trolled by the public for the common good. The State has the power to make reasonable regulation of the charges for services rendered by corporations engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling illuminating gas. To what extent may this regulation go? The authorities must fix upon a price which is reasonable. The power to regulate is not a power to destroy. The property of a corporation cannot be wrested from it for the benefit of the public. Its stockholders should receive some compensation for the use of the money they have invested. Yet the courts have held that judicial interference should not occur unless the case presents, clearly and beyond all doubt, such a flagrant attack upon the rights of property under the guise of regulation as to compel the court to say that the rates prescribed will necessarily have the effect. to deny just compensation for private property taken for the public use.

All laws regulating rates are subject to judicial review. Judicial inquiry may best determine where regulation ends and confiscation begins, but the power and the duty of the Legislature in this case seem clear, and the example of prompt and vigorous action should be a restraint on extortion and greed, and welcome evidence of the loyalty of public servants to the interests of the people.

1

MEMORANDUM FILED WITH ASSEMBLY BILL
PROVIDING FOR AN INSPECTION
OF HOTELS WHICH TRAFFIC IN LIQUORS

No. 2072

APPROVED

STATE OF NEW YORK

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER

Albany, April 10, 1906

MEMORANDUM on Assembly Bill Int. No. 552, Printed No. 2072, introduced by Mr. Prentice, entitled

66 An act to amend' An act in relation to the traffic in liquors, and for the taxation and regulation of the same, and to provide for local option, constituting chapter twenty-nine of the general laws.'"

APPROVED.

The purposes of this bill are two-fold.

First, to compel an inspection of hotel buildings in connection with which the traffic in liquors is to be carried on, before any hotel liquor tax certificate is issued. In the City of New York the superintendent of buildings of the borough in which such premises shall be situate, in other cities the mayor of such city and in incorporated villages the president of such village are charged with the duty of inspection, and are required to file a sworn statement that such declared hotel building complies with the provisions of section thirtyone of the liquor tax law relating to hotels and hotel-keepers; in other words, that such hotel is a bona fide hotel for the accommodation of guests, and not a sham or fake "hotel," so

styled only for the purpose of obtaining the advantages of a hotel liquor tax certificate, and not intended to accommodate the traveling public with rooms and food. If such declared hotel building does not comply with the provisions of the law relating to hotels and hotel-keepers, no liquor tax certificate shall be issued to any person proposing to carry on the traffic in liquor at such place, and the police authorities shall be notified that a liquor tax certificate has been denied.

Secondly, the bill provides that any taxpayer of a city or incorporated village who has reason to believe that any hotel building situate therein for which a liquor tax certificate has been issued, does not comply with the provisions of the law relating to hotels and hotel-keepers, may file a statement to that effect with the state commissioner of excise, who must thereupon cause an inspection of the hotel building to be made and file a statement in detail in his office. If it appears from said statement that said building does not comply with the provisions of the law relating to hotels and hotel-keepers, the said commissioner shall forthwith commence proceedings to revoke and cancel the liquor tax certificate issued for the said hotel building, unless, in accordance with his demand such certificate shall be immediately surrendered.

I believe this bill will, in a large measure, eliminate some flagrant abuses which have grown up under the present law. While the fake "hotel" is and has always been without any legal sanction under the present liquor tax law, and while the keeping of such "hotels" is and has been punishable with severe penalties, the local authorities charged with the duty of enforcing the police laws regulating the liquor traffic have not always had the dispostion to prosecute violations as rigorously as might be. The preliminary detailed inspection of hotel buildings made mandatory by this act, and the

provisions for the institution of proceedings to cancel or revoke liquor tax certificates will render it easier to enforce and more difficult to evade the law.

MEMORANDUM FILED WITH ASSEMBLY BILL (INTRODUCTORY NO. 810, SENATE REPRINT No. 1156) RELATIVE ΤΟ SERVICES IN

MEMORANDUM on Assembly Bill Int. No. 810, Senate reprint 1156, entitled

66

An act to amend the legislative law relative to services in legislative matters."

APPROVED.

This bill compels every person employed as counsel or agent to promote or oppose the passage of bills in either house, to file in the office of the Secretary of State a notice giving the names of his clients, together with a description of the legislation in reference to which he is employed. It prohibits employment of such counsel or agent for a contingent fee. It prohibits any person from being employed to promote or oppose legislation whose appearance is not entered in accordance with the provisions of this act. Two months

after the adjournment of the Legislature all persons and corporations employing legislative counsel or agents must file in the office of the Secretary of State a verified itemized statement, showing all expenses incurred in connection with legislation pending at the last previous session. Violation of the section is a misdemeanor, and civil penalties are also provided for.

This bill aims to insure publicity as to the relation of attorney and client and principal and agent existing in connection with legislative matters, and thereby to prevent secret lobbying and the use of so-called "yellow dog" funds and I approve it for the reason that it is a measure of importance to remedy a real evil.

Future legislation will doubtless improve in some respects its provisions. The Massachusetts act allows a person to enter himself upon the docket as legislative counsel exclusively, and prohibits a person whose name is so entered from rendering service otherwise than by appearing before a committee and by doing work properly incident thereto, or by giving legal advice as regular legal counsel of corporations or associations. The Massachusetts statute further provides for a separate docket of legislative agents, who may, by all other lawful methods than the above, promote or oppose legislation.

It would seem that lawyers of high repute might draw a distinction between the work of the legislative counsel and the work of the legislative agent, and might decline to register their appearance under this bill, which does not distinguish between the two classes of employment, but authorizes the agent to appear before committees and the counsel to engage in personal solicitation of individual members of the Legislature.