Louis Brandeis

“ In effect the railroad is the absolute owner of the land. Its use is, and necessarily must be, exclusive. The betterment for which the assessment was levied is of a nature to enhance the value of that use. And it is the railroad, as distinguished from the Creek Nation, owner of a possible reversionary interest, to which the benefit from the improvement enures. For the railroad's use will continue indefinitely, while the specific improvement to be paid for can have but a short life. ”

“ The contention is that the railroad is an instrumentality through which the government undertook to perform its obligation to develop coal lands belonging to the Indians, and that, if the railroad's interest in the right of way and station grounds could be subjected to a special assessment and possible sale thereunder apart from the railroad franchises, the congressional purpose might be obstructed. Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad Co. ”

“ The District Court entered a decree for plaintiffs, which was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, with directions to dismiss the bill. 261 Fed. 342. The case comes here under section 241 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1218) . ”