vide for and to regulate the mode and manner of redemption of said trading stamps, coupons, tickets and other similar devices and to provide penalties for a violation thereof." * * * This bill provides that any association, corporation or individual who shall sell trading stamps with the promise that there will be given for them money or goods, shall redeem the stamps in any number whatever "either in cash, good and lawful money or in goods, wares and merchandise at the option of the holder.” For failure to comply with this provision, the association, corporation or individual is punished by a fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of the court. In other words for failure to complete a gift which could under no circumstances be more than a violation of a contract, the offender is to be punished with imprisonment. The transaction is not in any sense criminal and there is no propriety in so treating it. It is moreover difficult to understand how a corporation can be imprisoned. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 49. To provide for the retirement of judges of the courts of records of this Commonwealth. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That any judge of any court of record of this Commonwealth, having been commissioned for more than thirty years, and having attained the age of seventy years, may resign his commission as judge, and shall, during the remainder of his term for which he was elected, receive the same salary which by law was payable to him while in commission, if he shall so long live, and the office made vacant shall be filled as is now provided by law in case of a vacancy. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Department, Harrisburg, April 28, 1903. I file herewith in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objections, Senate bill No. 376, entitled "An act to provide for the retirement of judges of the courts of record of this Commonwealth." This bill provides "that any judge of any court of record of this Commonwealth having been commissioned for more than thirty years and having attained the age of seventy years, may resign his commission as a judge and shall during the remainder of his term of office for which he was elected receive the same salary which by law was payable to him while in commission if he shall so long live." This bill is very imperfectly drawn. No judge of the Commonwealth is ever commissioned for more than thirty years. The only construction that is possible to put upon it is that it is intended to apply to the case where a judge has had three successive commissions for ten years each. If this be the interpretation, then any judge at the beginning of his third term can resign and take advantage of the provisions of the bill. The purpose probably intended by the draftsman was to provide for the case of a judge who has already served thirty years and has received a commission for a fourth term, but there is no expression of this purpose anywhere in the bill. The title to the act is also imperfect. It is described as an act to provide for the retirement of judges. It is really an act to provide for the retirement of judges who have served for a certain length of time upon the bench. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 50. AN ACT To amend an act, entitled "An act to regulate the publication, binding and distribution of the public documents of this Commonwealth," approved the second day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and ninetynine. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the passage of this act, the printing, binding, distribution and number of the several public documents of this Commonwealth shall be as follows, to wit: "Section 9. Eight thousand six hundred copies of the report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs on Mines; two thousand for the Senate, four thousand for the House, two thousand for the Secretary of Internal Affairs, fifty for the Governor, fifty for the Secretary of the Commonwealth, one hundred for the State Librarian, and four hundred to be reserved for official documents" be amended to read as follows: Section 9. Eleven thousand six hundred copies of the report of the Department of Mines: two thousand for the Senate, four thousand for the House, five thousand to the Department of Mines, fifty for the Governor, fifty for the Secretary of the Commonwealth, one hundred for the State Librarian, and four hundred to be reserved for official documents. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Department, Harrisburg, April 28, 1903. I file herewith in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objections, Senate bill No. 388, entitled "An act to amend an act, entitled 'An act to regulate the publication, binding and distribution of the public documents of this Commonwealth,' approved the second day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine." The subject matter of this bill is already provided for by an act, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled an act to regulate the publication, binding and distribution of the public documents of this Commonwealth, approved the second day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine," which act was approved on the 22nd of April, 1903. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 51. AN ACT Concerning acquisition, by condemnation, of lands by railroad corporations of this Commonwealth possesed of the power of eminent domain, including those used and occupied in whole or in part as dwellings by the owners thereof, and exempting burial-grounds and places of public worship, and certain Colonial and Revolutionary structures and sites. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be lawful for railroad corporations of this Commonwealth, created and organized by and under either special or general law, and thereby invested with the power of eminent domain, to take, appropriate and acquire, by condemnation proceedings, in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by law, any and all such lands within this Commonwealth as in the judgment of the directors, declared by resolution duly adopted, shall be necessary for the location and construction of their respective railroads, branches, stations, sidings, yards or shops, or for straightening, widening or otherwise improving the same, or any other proper corporate purpose, in order that the public may be afforded safe, convenient and adequate transportation facilities, notwithstanding the fact that any lands so taken and appropriated may be used and occupied, in whole or in part, as dwellings by the owner or owners thereof: Provided, That this act shall not be so construed as to permit and authorize the taking and appropriation, without the consent of the owner or owners thereof, of land occupied and used as a burying ground or place of public worship: And provided further, That whenever lands shall be taken, which have been continuously occupied as a dwelling by the same owner for a period not less than twenty years immediately prior to such taking, additional damages, not exceeding ten per centum of the value of the land taken, shall be allowed and awarded to such owner on that account. Section 2. From and after the passage of this act, no railroad corporation, created and organized by and under either special or general law, shall have the right to take and condemn for railroad purposes any fort, redoubt or blockhouse, erected during the Colonial or Revolutionary periods; or the sites whereon any such fort, redoubt or blockhouse at any time stood during said periods, which are now preserved by any association, society or corporation for their historical memories and associations; or any building which was used during the Colonial or Revolutionary periods as a place of assembly by the Council of the Colony of Pennsylvania, or by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or by the Congress of the United States, or as the headquarters by the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, which is preserved by any association, society or corporation for its historical memories and associations. Provided, That the said Colonial and Revolutionary periods, as applied to said buildings, forts, redoubts, blockhouses or headquarters, or the sites thereof, shall be taken as ended on the third day of September, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and eightythree. Section 3. That anything contained in any general or special law inconsistent with this act, or with the exemptions and restrictions herein specified, be and the same is hereby repealed. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Department, Harrisburg, April 29, 1903. I file herewith in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objection, Senate bill No. 182, entitled "An act concerning acquisition by condemnation of lands by railroad corporations of this Commonwealth possessed of the power of eminent domain, including those used and occupied in whole or in part as dwellings by the owners thereof and exempting burial grounds and places of public worship and certain Colonial and Revolutionary structures and sites." This bill provides "that it shall be lawful for railroad corporations of this Commonwealth, created and organized by and under either special or general law and thereby invested with the power of eminent domain to take, appropriate and acquire by condemnation proceedings in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by law any and all such lands within this Commonwealth as in the judgment of the directors declared by resolution duly adopted shall be necessary for the location and construction of their respective railroads, branches, stations, sidings, yards or shops or for straightening, widening or otherwise improving the same, or any other proper corporate purpose in order that the public may be afforded safe, convenient and adequate transportation facilities, notwithstanding the fact that any lands so taken and appropriated may be used and occupied in whole or in part as dwellings by the owner or owners thereof." The bill raises questions of very great importance. Power is given to all railroad corporations as well those now in existence as those which may be hereafter created under our very generous general railroad act, to take in the exercise of the right of eminent domain, the dwellings of citizens not only for railroads but for "yards or shops" or for "any other proper corporate purpose" whenever “in the judgment of the directors" it shall be necessary for the location, construction, straightening, widening, or improving the same. There is no limitation as to locality or proximity to the road. Whenever the directors of the road think it necessary in order to improve their shops or yards, to take dwellings they are given the power. The main purpose of the act was no doubt to enable an important main railroad highway with connections extending over the country to straighten its line so that it may not fall behind in competition with its rivals. In the struggle for possession of western freight, every mile of curve taken out of the line is so much gained not only in distance but time. Along the line of this railroad, as it appeared to be fixed, people have established their homes and erected and adorned their houses with the expectation of making use of the facilities afforded them. It is now proposed to a certain extent to change the location of the road and from the railroad point of view, in the exigencies of trade, it has become necessary that these homes should be surrendered. Which shall yield? It seems to me that the interests of the railroad and the prospective profits of the holders of its stock are of minor importance in the consideration of the question. When they made their investment, the possibilities of the shifting of trade and of the competition of other roads were among the risks taken, and the inconvenience of such limitations upon success has to be borne. A railroad has the great power which it wields as the agent of the public. When the land of a citizen is taken by a railroad, it is taken by the Commonwealth, because the public necessities require the sacrifice. Is it then more to the interest of the Commonwealth that there should be an absolutely straight line between New York or Chicago, because that is the logical end toward which one alternative takes us, or is it more to the interest of the Commonwealth that the citizen should be permitted to rear his family at his own fireside undisturbed, with all that this means for the preservation of the race and its virtues? It seems to me that it is possible to take a middle course to avoid both Scylla and Charybdis and to this extent at least to put the exercise of the right of eminent domain where in principle it belongs. There may be a house about which there can be no sentiment and little value owned by a man without family, which he proposes to sell at an enormous price because it stands in the line of a great public improvement. There may be a home typical of all that there is good in American life, around which cluster the associations of centuries and which ought to be preserved regardless of trade. There may be a railroad organized at a venture without public need, destined to end in failure after the destruction of much which is more useful than itself. Is it wise to leave the determination of what ought to be saved and what may be destroyed to a board of interested directors? Is it wise to have judgment rendered by one of the parties? The bill ought to have provided for a tribunal representing the State which could decide upon the necessity and while being just to the railroads, could protect the citizen. If we are to go further with the grants of the right to take private property, and any one who has kept pace with recently projected legislation can see whither we are else drifting, some such plan ought to be adopted. There are other objections to the bill. In so far as a railroad erects shops, it is not a common carrier, but a manufacturer and |