or reasoning. Every code State since the Field Code was made the law in New York, has shown by actual experience the possibility of uniting in one form of action all the cases arising in law and equity between litigants without impairing the right of jury trial at common law and without creating the slightest confusion. No litigant has a vested right in mere delay in procedure. It does not prejudice the plaintiff in the suit at law who is seeking to try his issue before a jury that his opponent by pleading his equitable defense and varying the issue, is able to defeat his purpose in the same case instead of incurring the delay and expense of securing an injunction to stay the case at law and making the equitable issue in another court. I do not intend to take up your time to-day in a detailed discussion of the best methods of reforming judicial procedure, but there is one means of facilitating the dispatch of business in courts of justice that might well be applied in our Federal courts. We have in our Federal system 32 circuit judges and 94 district judges. The district judges are apportioned, one, two, or three, or even more, to each State, and the forty-eight States are divided into nine circuits. Originally the district judges and the circuit judges of each circuit could be used to help along the business in all the districts of that circuit, and in the business of the court of appeals. Now the Chief Justice can send district judges in a limited class of cases from one circuit to another circuit. This system works well so far as it has been applied, but I think a much greater advantage could be derived from it if it were amplified to its logical development. Now that litigation has increased in parts of the country so that its mass is overwhelming, we must approach the problems of its disposition in the same way that the head of a great industrial establishment approaches the question of the manufacture of the amount that he will need, to meet the demand for the goods which he makes. This is done by estimate of the work to be done and an assignment each year of a competent force to do it. In other words, the time has come to introduce into the dispatch of judicial work something of the executive method that great expansion has forced in other fields of human activity. In the judicial business of the United States we should devise a system by which the whole judicial force of circuit and district judges could be distributed to dispose of the entire mass of business promptly. Some judges have too much and a greater number could do more. Let us equalize their burdens and give them a maximum of effectiveness. It seems to me that either the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice should be given an adequate executive force of competent subordinates to keep close and current watch upon the business awaiting dispatch in all the districts and circuits of the United States, and likely to arise during the ensuing year, to make periodical estimate of the number of judges needed in the various districts to dispose of such business, and to assign the needed number of judges to the districts where needed. Then the Supreme Court given the joint power of making the rules of procedure and of distributing the judicial force could greatly facilitate the proper disposition of all the legal business in the country and in a sense become responsible for its dispatch. If it is found that there are not judges enough, then we should hear from the Supreme Court as a competent authority, not influenced by political or personal considerations, how many judges are needed and where, and the judicial force could be increased to meet the real exigency. On a small scale this system has been worked in the municipal court in Chicago and in some other municipal courts, and the possibility of thus getting rid of an enormous mass of litigation has been demonstrated. Of course, it will be said that this is imposing a great burden on a court that is already weighed down with too much work. I do not ignore the justice of this criticism, but it can certainly be partially, or perhaps wholly, met by taking away from the Supreme Court all questions which do not involve, as a genuine issue, the construction of the Constitution, and by limiting the duty of the court to hear any other cases to those which upon a writ of certiorari the court in its discretion shall draw to its jurisdiction. The agitation with reference to the courts, the general attacks upon them, the grotesque remedies proposed of recall of judges and recall of judicial decisions, and the resort of demagogues to the unpopularity of courts as a means of promoting their own political fortunes, all impose upon us, members of the bar and upon judges of the courts and upon legislatures, the duty to remove, as far as possible, grounds for just criticism of our judicial system. The Federal system extends into every State. It is under the control of one Legislature and subordinate to one Supreme Court. Here is the opportunity to furnish to the country a model which shall inspire State legislatures and State supreme courts to similar efforts to make their courts the handmaid of prompt justice. O 2d Session SENATE No. 615 PNEUMATIC-TUBE POSTAL COMMISSION REPORT OF THE PNEUMATIC-TUBE POSTAL COMMISSION PRESENTED BY MR. SMITH, OF GEORGIA OCTOBER 24, 1914.-Ordered to be printed WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE PNEUMATIC-TUBE POSTAL COMMISSION. HON. SIMON GUGGENHEIM, Senator from Colorado (chairman to Mar. 1, 1913). HON. HOKE SMITH, Senator from Georgia (chairman from Mar. 1, 1913). HON. WILLIAM O. BRADLEY, Senator from Kentucky (member from Mar. 1, 1913). HON. VICTOR MURDOCK, Representative from Kansas. HON. JOSEPH STEWART, Second Assistant Postmaster General. JAMES F. BELFORD, Secretary to March 1, 1913. MALCOLM JOHNSTON, secretary from March 1, 1913. AUTHORIZATION OF JOINT COMMISSION ON PNEUMATIC TUBES. [From acts making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1913, 1914, and 1915.] Provided, That a commission consisting of two members of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, United States Senate, and two members of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, House of Representatives, to be appointed by the chairmen of the respective committees, and the Second Assistant Postmaster General, is hereby authorized to investigate the feasibility and desirability of the Government purchasing and operating the equipment for pneumatic-tube service in the cities in which such service is now installed, together with rights to operate and extend equipment in such cities and elsewhere, and to ascertain the cost at which such purchase may be made. The employment of expert and other assistance is authorized, and the expense of such and of the inquiry shall be paid from the appropriation for service by pneumatic tubes, and said commission shall make a report, with recommendations, to Congress at the earliest practicable date. Approved, August 24, 1912. Provided, That the personnel of the membership of the committees and commissions created and provided for in sections one and eight of the act entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes," approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, shall continue with the same authorities, powers, and provisions for expenses until final report is made to Congress, which shall be made on or before March fourth, nineteen hundred and fourteen. Approved, March 4, 1913. That the personnel of the membership of the committees and commissions created and provided for in sections one and eight of the act entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes," approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, shall continue with the same authorities, powers, and provisions for expenses until final report is made to Congress, which shall be made on or before December first, nineteen hundred and fourteen. Approved, March 9, 1914. 1 Senator Guggenheim resigned as chairman and as a member of the commission on Mar. 1, 1913, his term as Senator expiring Mar. 3, 1913, and Senator Smith was elected chairman to succeed him. Senator Bradley was appointed to succeed Senator Guggenheim as a member of the commission. "Senator Bradley died May 23, 1914. No successor was appointed. REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMISSION OF CONGRESS AUTHORIZED TO INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY AND DESIRABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASING AND OPERATING PNEUMATIC TUBES FOR MAIL SERVICE, ETC. Pursuant to authority of law, the joint commission made extensive investigations into the subject of the use and operation of pneumatic tubes for mail service now under contract between the companies which built such tubes and the Postmaster General, and into the cost of construction, maintenance, and operation of such tubes and mail service, and have the honor to report as follows: The record of the hearings and of the several reports of expert accountants and of the special engineer employed by the Government to assist in said inquiry is set forth in the printed volume "Hearings before the Commission to Investigate the Pneumatic Tube Postal System," Washington, Government Printing Office, 1913, to which consideration is invited. The references in this report are to these "Hearings" unless otherwise stated. Pneumatic tubes have been used in the transmission of the mails in cities for a period of over 20 years. The first installation of a large tube to expedite first-class mails was made in Philadelphia, Pa., when a 6-inch tube was placed in operation experimentally March 1, 1893 between the central post office and the East Chestnut Street postal station. The service has been extended from time to time under contracts entered into by authority of Congress until at the expiration of 20 years the Post Office Department has an 8-inch tube system in six large cities, one line of 10-inch tubes in Boston, Mass., and a short line of 6-inch tubes in Philadelphia, Pa., with a total mileage of 56.8452 miles, at an annual cost for service thereby of $966,368.40 on June 30, 1914. The growth of the service is shown in the following table giving the mileage of pneumatic-tube service in operation on June 30 of each year from 1893 to 1913, viz: Growth of pneumatic-tube service, 1893–1913. 1 March 1, general post office to East Chestnut Street Station (experimental). 8.05 |