The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-04-07
Ghe 9aiIg Arsas.
Monday, April Z. 1878.
RAILWAY ELL

On Friday. Of last week our House Of
Represeptatiyes was engaged in the dis.
cussiop Of mldrup's railway bill The
opposition 10 It was very strong. The In.
Ter. OeSaH says:
In the course Of the debate il has been
charged that the measure has never been
considered By the Railway Committee, Of
which Mr. Hildrup is Chairman. These
railway balls require careful revision, and
II is certainly singular that the author Of
this measure should not prefer 10 have the
committee Of the House, appointed for just
such purpose, prepare his bill for pas
sage, rather than b throw it before com
mittee Of the whole House, in effect, where
any amendments or revision must, OF nee
essitv. take great deal Of time, and be
imperfect and. may be- ill-c1nsidered
Mr. Hildrnp will not strengthen himself in
his iruportsut position with hi associates
bv permitting the suspicion u be raised
that be- il more anxious for personal repu
tntion than for effective and cOurt-prOOf
legislation This motive has been openly
iusuuated at Springfield, aud Mr. Hi
drup, for the public good, should not 81
low it % have facts b. feed upon
A Springfield correspondent Of the same
papcr gives a sypop.i. Of the debate and
speaking of our Democratic member from
thi- district, says
"Mr Durham made strong speech
against the bill, arguing at length that II
had u0 virtue ia IT, as the railway cJmpa
Hie- could dodge il 40 long as they pleas
ed II wa unconstitutional, IN that il At
tempt- b. establish maximum rate By
means Of trial before a court and jury
whose decision became a rule ~ law An
other reason WAS that II bound down the
companies o. given measure for one
year. In the language of the Inter Deem
IL was an admirable attempt how not 20 DO
h. lie regarded Mr. Counollys good
bill as far a. IL went. II it stopped dis
ordinations the companies would raise
the rates % the level of non competing
points and then the people would still suf
fer from extOrtiOn.
The Chicago Trib,u, correspondent Of
th, same date says
Mr. Durham predicted that, if the bill
passed il would meet the fate Of It's pre-
dccCSs0I, and the fate that wa. in store
for the passenger bill IL was based on "a
false theory. He did not believe the STATE
had The right b. fla the rates OF fare and
he doubted very much ~ IL would be- q
good thing ID 10 bad Ii the State could
say the fare from Springfield 10 Chicago
should be- : 10 would follow that the rail
roads could collect the fares from the State
81 tho passengers refused to pay IT, lie
would not IL he could confer upon the
Legislature this power. He was satisfied
the railroad would own the Legislature
aud perhaps the people would have a. pay
= cents "a milo He believed the railroads
had vested right % carry freight az
reasonable compensation. because the Leg.
i-lurrc might compel them o. carry il al
900 unreasonable compensation The Su-
prrmo Court held that iu spite of their
charter railroads were subject To- the
common law remedies against Cyturtiun
and unjust discrimination That was
sufficient Was there any danger that
they could not convict railroads Would
mot Iurlc find them guilty Hi- czpcr-
lrurc was that Jurie- were always ready Co
lind against corporation, He could con.
wet any railroad of eytDrtiou or OF unjust
discrimination IL he only had the facts be-
Tore Jury His theory was that there
should be- % statute b. enforce the common
law such legislation would be- clearly
and without doubt constitutional The
Senate DpualIuc h.ll wa. based upuu that
theory and hu drhcd any lawyer a. find
hnw iu such legislation There were
iilw- iu the tll. under discussion and the
railroads would -DUu find them out The
railroads would furnish the schedule bat
that was all A. there wa. nothing In the
law tp enforce the schedule after the com.
missioner had approved the rates there
was uu way of getting them into court and
D. thD} did get them Boo chunpcrv they
would remain there perhaps for years If
the Jury found the rltr- o. be unrea-uua.
DIE there would after alI be- only AN i'm.
aNuarg line dividing tine highest reason.
able from the lowest unreasonable
Nlr Durham went uu o. ryi,crratc
the bill, making an able argument Of two
hours
The railroad debate to-day was profta
hIu though II left member. minds la %
state OF lndocisioH. and no ono Of the bills
D. much ahead of the othors. All of them
were torn ~ shrcd- by their opponents In
speeches of more than ordinary power
According to Mr. Durham. the nlldrup
bill b. fraud. According tu Mr.. Shaw
it's level ACCORDING to Mr. CONNOLLY
the Senate bill Is drlusiuu and the Con.
molly bill. the true panacca while. accord
ing o. Mr. Duudam. the Senate bill h the
only remedy Gut Of this confusion tree
dlscu sion viii cnyplyc some sensible meas
urc when the conflicting elements should
unite % support il '