Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-20
HON. J. N. BROWNING.
! he Representative of the Jumbo Dis
triet on the Issues Of the Day.
Railroad Commission without the Power to
FIx Rates VIII Not Amount to Much.
The Speakership.

Hon. J. N. Browning, who will be the
next representative of the Panhandle or
Jumbo district in the lower house of the
next state legislature, passed through
Fort Worth yesterday on his return
from a canvassing tour in the West. A
GAZETTE reporter found him at the Pick
wick and obtained brief but interest
ing interview on the engrossing topic of
the day. ~
"what will the people of your district
do with the railway commission amend
ment at the polls in November?''
'They will adopt il by good ma
jority The voters of that county are
conservative. They believe that the
amendment would give the legislature
all the power necessary to control rail-
roads and keep them under proper and
legitimate restraint, hence they favor its
adoption. Iexpect to vote for it myself
for that reason
s'Do you think, Mr.. Browning said
the reporter, "that there will be much
next legislature?'
81 do not. There will probably be q
great deal of discussion aud wrangling
over it, but it will eventually pass. The
kind of law needed and the powers to
be granted the commission will provoke
the discussion. This is an experiment in
Texas and there must necessarily be O
great diversity OF opinion as TO what the
bill should contain. The great bone OF
contention will be whether or not the
commission shall be authorized to fix
rates. l have studied the Queation in
every shape that can conceive, and have
reached the conclusion that q commits
sion without power 20 tx rates will
amount to little or nothing. Such q
commission will not hush the complaints
now urged against the management of
railroads, nor can it correct any abuses
or unjust determinations. Give the
commission power to fix reasonable and
just freight and passenger rates and then
you give them all the power necessary to
correct abuses and unjust discrimina-
tons. Anything short of this will not
satisfy the people who have expressed
their wishes through the Democratic
platform adopted at San Antonio. l be-
lieve we should dispose of the question
once for all time. If this bill should
prove to be good, then by its passage we
take the subject of railway regulations
out of politics. If it is bad the people
will in due time demand its repeal and
something else will be substituted for
it,
"Do you expect TO attack the land law
ut tbs session Of the Legislature?''
'sI do not. a change of clrcumstano
in my district has taken most of the sting
out of the lease part of the law, and now
it does not materially prevent the set
thing of the Panhandle country. The sale
system as now embodied IN the law Is
substantially what fought for for six
years before got 1t. OF course there are
some minor defects 10 the law that will
need to be corrected. We must provide
more effective measures to force pur-
chasers of school lands to settle upon it
and in good faith occupy the laud as
bome.'
'sDo'you expect to be candidate for
speaker OF the house?" asked the re-
porter.
az have not determined that question