Items of Interest January 20, 1906 Issue

Items of Interest

The traveling public will be interested in the decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in New York in a suit brought by a passenger against the Pullman Company. The plaintiff purchased a ticket for a double lower berth in the sleeping-car from San Antonio, Texas, to Jersey City. When he reached New Orleans, where he had to change cars, he was informed that there was no lower berth for him, and he was obliged to ride in an ordinary coach for two days and a half. Under the charge of the trial judge he recovered a verdict for the eight dollars which he had paid for the lower berth which had not been accorded him. The Apellate Court ordered a new trial on the ground that the plaintiff was entitled to something more than the price of his ticket, which was not an adequate compensation for the discomfort and inconvenience suffered by him.

The Criminal Code of New York makes it a penal offence for any employer of labor to "coerce or compel any person or persons, employe or employes, laborer or mechanic, to enter into an agreement, either written or verbal, from such person, persons, employe, laborer, or mechanic, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of such person or persons securing employment or continuing in the employment of any such person or persons, employer or employers." The Appellate Division of the Superme Court in the District of New York has unanimously held that this provision is unconstitutional. This is in accordance with a long line of decisions to the general effect that the Legislature can limit the private right of contract only so far as may be neces sary to protect public health, public morals, or the public welfare.

The following inscription will be placed on the large bronze tablet for the new general store building at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in which the Peace Conference was held; "In this building, at the initiative of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, was held the Peace Conference between the envoys of Russia and Japan, and September 5, 1905, at 3.47 P.M., was signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war between the two empires."

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