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Show RIGHTS OF RAILROAD NEED NOT BUILD SWITCHES TO GRAIN ELEVATORS UNLESS THEY SO DESIRE. To Exact Penalty for Car Shortage Illegal,-While Hotel and Other Drummers Cannot Operate on Trains Without Permission. Washington. E mpliaslz ing the rights of railroads, the supreme court of the United States on Monday declared de-clared unconstitutional the law of Nebraska Ne-braska requiring railroads to build switches to all grain elevators along their tracks upon request, and called a halt on the attempt of the state of Arkansas to penalize an interstate railroad for failure to supply cars enough to accommodate interstate traffic. In announcing the opinion in the Nebraska case, Justice Holmes asserted assert-ed that although the state possessed certain police powers and railroads must fulfill the purposes for which their charters were granted, yet, "railroads, "rail-roads, like other owners of property, have rights protected by the constitution." consti-tution." In the written opinion, the rights of the railroads were phrased somewhat differently from what they were in the oral explanation of the court. Among other decisions the court upheld up-held the act of Arkansas prohibiting drumming up business by physicians and hotel keepers on trains. An odd thing about the sitting was announcement announce-ment as to the decision of the court of an opinion written by the late Justice Jus-tice Brewer. The question as to whether the penalty for violation of the twenty-eight-hour law for shipment ship-ment of live stock shall be assessed on the separate shipment, as urged by the government, or on the trainload as a unit, as contended for by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railroad, rail-road, is to be considered again by the supreme court. |