Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-02-17
Progress Of the Railroad
Bill.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH IT ~ THE
HoUsE-THE CLAUSE IAKf&0 Tgg
ROADS PAY THE eALAEtEs OF THg
COMMISSIONERS KEPT Is--gLEgPIao
CAR COMPANIES BXCEPrED--THE ELL
ORDERED TO ITs EN9RossMg&T.
&C., &C., nc.
The legislation on tue DAbuey railroad
bill in the House this week has m 4de iis
passage sue, though its form h4s been
somewhat altered. IL will be in the SEN
ate next week, where, rumor h2s it, it IS
not as strong as it has ptoyed in the
House. We give the concluding action
CT the House on t.:
The question was On agreeing to the
amendment o. Mr.. Hay, strIking out that
provision OF the bill proposing to make the
Railroads pay the expenses OF the Com
mission. Mr.. Hay Thought that this
would be declared unconstitutional, aud
| that thus the whole law WoulQ be defeated.
| MIR. Pollard Stated that there We're thee
reasons why he should support the amenc-
| nlent OF Mr. 2y,-lr5u, because he be-
ileved that to iupJss The EXPENSES OF The
| commission Oh Gne Railroads would be to
violate the CJlStl -ull0a, Wa!cl provided
| that taxation Should De uulfUr.u; second,
| because IL would be uuj&sU To Tho rail-
roads TO saddle ttit u with thiS heavy eX-
| pen5o, against TIE spirit Ii 60; against tie
| letter OF The Constitution; and 5niru, be-
] cause when IL becomes ka0Wn that the
I railroads are paying tie salaries CT tie
| commissioners they will ba looked upon
by the people as lhe mere agents of the
railroads, and all confidence II the COM
| mission will be DESTROYED.
Mr.. DapgeIfield opposed the amend
| ment of the member from Madison and
| contended that the right OF eminent do.
main gave to the Legislature The power to
require railroads to pay the expenses OF
the commission as proposed by the bill, as
| this vas in furtheranco Of agriculture. He
showed that by our pilot laws we tax YES
sells, which tax is only justified By the in
terest Of commerce.
TIE pending question was then called
and the amendment was defeated.
Mir. WaddIll asserted that the bill was
being made absurd, and he moved TO strike
out The enacting clause. Lost-ayes, 3;
| noes. 81.
! Mr.. Allensworth offered a resolution at
! this point to limit speeches to ten minutes
on the bill and to prevent members speak
| ing more thai once. Lost.
Messrs. Cardwell (Mr. Ryan in the
chair and Buf0rd spoke Ga the bill.
| Mr.. Tlnsley moved to recommit. Lost.
Mr. Dabney moved to strike out the
| words common carrier" in the Fl st Sec
| tion of tbs bill and insert railroad com
pany engaged as a common carrier; also,
TO so amend as 30 except express. sleeping
car, and parOr-car companies, and all per
sons" engaged in the transportation of
freight b? rail from the provisions of the
bill
MI Dabney argued that this amendment
would meet many objections and would
simplify the bill, but yet leave it in form
to be OF valuable service TO the people.
The great complaint is against the rail-
roads. There i, not SO much against the
express and sleeping Car companies. For
the sake Of clearness and to avoid a num-
Der of legal objections THAT as to uniform
itY and equality of taxation included) he
thought his amendment advisable.
The amendment was agreed TO.
MIR. Figga5 desired to offer as a Substi-
tute for Mr.. Dabney's amendment, an
amendment to the bill providing that the
tax by which the commission is TO be sup
, ported shall be levied on railroads and all
other corporations and persons subject to
the law--his purpose being to make the
apportionment of taxation for this purpose
bear equally upon the railroads, the eX-
MES, ne.
The Chair Mr.. RYAN, ruled that the
amendment OF MI. Hay having been
defeated it Was not in order to offer there
for substitute.
Mr.. Figgat's contention was that the
express Companies prac6lce discrimination
to a very great extent, especial y as against
places where little of such business is done
and that the House would greatly err in
allowing them to escape from the provis-
ions of this act.
MI. Starke was preparing an amend
ment when the chair Was vacated until 4
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The Chair was resumed by Speaker
Cardwell at 2. NJ.
Mr.. Waddill, of Henrco, wanted to
know if the House did not intend to pro-
coed with the alphabetical call of names.
The Speaker replied that The business
IN order Was the consideration Of the bill
to regulate commerce in Virginia.
Mr.. Waddill appealed and spoke nearly
half an hour.
Speaker Card we'll explained that the
commerce bill, being special and con-
tinuing order, took precedence of any 9TH
er order.
The Chair was sustained nearly unani-
mously.
COMMERCE.
Mr.. Starke, of Norfolk, resumed his re-
marks on the State commerce bill. He
was of the opinion that the steam boat
companies as we'll as railroads and eX-
press companies should be included within
the operation of the bill. He thought it
wrong in principle TO tax railroads on
everything they oWn,-their franchise,
road bed, rolling stock, buildings, &C.,
nd i'm n aH of
$4,000 On them to pay State officers. He
did not believe that such a feature was
Constitutional, He could in fifteen min
utes offer such amendments as would
make the bill perfect and satisfactory to
the bulk Of the members who desire a
commerce bill passed.
Mr.. Hay, of Madison, called the pend
ing question.
Crdered-ayes, 49, noes, "a.
ENDORSEMENT.
The bill was then ordered to its engross-
mens by the following vote:
s-Messrs. Allenwsrth, D. W. Ander-
soc, W. A. Anderson, Arnold, Baldwin, Bris-
tow, Garter, Catlett, Coleman, Corbett,
Counts, Crawford Crismond, Curtis, Dabney,
Daingerfeld Dupuy, Echols, Edmondson,
Ewell, Figgatt Flood Gordon Harris, Hay,
Herbert hofson, Huffman, Hunter, johnson,
Kincheloe. Leggett, Loving, Mayo Moore,
Morton, OVERLY. Pitcher, Pollard Riner,
Roberts, Ryan, Saunders, Sebrell, Silver, Ter
rill, Lyon G. Tyler, r. H. Tyler, Watkins,
West, Williams, Wright and Mr.. Speaker-53.
NOES -Messrs. Ash, Barbour, Goodman
Brown, John A. Brown, Dickey, Evans, Har-
ris Jones, Martin, Magruder, McCandish
Mcneil, Montague, Parr, Pedigo, Quisenber-
ry, Roane, Robinson, Sanger Starke, Tinsley,
Treat, Waddill Webb, and Young-25.
Mr.. Anderson. of Rockbridge. moved
to reconsider. He said he would support
the bill. but deemed it necessary to amend
had two amendments to offer.
Mr.. Mayo, of Westmoreland, said he
h0r,cd th.. hill 1unnld MT ha renAn sid red