St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-25
Ten Bills Of General Interest
That Will Probably Pass
the House.
What the Senate May Posi-
bly, Do With Them
Afterwards.
What 1t Did Do With Corpora
ton Bills Two Years
Ago.
An Interesting Peep Into the
Slaughter House Of Popu-
lar Measures.

If the legislature adjourns April % it
will be just four weeks from tomorrow
that that suspicious event occurs. In
that short space Of time it is expected
of the house and senate that they will
carefully consider some twenty odd
bills relating to the railroad, prison la
Dor, election, reapportionment and
financial interests OF the state; and pass
measures affecting these which shall be
for the general good. How they are 60
ing to do it in the twenty-four days on
which they may sit, must pass the COM
prehenslon of an ordinary mortal, al
though, perhaps, President Rice or
Speaker Graves by some trick of leger-
dermain might make it plain. Be-
You'd the passage of ''purely local"
bills both the house and senate are in
sufferably lazy, although this criticism
does not apply to the committees of the
house, which certainly worked hard
and with conscientious application.
Particularly have the Judiciary and re-
apportiOnment committees, also the
joint finance committees, applied them
selves to their delicate tasks with
energy and dispatch. But beyond these
instances it would be difficult for a
candid man to ascertain what work
either branch has done for the good of
the whole people. A ninety-dayS ses-
sion has proved no better than sixty, for
as in the latter, calendar and general
orders are loaded down with important
bills awaiting the rush of the last days.
when they will either die from neglect
or be passed with such haste as to let
errors creep in and render them in
operative. All the evils that marked
the closing days of the session of 1887
promise to identify those of 1889.
RAILROAD MEASURES.
Since the session opened, just one rail
road bill of any general Importance has
been passed, and that measure to In
crease the liability of railroads for loss
of life by accidents from $1,000 to S1O,-
600. Thisis now law. Three railroad
bills passed by the house have been
killed by the senate committee on rail-
rOads-two of Mr.. Morgan's and one
from G. X. Davis-the latter being a bill
which made a ticket good both ways.
The house in committee and then as
body considered these bills carefully,
felt that they were meritorious and
passed them. Their defeat by the sem
ate committee may have given rise to
made about the legislature for week,
that the senate intended to kill any
railroad bill or corporation tax bill
which came from the house; not be-
cause it came from the house, but on
the general principle that the senate is
a close corporation itself and has ten
der SenSitiveneSs as to seeing its bust
ness associates trod. Be this as it may,
unless something hits the senate be-
tween this and April %, it can be pre-
dicted that it will not pass the following
house corporation bills:
To make railroad passenger rates
throughout the state ~ cents per mile.
To inspect cattle on foot.
To tax sleeping car companies Z per
cent on their gross earnings.
To raise the tax on telegraph COM
panieS from 2 to per cent.
To raise the tax on telephone COM
panieS from 9 to 4 per cent.
To tax express companies 8 per cent
on their gross earnings.
To make more stringent the liability
act OF railroads toward injured en-
ployes.
To give the railway commission the
same control over railway stations that
they now have over common carriers.
To compel railroads to furnish cars
for grain transportation.
To provide for the use of safety
switches by railroads.
1t is more than probable that of these
ten bills the house will pass all and the
senate strangle them without wink.
they are all measures of merit. The
first reduces the uniform passenger rate
OF the state one-half cent; the second
are the Scheffer and Forbes bills, aimed
at diseased meat; the third pro-
vldeS new source OF revenue
for the state from sources not
now taxed: the fourth makes the tele-
graph companies pay the same tax that
they did in 1887; the fifth increases the
tax on telephone companies; the sixth
the seventh is for the benefit of railway
employees: the eighth provides power
for compelling railroads to heed popu-
lar demands, now unheeded; the ninth
furnishes way. lacking now, by which
farmers can secure cars for the ship
ment of their grain, and the tenth
makes railway rccidents like the one at
Rio impossible, The only proof that
there can be that the senate will pass
these bills, will be the act of passage.
TO the contrary stands the unchallenged
assertion that they will not be passed,
and the fate of three railroad bills last
week lends some color to the assertion.
This is the same senate that sat two
years ago. Then the house passed a
bill reducing the rate of interest from
10 to 8 per cent. 1t was sent to this
senate. The last heard of it there is to
be found on page 700, of the senate
journal.
"Mr. Dodge moved that the commit
tee on banks and banking be requested
to report forthwith House File No. l,
bill relating to the reduction of the
present rate of interest, which motion
did not prevail"
Senator Compton was chairman of the
committee on banking. The senate this
year killed the Clark bill oil the same
subject outright and the Sevatson house
bill for the same purpose is buried in
the committee on banking. Two years |
ago the house passed bill taxing ex- |
press companies. 1t was sent to this |
senate. On page $50 of the Senate |
journal viii! be found this record.
''Mr. Nachbar offered the following |
resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the railroad commit
tee be instructed to report House File |
No. Is, bill providing for the taxation
of express companies, at once. Said |
UlIf hdNiNS occI idNUEdUly IcpUTteU Dy
said committee at its meeting yesterday
nOOn.''
Senator d. S. Hall gave notice of de- |
bate and the resolution went over under |
the rules. Senator Hall was chairman /
of the committee On railroads. The bill |
to tax express companies and provide
new source of revenue for the state was |
never heard of again.
The bill passed by the house of 1887,
to regulate the furnishing of cars for
grain and the shipment of carload lots