West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1882-01-27

'S'N"I ~HN Iho SOiAIeA VI Lu6 ldJe war
ia his quarry.
SPEAKER WILSON Of the West Vir.
ginia House Of Delegates has intro
duced a bill "to establish reasonable
maximum rates of charges, to pro-
vide for the correction Of abuses, TO
prevent unjust determination and
extortion in the rates Of charges by
all railroad companies and corpora
tons heretofore or hereafter created
by this or any other State, and or
ganized within or without this State.
aud operating any railroad or rail-
way, wholly within, or partly within
and partly without this State, for
the transportation Of passengers and
treights, to protect the iust righte
Of the public concerning the same,
and to enforce the samO by adequate
penalties It makes it unlawful for
any company or corporation, wheth-
er operating itself or operated or
leased by any other company, to
charge for passengers or freight more
for a shorter than Tor a longer dis
lance in the same direction. 1t
shall be the duty of every railway
company to keep constantly posted,
ia a conspicuous place, in all its
ticket Offices and freight and paesen-
ger depots, printed copies Of the oac-
ond and third sections OF this act,
which are embraced in the foregoing
sentence, together with a table Of
d stances between each and every
station Of its road, the same to be
printed in lcgib!e type.
All persons shall have equal righto
in chipping freight, and the same
facilities for carriage, storage and
handling freight and Transporting it
with reasonable dispatch to the
point required, shall be gwen to all;
and no company shall directly or
indirectly ALLOW any rebate or draw
back to one person which is not
allowed tc all alike. No company
shall increase its charge after Jan
uary, Of each year.
A station shall be established at
every town Of 800 or more inhabi-
tants, where the road passes through
or within half a mile; such station
shall be established within TIN ee
months after this act goes into effect,
and every thirty days delay, or fail
ure thereafter, shall be q soperale
offence.
The remainder OF the bill is devo-
tel to penalties. For any oG-nce
against the provisions Of this act, the
offender shall be deemed guilty Of a
misdemsanor and for The first oGense,
upon conviction shall be fined not
less than $4,000 nor more than $40.
OO0 for the second, not less than
$4,000 nor more than $4,000; Tor
the third, not lees than $4,000 nor
more than $4,000; and for every
offence thereafter, $4,000, each fine
TO be at the discretion Of the Jury.
BIT if any company shall willfully
violate any section Of this ordinance.
1t shall be taken as an abuse and
iorfeit1re Of it's charter, and it may
be proceeded against az to Judge
meut Of custer and final execution.
The Circuit Court Of each county
through which a road passes, shall
have Jurisdiction and shall especially
give thi7 act IN charge Of the grand
jury. The Judge, If he deem it nee.
sssary, shall employ special counsel
to assist The Prosecuting Attorney
In such cases.
The Wheeling RegisLer reports
Mr.. WILSON as saying. "It is in my
opinion tho Imperative duty ofthis
Legislature TO pass this bill. The
determinations practiced by rail-
roads against the citizens Of tbis
commonwealth arc proving roinous
not only to tee interests Of the cit
Izsns themselves, but will prove very
detrimental to its prospects TO
J give you an ,dea Of these Infamous
transsctoos; A stock dealer ra,d
FGO rer car for shipping stock over
the 3. and o. railroad IRON Mineral
County boo the State, to Baltimore
while "a stock dealer oyer ia Central