Show I MR MILLERS REPORT Business of the Supreme Courtof Reviewed TIE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT Difficulty of EnforcementCase of the Itata Evils of tho Fee System Amendment of the Judiciary Act Recommended WASHINGTON Dee 10Tha annual ro port of Attorney General Miller was submitted sub-mitted to Congress today I reviews the business of the United States supremo court and devotes a chapter to the circuit court of appeals which ho says has been organized in each circuit and is ready for business although an additional circuit judge in each circuit has not been appointed Mention is made of the heavy increase in the BUSINESS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS and a recommendation is made that the orking force of the court bo largely increased in-creased Ho says it is also necessary that some provision be made for the representation representa-tion of the Interests of the government before be-fore the board of appraisers in customs cases appealed from tho collector to the oard of appraisers He invites attention to the special report on the subject of Indian depredation claims and showed the importance of a change in be condition of that business The claims ggregato 20000 On the suject of UNITED STATES PRISONS he attorne general says In pursuance of the recommendations in the annual re port of this department a bill was passed b iy the last Congress authorizing the con s tructicn of three United States prisons t o be located ono north and another south i o f the 89th degree of north latitude and j cast of the Rockies and a third west of t ho Rockies but by evident inadvertence f ailed to make any appropriation for the purchase of sites and the erection of such b mildings I recommend that the appropriations appro-priations evidently contemplated by that act be made so this work may go forward After speaking of the wellknown difficulties culties in the enforcement of the Chinese e exclusion act he says If it i desired that THESE LAWS SHALL BE MADE EFFECTIVE they should be so changed that they cannot can-not be misunderstood To arrest and try uch persons and as a result simply send hem back across the British line is shown to be an idle expenditure to me of labor md money by the fact that as might well je expected the same persons have to be arrested and tried over and over again Moreover it is quite uncertain whether the rder requiring Chinese prisoners sent ack into the British dominions could be made effective This subject demands I prompt consideration From information official and unofficial in regard to the administration of the laws of Alaska the attorneygeneral is impressed im-pressed that such administration is not satisfactory and that it can only be made satisfactory by new legislation The attorne general called attention to tho evils of the fee system and advises cases the substitution of stipulated salaries in all Ho reviews the legal proceeding in the CASE OF THE CHILIAN STEAMER ITATA and sums up as follows Upon the trial of this indictment it was held by the district dis-trict court these proceedings were not in violation of the neutrality laws of tho United States First because the enterprise enter-prise was a legitimate commercial transaction trans-action and second because the Congressional Congres-sional party of Chili not having at the time received recognition from the government of the United States either as a government de jure or as a beligerent the acts done by the representatives of and In the Interest In-terest of that party in the way of hostilities 1 ties against the Chilian government were not in violation of the statute of the United Unied States In short that it is only in the in terest of a government recognized as such de jure or as a beliperent that the neutrality neut-rality statute of the United States can be violated Without discussing the proposition proposi-tion that such a transaction is legitimate commerce I venture the suggestion that incase in-case of serious injury to the commercial or other interests of a nation with which we are at peace by snips fitted out in our harbors tne plea of such nonrecognition nonrecogniton would be a very insufficient answer If the construction given to these statutes I I the trial court shall be sustained appeal the statute should I think be amended He reports five suits commenced under the actof August 7 1SSS requiring nil TELEGRAPH LINES SUBSIDIZED BT THE GOVERNMENT GOV-ERNMENT by and through their own respective corporate cor-porate officers and employees to maintain and operate for railroad governmental commercial and nil other purposes such telegraph lines and requiring the attorney general by proper proceedings to orovent any unlawful interference with the rights and equities of the United States in relation to such telegraph lines On this subject the attorney eneral says In tho suits of the United States against the Central Pacific railroad company and Western Union telegraph against the Southern Pacific railroad and Western Union Telegraph Tele-graph company both pending in the northern north-ern district of California upon demurrers de-murrers and motions to dismiss for want of jurisdiction it being claimed on behalf of the Western Union Telegraph company com-pany and other corporations necessary parries defendant havintr obnrtmn trnm other states than California tba b Oth0 CalfornIa that they cannot can-not be sued in the United States circuit crcuit court or in any district court other than that from which they derive their respec tive charters In other words thoy aro not inhabitants of any district in the state by which they were created TOUCHING THE QUESTION OF JURISDICTION raised by thoso corporations that they are not residents of California the result of such contention is that a corporation like corporaton lke the Western Union Telegraph company a New York corporation which Is doing business in every state and district In the union which has the right to sue in tho federal courts of the various districts and i sued in a state court they may movo such nuits for litigation into tho federal courts cannot be sued in federal courts in any state outside of Now York it is not believed such is the law at least where the government is plaintiff Certainly it was not the intention of Congress in the enacting judiciary law of 1888 to thus make corporations a privileged class I recommend that section 1 of the act of August 18 1888 2 stat p 43 be amended by inserting a proviso after the word inhabitant in the follow folow ing sentence namely And no civil suit shall be brought before either of said courts against any person Dy any original process or proceeding in any other dis trict than that wherein he is an inhabit ant provided any foreign corporation corporaton may be sued in any district whore it may be found process to be served as in like lte cases in the state where said suit or action is brought acton Such amendment would restore the law to what it was for a century prior to the act of March 3 1887 and would impose on these corporations a liability to bo sued corresponding to the right they enjoy to sue as plaintiffs and to remove suits In which they are defendants |