Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1879-03-05
THE CLARKE RAILROAD BILL.

which is recommended to the Legislature by
of that enthusiastic political vagalist, Hon.
| Robert III. Clarke. The invention of this bill
is all the more notable in view of the fact that
Mr. Clarke is very pronounced IN his denun-
citation of the Lewis bill (Which seeks the
| same purpose as his OWN, as unconstitutional. y
Now the MORNING APPEAL has no prefer
ence for authors in this matter of concocting
| railroad bills What we want is bill which
will prevent the railroads from depressing our
people; and if Bob Clarke presents the best
and pass it.
But has he devised better bill than that
which was drawn up by Judge Lewlsl
| The gist of this measure of Clarkes lies in
the First and Third sections thereof They
are as follows:
| SECTION l. In all cases the owner or con-
| signee of one or more car loads of goods or
freight shipped by rail shall have the abso
lutte right, with additional charge, to demand
the stoppage and delivery of such goods or
| freight at any Immediate station within this
State where goods or freight are ordinarily
| discharged between the point of shipment
and destination; and it shall be the duty of
all railroad companies owning or operating
any railroad in or through this State, whether
such road has it's termni within without
the State, to stop, unload and deliver such
goods freight at any regular station within
this State upon the owner or consignee, not
| outstanding such goods or freight may have
| been shipped or consigned to point beyond
and without this State and a greater distance
from the point of shipment than a point at
which stoppage and delivery is required.
| SEC 8. 1t shall be sufficient notice Of de
mand under this Act, five days before the ar
rival of the goods or freight at the station
where it is desired to be delivered, to enclose
in an envelope and deposit in the Postothce,
addressed to the Superintendent of the COM
pany, at the principal Office of the company,
written request and demand showing the
name of the owner and cOnslgnee, the descrlP-
ton of the goods or freight, the point of ship
meut, the place to which shipped and the
| place to which the owner or consignee desires
the goods or freight stopped, unloaded and de-
livered; or it shall be sufficient to serve such
notice personally on the conductor or person
! in charge of the train carrying such goods or
| freight
| The gist of the Lewis bill resides in section
One, which reads at follows;
SECTION | It shall be unlawful for any per-
! son, persons, company or corporation engaged
in carrying or transporting property by rail
road from points beyond the boundaries of
this State to any point within this State, or
from within @G,S State to points without the
same, TO carry or transport such property De
yound the place Of It's hHdl destl cation within
this State; or to carry any such property i'll
any direction other than that of its final des-
tInatlOn: or any greater distance than is
actually necessary 10 enable such person, per
sons. company OF corporations to deliver such
property at it's destination, or terminus of
such railroad
Now it seems to us that this is very much
more direct and very much less obnoxious to
the charge of clashing with that Clause of the
Constitution of the United States which deals
with Inter State commerce" than Mr. Clarke's
bill, as quoted. The Lewis bill declares it I'M
lawful for the carrier to take the consignee's
goods beyond their place Of destination; and
certainly if what Mr. Clarke proposes to do
can be done, what Mr.. Lewis proposes to do
can also be done. The Lewis bill has the very
great and essential advantage Of simplicity
CLAIR. 3 bill seeks to do by roundabout and
intricate courses what the Lewis bill seeks to
do with explicitness and in a mandatory way
Lewis proposes to put a stop to the hurtful
and unjust practice of shipping our merchants
goods to points beyond their destination;
Clarke attempts to vest the Nevada merchant !
with the power to arrest his goods while they
are in transitw under the seal and sanction of |
a bill of lading and in locked car bound for
San Francisco. Clarke seeks to invest indi-
viduals with extraordinary rights toward the
railroad company; Lewis, with more force,
seeks to lay down general law for the re-
straint of the company. The latter method
seems to US to be greatly the stronger.
We think Governor kinkead has made
mistake. The Assembly has already passed
the Lewis bill We trust that the Senate
may give that measure their sanction. Such
is the simpler method. Any bill that we may
pass attempting to govern the Central Pacific
must take its chance of being unconstitu-
tional, Certainly, there can be no question
that the Lewis bill is much more practical
md operative than the Clarke bill. Let the
Senate, then, pass the Lewis bill as it came
rom the House and Sc let not multitude
If counsels divert your attention from the