy, it is not surprising to find the doctrine sometimes asserted that juries in criminal cases are judges both of law and fact. In certain civil cases, the jury is a crude but powerful engine for holding corporations to strict responsibility for the citizens’ safety, although excessive or unfounded verdicts are to be deplored. Much of the old law of deodands has force to-day in subtler form. A feature to note in passing is the duty imposed on the judge to answer before the jury points of instruction framed by counsel.

IV. CIVIL PROCEDURE.—Twenty-nine States and Territories rejoice in escape from puzzling classifications by substitution of simple statements. Extreme separation of law and equity had made the old condition worse. Equity might often soften legal principles, or law lend vigor to equity. Much of this has now been done; had been done, in fact, in Pennsylvania, from early days. Its enforcement of equitable rights through remedies at law was largely followed in the English Judicature Act of 1873 abolishing forms of actions at law and interblending law and equity. This statute has been copied largely in British colonies. England abolished the cumbrous system of real actions in 1834, and substituted simpler remedies for assertion of title.

The simplicity of present procedure is accompanied by ability to reach decision more promptly, and an old reproach has been greatly lessened.

V. CODIFICATION.—The New York Revised Statutes of 1828 embraced nearly the entire civil procedure, and in 1848 a “Code of Procedure” was adopted, although the original draftsman, David Dudley Field, complained bitterly of changes. Forty-two States now have more or less complete codes of practice; and criminal codes likewise are numerous. Codification of the branches of substantive law may be anticipated. Something of this is going on in England. The Bill of Sales Act, the Employers’ Liability Act, the Bills of Exchange Act, the Public Health (Scotland) Act of 1897, the Land Transfer Act of the same year, are instances. In Pennsylvania, there are codelets like the Evidence Act of 1887, or the Building Law for Philadelphia of 1893. Instances could be multiplied. A code intended for all the States on Negotiable Instruments has been prepared by commissioners, and has been adopted in New York, Connecticut, Colorado, and Florida. In Great Britain there has not been general codification, whereas the continental systems run largely that way, even in substantive law, being based on the Roman law.

VI. CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE.—The grand jury is no longer grand in many States; indeed, less than twelve members suffice in some; and their service may even be dispensed with under some Western constitutions. Individual malice has been avoided by the creation of public prosecuting attorneys. “Standing aside jurors” resulted from 33 Edward I., denying government challenge except for cause. It has been generally abolished, and the prosecution equalized by a number of peremptory challenges. Pennsylvania retains the old practice. Prisoners may now testify, but refusal is not to weigh against them. The statute 7 William III. allowed counsel in treason cases, but England did not extend the privilege to trials for other felonies until 1836. The courts in mitigation permitted counsel to prompt prisoners with questions. Penn’s charter gave prisoners privileges of witnesses and counsel, and this is now universal in American constitutions. Many States provide counsel for prisoners without means, some with compensation. “Standing mute” has become equivalent to a plea of not guilty. Unanimity in a verdict is essential to conviction of crime above misdemeanor, except in Utah, and there it is limited to capital cases. In civil and in minor criminal cases about a dozen constitutions in the far West or Southwest either recognize verdict by proportion of jury or else empower the legislature so to do. England refuses criminal appeals, but in this country they are allowed. The courts of this country have never been subservient to military passion, and all friends of the great French Republic must rejoice at the courage of the Court of Cassation in the Dreyfus case. The English law inflicted death for 160 crimes, some great and many otherwise, about the period of our Revolution, and in 1819 this number had become 200. American jurisprudence never had such stain of blood, yet 10 crimes were punishable with death in Massachusetts, and 20 in Delaware, at the time of the Revolution, and the pillory, stocks, shears, branding-irons, and lash were busy. Horrible prisons existed, filled with every foulness and immorality. The older penitentiary system has been modified in 20 States by the parole system under police supervision, and in 4 the policy of indeterminate sentences within fixed limits and ages has been adopted. Bertillon and other methods of identification have greatly lessened crime in England. The law of deodand, whereby the value of an object causing accidental death was forfeited for charities, was abolished in England in 1846. Societies to prevent cruelty to children, or to animals, attest the advance of refinement and humanity.

(Chief Justice U. S. Supreme Court.)]

VII. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.—In England, treason and felony, except petty larceny and mayhem, were punishable with death. The fiction by which males who could read were supposed to be of the clergy saved first offenders, who escaped with branding. In the eighteenth century, the fiction was forbidden, and death imposed on additional offenses, so that 160 crimes were so punishable. In 1826, the efforts of Sir Samuel Romilly and Sir James Mackintosh, and later of Sir John Russell, resulted in a more merciful spirit, and since 1861 murder, treason, and firing of the great dock yards, have been the only capital offenses. The American colonies were more humane, yet Massachusetts punished 10 and Delaware 20 crimes with death. Since the Revolution imprisonment has been the general penalty. In Maine, Wisconsin, and Colorado capital punishment has been abolished altogether; in Rhode Island, except where murder is committed by a life prisoner; in Michigan, except for treason. In some States, as in Ohio, the jury may avert the death penalty. New York and Iowa, after experiments, restored capital punishment. The federal law imposes death for murder, piracy, robbery on the high seas, rape, treason. The introduction of degrees of murder has reduced the number of executions. In New York, electrocution has been substituted for hanging. Capital punishment has been abolished or qualified in the Argentine Republic, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland (in eight cantons), and in Venezuela.

VIII. POLICE POWER.—The citizen of the present day is protected by the police power to a degree which, perhaps, would have seemed marvelous a century ago. The sale of food is governed both in quality and quantity; building laws prescribe yards for light and air, height and thickness of walls, and forbid wooden buildings in many populous centres. Explosives are placed under strict regulations. Health laws protect from impurity of food and from pestilence, establish quarantines, deny the importation of rags, cattle, etc., likely to breed disease; medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing are protected from ignorance; immigration laws exclude persons or races deemed uncongenial or objectionable; railroads are subjected to provisions promoting safety, comfort, and impartiality of service; lotteries, gambling, threatening letters are forbidden; game laws preserve the various species from extinction; women and children are guarded by special laws. Almost the entire body of this division of law is new to this century, and much of it is recent.

IX. MARRIED WOMEN.—In 1800, a husband could appropriate his wife’s personal property not held in trust, and use her realty while he lived. Except for necessaries or for her separate estate, she could not contract. Her emancipation began in 1839, in Mississippi, and now her property, under the statutory interests secured to her by laws generally prevailing, is hers free from control or interference. This statutory estate includes property inherited, or derived by purchase or gift, or in some States by labor. The wife’s power to contract has been extended, and in some States has little restriction beyond perhaps inability to become surety. Before this era, some States, acting on a London custom, had allowed feme sole traders in cases of mariners’ wives, or of desertion or neglect.

X. CHILDREN.—Regulation of the labor of children in hours and employments is usual, debarring them from workshops and factories at certain ages and from occupations dangerous to their morals, as in theatricals, circuses, rag picking, mendicancy, street music. Laws prohibit their entrance into gambling, or worse, houses, into pool rooms, or unaccompanied into dance or concert halls, roller rinks, vaudeville theatres. Minnesota excludes them from criminal trials. Sale of liquor to minors is prohibited. Numerous recent statutes prohibit sales of cigarettes, cigars, or tobacco, and Utah and West Virginia forbid sales of opium. Oregon and Rhode Island prohibit their public use of tobacco. New Hampshire, Indiana, and Connecticut forbid children over three in almshouses. North Carolina makes it a misdemeanor to leave a child under seven, and unattended, exposed to fire. Prohibiting employment inconsistent with school attendance is usual. Compulsory education exists in twenty-nine States and two Territories, and largely throughout Europe and the colonies. Fourteen is the more frequent limit of age. Children’s welfare now determines their custody, rather than the rights of either parent. Laws in some States protect children more or less from wills made before their birth by parents. Many States provide that bastards may inherit from their mother or from each other, and she from them, and that their parents’ marriage legitimates them.

XI. REAL ESTATE.—Ownership of land is no longer embarrassed by joint tenancies, nor need conveyancing resort to cumbrous fine and recovery; while transfer has been further lightened by title companies pending the adoption, likely, of the Torrens system of registration and certificate. Democracy has rejected distinctions of sex or age in inheritance, and the half-blood may share in many States after certain degrees. Disability of aliens to hold lands has been removed in some States, in others there are limitations in acres, value, or time, while in some disability ceases on declaration of intention to become a citizen. The English doctrine of tacking, whereby ownership of earlier and later incumbrances cut out intermediate titles, mortgages, etc., is inconsistent with the American recording acts.

XII. COPYRIGHT.—After printing became general, the author received some, if inadequate, protection, in England through the Stationers’ Company, or sometimes through particular privilege; in continental countries, through such privilege. The statute of Anne confined him to such years, etc., as it specified, and the courts have decided with hesitation that there was no copyright at common law. The statutory rights have varied. Since 1831 the copyright period in this country is 28 years, with 14 more if author, widow, or children are living at expiration of first term; and in England since 1842 it is 28 years or author’s life, whichever is longer.

The first known copyright directed to an author was granted by Venice in 1491. In 1791 France allowed copyright to all dramatists, extending it in 1793 to authors in general. Countries in sympathy with France adopted the policy. Prussia in 1794 extended copyright to authors represented by publishers at the Frankfort and Leipzig book fairs. General protection has now come about, aided by consolidation of European states into great nations. International copyright began with separate treaties; and the movement culminated in the Berne Convention of 1887, participated in by Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Hayti, Italy, Switzerland, Tunis, Great Britain, Liberia. Authors resident in any country which was a party to the Convention may have copyright in the other countries. The United States did not join, although it had and since has had treaties with a few nations exchanging such protection. The International Copyright Law of 1891, however, protects foreign authors but not foreign publishers, it being required that the printing shall be done in this country.

XIII. ADMIRALTY.—The difference between the majestic rivers of America and English streams was recognized in the case of “The Genesee Chief,” wherein the Supreme Court rejected the English doctrine that admiralty has no jurisdiction except on the seas or where the tides ebb and flow. This has insured uniformity in the regulations of travel and commerce, and has protected such waters from local interference. International rules to prevent collisions at sea have been joined in by the United States. By acts of 1851 and 1884, Congress relieved innocent shipowners of liability for merchandise destroyed by fire, and provided that liability in case of collision, embezzlement by crew, etc., shall not exceed the owner’s interest. The Harter Act of 1893 provides that on due diligence neither owners nor charterers shall be liable for faults in navigation or in management, nor for perils of the sea, defects in goods, etc., but prohibits agreements relieving from liability for injuries caused by neglect in fitting out, provisioning and manning the vessel, stowing the cargo, or in caring for or delivery of the same. Parliament, in 1890, protected seamen from commercial greed by requiring load lines to be marked on vessels at a height fixed by the Board of Trade.

XIV. CORPORATIONS.—The source of corporate life was formerly the king; to-day, the charters are virtually the general corporation law, and special incorporation is forbidden. For a season, minor amendments for particular companies were tolerated, but constitutions are forbidding even these. Applications for charters must state such particulars as name, nature, and place of business, amount of stock, limit of indebtedness, number and names of directors. Annual reports must be lodged with the tax authorities.

Doctrines respecting corporations have wonderfully changed. The Dartmouth College case held that charters were contracts and could not be impaired; and thereafter, by constitution or otherwise, the States provided that all new charters should be subject to alteration or repeal, although even this does not authorize radical change of corporate character. American law has recognized advantage of freedom in execution of corporate affairs. It has dispensed with the burdensome requirement of seal to contracts, and even in England the corporate seal is unnecessary, unless in unusual transactions. The American courts uphold negotiable notes and bonds given in authorized business. The company is confined to the business for which it was created, although a cautious tolerance exists in respect to related enterprises; and mortgages may be acquired if for debts contracted previously and not as a device. The old theory was that a company could not be held for misfeasance, since it could not authorize its agents to commit wrong; but corporations are now held for many torts sanctioned by them, such as trespass, assault and battery, infringement of patents, negligence, and even fraud and libel. Exemplary damages may be awarded against them. One or another kind has even been subjected to indictment, in cases of nuisance, violation of Sunday law, maintenance of disorderly house, habitual omission of lights or signals, etc. They may be guilty of contempt. They may be punished by penalties and forfeitures.

A corporation outside its own State cannot exceed either its own charter or the power granted like companies of the other State. Connecting railways are sometimes adopted in each of several States, but the parts remain foreign to each other as respects jurisdiction in the federal courts. Foreign corporations are subject to the police power, but not to interference by the State in their interstate commerce, except Congress so authorizes. Companies not engaged in interstate commerce nor in governmental service may have conditions placed upon their entry into a State, and may be practically excluded by taxation. Property within the foreign State is alone taxable there, but the value of the franchise may be considered. Usually, statements are required showing location of agent, names of officers, etc. Contracts made before compliance are differently regarded, being void in some States, and only until compliance in some others, and in some not void at all where penalty is imposed. Some States seek revenue by lax laws inviting outside companies. Thus, by Delaware law of 1899, companies need not oblige themselves to keep their original books nor hold their meetings there, assessment beyond subscription is forbidden, and taxation is light.

In 1825 and 1827 the free organization of trades-unions and banking associations was authorized, and thus was introduced into English jurisprudence the principle of free association familiar to the Roman Republic. In 1838, but more especially in 1844, limited partnerships with transferable shares were authorized by general law; and in 1862 freedom from liability beyond subscription was somewhat recognized. A form of partnership, _société anonyme_, has been known in France for six hundred years, and by law of 1867 may be organized without special leave. The managers alone assume full responsibility, and the association bears now a company name. Germany adopted the principle of general incorporation in 1870, as have the greater nations, excepting Russia and Austria.

So early as 1784 New York enacted a general incorporation law for churches, and for libraries in 1796. In 1811, woolen, glass, and some other manufactures were thus favored. The principle widened out, was adopted elsewhere, and became quite general by 1850. Pennsylvania adopted the policy in 1874, although its religious, library and charitable organizations had enjoyed such law since 1791.

XV. RELIGION.—Scorned, lashed, thrown into prison, his tongue cut out, banished to savage woods, such was the fate of the Massachusetts Quaker among the first settlers, and Roger Williams shared little better. A long stride had been taken when, in 1691, the Massachusetts charter proclaimed liberty of conscience for all “except papists.” Then was the brave and gentle Penn securing religious liberty to all confessing one God. Yet much further progress was essential. Roman Catholics were excluded from office except in New York and Maryland; while even in Pennsylvania no Jew could sit in the legislature. Most of the States required some religious test for higher offices; Massachusetts allowed no voters or officials outside of the Congregational church; and church membership was essential in Connecticut and New Hampshire. In 1776 Pennsylvania admitted to the legislature any who believed in God and in a future state of rewards and punishments. Massachusetts threw down the barriers to office in 1780, except that until 1821 the governor should be of the Christian faith; but office-holding was limited to Protestants in North Carolina until 1835, and in New Hampshire until 1877. Jews received the same rights as other sects in Connecticut in 1843, in Maryland in 1825. The Virginia Bill of Rights declared that all are entitled to the free exercise of religion, and a few years afterwards, in 1786, proclaimed further in words written by Jefferson that religious opinions shall never affect civil capacities, and that no man can be compelled to support religious worship. The Lake region was secured from molestation for religious sentiments by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and the Constitution not only secures all from such interference by Congress, but prohibits religious test for federal offices or establishment of religion by Congress. South Carolina made the Episcopal the State church in 1776, but dropped establishment in 1790. Support of religion was likewise abolished in Maryland in 1810, but continued in Massachusetts until 1833; and New Hampshire authorizes public Protestant teachers of religion. Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee exclude clergymen from office. Political hierarchies and polygamy are not within constitutional protections. Courts have declared Christianity part of the common law; but in present law its force is in its principles. Christian institutions, in common with other religious or charitable agencies, are favored in policies and exemptions; and blasphemies, like railings in general, are forbidden. Bible reading in public schools is generally discretionary with the school board, although held illegal in Wisconsin; but religious garbs may not be worn in such schools by teachers. A public hospital may not be erected on sectarian ground.

The English corporation and test acts excluded from office all without the established church, until 9 George IV.

XVI. SUMMARY OF ADVANCE.—Increased respect for the rights of others, both individually and as nations, characterizes the law of this century, and may be perceived in every direction. It has created a new international law, developed democratic institutions at home and abroad, almost revolutionized criminal jurisprudence, extended the police power in every direction, and secured freedom of conscience and separation of church and state. It has emancipated woman, thrown a protecting care over children, and favored charities, asylums, houses of refuge. Imprisonment for honest debts has been abolished, and the wretched sight of debtors imprisoned for paltry sums no longer reproaches society. Homestead and exemption laws preserve the family. Honest bankrupts are again lifted up in hope. The legal means of settlement and recovery of rights has been greatly expedited. England has followed America in making lands assets for payment of debts; and claims against the State have received recognition in some of the States and under act of Congress, and likewise in England. Barriers excluding persons as witnesses have been broken down, first in Connecticut in 1848, next in England in 1851, and now there is little exclusion unless the adversary has died. Something had been done before in compelling answers to written interrogatories, but with a weakness and lack of logic that should have ridiculed the whole exclusion. Promotion of uniformity of laws has engaged the attention of State commissioners, who have drafted a code concerning negotiable instruments which has been adopted in four States. Constitutional amendment has afforded an entire race opportunity to develop from the low estate of slavery into such condition as the future shall manifest. Questions of civil rights, due process of law, and of equal protection and privilege, are constantly bringing State laws before the federal courts, as do questions of interstate commerce. Anti-pool and anti-trust enactments mark both federal and State law, and lately have broken up the alliance of the trans-Missouri transportation companies. Inheritance and succession taxes were imposed in Pennsylvania in 1826, and now are found in some dozen States. The progressive feature, or increase of rate with increase of estate, has been sustained by high authority. Congress has imposed such taxes, but its power to do so is in dispute before the United States Supreme Court.

(Trial Scene from “Merchant of Venice.”)]

In the early days of the republic property requirements existed both for office and for voting. New States came in with manhood suffrage established either by law or custom. Original States threw open the polls,—Maryland in 1810, Connecticut in 1818, New York in 1821, Massachusetts in 1822. The white labor of Virginia was denied the suffrage in 1830, but gained it in 1850. Similar movement in England is marked by the Reform Bill of 1832; and now manhood suffrage is universal in Germany, France, and Greece, and wellnigh so in England.

EVOLUTION OF BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS

BY MICHAEL J. BROWN,

_Secretary of Building Association League of Penna._

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

“Do not forget to pay your dues to-night,” is an expression familiar to the occupants of fifty thousand Philadelphia homes, one hundred and fifty thousand Pennsylvania homes, and six hundred and fifty thousand households in the United States. This means that nearly seven hundred thousand families are contributing towards gaining homes of their own through Building and Loan Associations. The entire membership is nearly seventeen hundred thousand, of whom fully four hundred thousand are women and children.

The picture “Paying their Dues” is a representative one, and in Philadelphia there are four hundred and seventy-five such gatherings every year. The Philadelphia associations generally meet once every month, but in some parts of the State, and in other States, many societies meet weekly, so there are fully ten thousand such gatherings every twelve months in the United States.

The women have shares in their own right, and the children are either paying dues for their parents or for themselves, the father or mother acting as trustee. The boys and girls know exactly what nights the associations meet, and are generally on hand with their money long before the officers are ready to receive the funds and give receipts in the pass books.

What is the meaning of these gatherings? To enable every member to become his own landlord—to purchase homes for themselves, by paying their money into a joint concern for a few years until each one has saved enough, with gains added, to buy a home, and in the meantime the entire receipts being loaned to the members to gain homes in advance of the final reckoning or maturity of the shares.

The members have well learned the principle that money makes money if well used, that if many pay rent for the benefit of the few, through the building association the many may combine together so as to put the rents into their own pockets.

II. THE SYSTEM.

For convenience, “a share” is the payment of $1.00 a month, five shares $5.00, and so on. The final value of a share is arbitrarily fixed at $200. The money received is promptly loaned to the members, on which the borrowers pay $1.00 per month interest on every $200 borrowed, until the final value of $200 is reached, which occurs in twelve years or less.

Payments $144.00
Gains 56.00
-------
Final value $200.00

A member may have borrowed $2000 from the association on ten shares of stock ($200 being the limit loaned on each share), and the shares having matured, or become worth $2000, his loan of $2000 is canceled and his home is free. The member who has not borrowed receives $200 in cash for every share he holds.

The building association in its simplest form, and as it existed in Philadelphia for many years, took all its members in at one time, and the members paid from $2 to $20 each every month until the shares matured. At maturity all the borrowers received canceled mortgages, and the non-borrowers cash for their shares, and the society then closed its affairs. Hundreds of such associations have wound up their affairs successfully.

Very many associations are now working on the permanent plan; that is, they admit new members every six months or every year, the first set being the first to mature, and so on, one set going out every year and a new batch coming in.

Each series is a separate association so far as the dues are concerned, but the total gains are divided so as to give each dues dollar invested a like rate per cent per annum for the time of investment. There is really no positive or final division of profits. The gains are kept in a lump sum, and the division is on paper only for the purpose of showing the progress made towards maturity. When a set of shares matures, its portion of the gain is taken from the accumulated profits and divided to the stock that has reached its final value.

Some associations count all the loans as assets and all the dues and gains as liabilities. In such societies the borrower pays interest on his full loan until the end, and gets credit for profit on his dues until one account cancels the other.

Other associations, at the end of each year, deduct the dues paid in from the loans and charge interest on the net amount only of the loan. By the latter system the borrowers’ payments decrease every year, but it requires a longer time to finally cancel the loan than by the former system.

When there is a demand for money, and more than one member is anxious to secure it, the funds are offered at auction, and the member who bids the highest premium secures the prize.

The bidding is generally done by offering so many cents per share per month above the required interest. If a member secures $2000 at 10 cents per share premium on ten shares, his monthly payments are:—

Dues per month $10.00
Interest per month 10.00
Premium per month 1.00
------
Total $21.00

These payments continue until the shares mature. The dues are the contributed capital, and the interest and premiums are the gains.

III. THEIR EARLY HISTORY.

Their early history in England seems to date back as far as 1781. In Mr. Langford’s “Century of Birmingham Life” mention is made of certain proposals for establishing a society for building on lands belonging to William Jennings, Esq. The society was organized by rules or articles, similar in some respects to those employed by the building societies of to-day.

Dr. John Henry Gray, in his “History of the Laws, Manners, and Customs of the People of China,” describes some money-lending societies which seem to partake in some measure of the character of building associations, at least in their coöperative and equitable features. He tells us that these societies are called “Lee Woee,” and were instituted by a person named Pong Koong, an official of great wealth, who flourished 200 B.C. during the Han dynasty. The money was loaned to members and returned in monthly installments with interest. Each member was compelled to contribute to the fund a sum equal to that which he contributed at the first meeting. One of the rules was, “Each member shall deposit in a lottery box, placed on a table, a tender or bid for the money, setting forth the rate of interest which he is disposed to pay on the amount in question; that the tenders shall be taken out of the box by the president, and the highest bidder takes the loan.” When two bids were alike the first bidder took the loan. A fine was charged for non-payment of dues.

IV. AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS.

There is no evidence other than that Frankford, now a part of Philadelphia proper, saw the first building society that was organized in the United States. It was called the “Oxford Provident Building Association,” and was started in 1831, sixty-eight years ago. It closed its affairs in June, 1841. The second Frankford society, of the same name, was organized in February of 1841, and ran out in August, 1852. Isaac Whitelock was president, Samuel Pilling treasurer, and Isaac Shallcross secretary, of the first association; and Henry Taylor president, Isaac Shallcross secretary, and William Overton treasurer, of the second association.

The Holmesburg Building Association was organized in January, 1842, and closed its business satisfactorily to the members, June 25, 1853. John B. Duff, a lumber counter by trade, was instrumental in organizing the first building society within the compactly built up city of Philadelphia, in the year 1847. The name of the society was the “Kensington Building Association.” The society issued five hundred shares of stock in one series, and wound up its affairs in ten years and two months after it was organized. The first advertisement of any building and loan association, so far as can be ascertained, appeared in the Philadelphia “Public Ledger,” February 5, 1847, and called for a meeting of the “Kensington.” Mr. Duff died in 1883, and a few months before that event he presented to the writer a document now known as “The Old Yellow Poster.” It is the call for the first building society in Old Philadelphia, a copy of which is herewith presented.

Mr. Duff seldom, if ever, held forth in public, but his efficient work was done by taking individual cases and converting them to the benefits of obtaining homes for themselves. Frequently he has been seen on a pile of lumber with chalk in hand, demonstrating a problem in building society arithmetic to converts to this system of saving.

MEETING!

KENSINGTON
BUILDING ASSOCIATION

The Subscribers being desirous of forming an Association for the purpose of assisting the members thereof in the erection of Dwelling Houses, or such other Real Estate as they shall deem most advantageous, have concluded to hold a Meeting for that purpose

ON FRIDAY EVENING, 22D JAN’Y, 1847,
AT 7 O’CLOCK,
_At the Kensington Engine Hall_,
On Queen Street, above Marlborough St.

Where the objects of the Association will be laid before the Meeting. Citizens generally, are invited to attend.

Ralph Pilling,
Joseph Smith,
John Bierly,
John B. Duff,
Henry Shermer,
John Verdear,
Samuel Wensell,
Samuel T. Hay,
Henry Lane,
Howard Bowman,
Andrew Himes,
Rich’d. Fordham,
David Guyant,
Geo. Fordham,
Henry Kriener,
Abr. P. Eyre,
Ed. W. Gorgas,
Alfred Fitler,
Alb’t T. Eggleton,
Albert Engle,
And. Flanders,
Thomas Bennett,
J. R. Fullerton,
Charles Tryon,
Samuel Parcels,
Edward Owens,
Jacob Jones,
John Nevling,
Henry Mosser,
Geo. Kennerd,
Henry Mercer,
George Mattis,
Michael Collar,
Edward Wester,
Henry Miller,
William Ellis,
John Hearney,
Jos. B. Matlack,
Saml. Biedaman,
J. Shilingburg,
James Hill,
George Cramp,
George Coleman,
John Fordham.

January 21, 1847.

Printed at Boyle’s cheap Printing Establishment, corner of Second and Brown streets.

CALL FOR FIRST BUILDING ASSOCIATION IN PHILADELPHIA.]

There has been scarcely a great mind in the country that has not moved the lips to say some good word for the building society cause. Henry Ward Beecher in a sermon said,—

“I think that a young man who places before himself not a speculation, not a fortune, but some object that he means to achieve, who selects a particular piece of property that he would like to own, and aims steadily at acquiring it and works diligently for it, and saves for it, will be almost sure to succeed. I will say that every young man in a city, either through the instrumentality of a building association when there is one, or independently, when such an association does not exist, and when at last, having toiled and waited patiently, the debt is paid and the piece of property is earned, is a great deal richer than the assessor knows him to be. The assessor goes around and puts a valuation upon his property for the purpose of taxing it. But, ah, those habits of industry and self-control; those wise measurings, which we call economy,—all these the man has gained over and above the property. He has saved himself from a thousand temptations. He has protected himself against remorseless vices, which would have gnawed out his marrow. And though you call it merely amassing property, it may be amassing manhood. It is one step on the upward way.”

State officials who closely examine the workings of these societies never seem to tire in their praise. Superintendent Kilburn, of New York, in his last annual report, refers to the conservative and honestly managed building association as follows:—

“During the past year associations of this class alone have returned to withdrawing members dues and profits amounting to $8,014,039. During the same period no less than fifty-seven associations were engaged in the payment of matured shares, and $829,752 were paid to members who had faithfully continued payments through a series of years, and at last saw their confidence justified. But these sums are of small consequence when we consider the comfortable homes that have been erected, and the families that have been permanently and comfortably housed through the facilities for frugality and thrift, for self-denial and saving afforded by them. My attention was recently called to a village of the State in which it was said that nearly one-third of the houses had been erected through the agency of a small local association.

“Nor is this an exceptional case, unless the element of proportion be taken into consideration. In nearly all the cities of the State, and in many of the large villages, there are associations that are models of their kind, and are worthy of the admiration and support of every good citizen.

“Their educational influence, too, can hardly be over estimated. The workingman who joins such an association takes part in the administration of its affairs and learns his first lesson in finance from those of larger experience, and, who perhaps, touches elbow with the lawyer, the merchant, and the minister as they discuss the safety of an investment, or proper amendment to the articles of association, and will not lend a ready ear to teachers of socialism, of class hatred, or of financial heresies.”

As shown elsewhere, the members of the New York societies have over $37,000,000 invested. The Building Association League of Pennsylvania, an organization of twenty-six years’ standing, composed of the most active associations in the State, some years ago proclaimed a “Declaration of Principles,” from which we quote:—

“The local building societies of the State of Pennsylvania are true coöperative organizations, transacting no business with the public, and not amenable to laws affecting financial institutions that have dealings with the public. They encourage thrift among the wage-workers, help to create taxable property in its best form—real estate, educate their members in business methods and teach them both how to save and how to invest money.

“By this service they have created a state police of tens of thousands of home owners, more efficient for the protection of life and property than a standing army.

“They have lessened the cost for the maintenance of alms-houses, prisons, and asylums, by teaching men and women to be self-helpful and self-reliant, and in that way have benefited the State to an amount far exceeding any sum that could be gathered by taxation.

“The work of the societies is done gratuitously by the directors, and in no other way could they be maintained, the profits resulting from the services of men who, though they have never posed as philanthropists, are engaged in the best kind of charity, helping men and women who help themselves.”

Joseph H. Paist, a prominent Philadelphia building association expert, has been president of the league since it was organized.

Other States have leagues, and they are all combined as a National League, whose motto is “The American Home is the Safeguard of American Liberty.”

At certain intervals the national government, States, cities, and hundreds of industrial enterprises distribute earnings and accrued interest to those entitled to the same. The vast sums of money drawn out of thousands of banks and banking institutions represent millions of dollars of canceled debts. Within a few days after these distributions take place, at least nine tenths of this money finds its way back into the strong boxes that parted with it. One tenth of the money is, perhaps, held in the pockets of the people, to be gradually disbursed for current needs until the next pay arrives. I do not remember having received a statement or statistical report referring to the building association share in these distributions.

True, there are no set dates for building societies to part with money, but in Pennsylvania alone these coöperative companies distribute $20,000,000 annually in matured shares and withdrawals. This is no insignificant sum. To-day their accumulated wealth (mostly savings of people in the humbler ranks of life) is over $107,000,000, and in the United States fully $600,000,000. The annual outgo for canceled shares is about $100,000,000, or fully $8,000,000 every month.

Since these associations were organized, quite one thousand five hundred million dollars have been returned to the members in the value of homes clear of debt and in cash for withdrawn and matured shares. Despite these vast disbursements, there has been a gradual increase in their assets from year to year.

Beginning with one association in 1831, their number increased in a small way until probably not over two hundred societies existed in 1800. From that date until the present moment it is estimated that over 8000 have been organized throughout the land, increasing at a rapid rate every year, and leaving at present, after closing out a great number, nearly 5000 active associations distributed among the States as follows:—

--------------+------------+-------------+-------------
| No. of | |
States. | Societies. | Membership. | Assets.
--------------+------------+-------------+-------------
Pennsylvania | 1200 | 300,000 | $111,714,871
Ohio | 761 | 297,787 | 99,770,161
Illinois | 682 | 180,000 | 73,309,192
New Jersey | 300 | 116,739 | 41,038,934
Indiana | 492 | 137,510 | 37,624,418
New York | 317 | 102,902 | 37,385,642
Massachusetts | 123 | 65,419 | 24,507,843
Missouri | 255 | 49,462 | 22,497,700
California | 138 | 19,153 | 17,938,100
Iowa | 87 | 25,000 | 6,594,778
Michigan | 70 | 20,497 | 6,495,307
Minnesota | 69 | 9,000 | 4,260,666
Tennessee | 34 | 6,166 | 3,771,354
Nebraska | 68 | 11,821 | 3,554,788
Connecticut | 15 | 11,208 | 3,243,935
Maine | 33 | 8,230 | 2,912,963
Other States | 228 | 281,284 | 104,320,367
| | +-------------
Totals | 4872 | 1,642,178 | $600,941,019
--------------+------------+-------------+-------------