Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-19

law, TO charge 81 81. per 100 pounds on
any class of freight for this distance.
Whlle do not favor the Lane bill as in
troduced in the last legislature, as a
whole, / think il step in the right d.
reetiOn. This bill undertook to fix max
imum rates of freight charges on all
classes of freight, and to prevent unjust
discrimination and extortiOn, and to
classify certain articles of freight in
appropriate classes, all of which 1 favor,
but his (Lane's) classification was incor-
rect in many respects, as was his maxi
mum of freight charges, especially that
part of it that applied to carload ship
ments, all violations OF the provisions Of
this bill were made punishable by the for
fixture of $1,000 for each violation to
state, and $1,000 as Iiquidated damages
10 the person or persons injured. Said
$1,000 to go to the state free school fund
after paying to the county or district at
torney 20 per centum commits
sions for prosecuting such violators. I
think that part of the bill fixing the pun
ishment good, but 1 favor the creation Of
q commission TO enforce all railroad
measures. l do not think county and
district attorneys could do Justice, either
to themselves or the state, for the
reason that they have not the time nor
meDse freight and passenger trafno
of the state. The question OF juris-
diction would also cause a great deal OF
trouble and inconvenience. 1 do not pre-
tend to say that the majority of county
and district attorneys of the state hive
not the legal ability to prosecute such
violations, but l do gay that a lack OF
the proper knowledge of matters per-
tanning to the freight and passenger
traffic of the state, would, in many
cases, prevent them from doing the peO-
pie and the railroads justice. l., there
fore, favor q commission whose sole duty
should be to execute and enforce all
railroad measures, lmpartially TO the
people and railroads alike, and make
recommendations and suggest any needed
changes in the railroad laws to the re-
spective legislature. 1 also favor making
all railroad measures applicable to all
common carriers, as far as it is possible
to do so.
The foregoing views are the result OF
eight years experience in the freight and
passenger department on Kentucky and
Texas roads. 1 worked as agent for va
rious roads from 1880 to 1888, and am
familiar with all railroad matters in the
transportation department.
The public road question is another
one of the most important matters with
which the next legislature will have to
grapple, The present road law gives the
people control of the roads, and if they
are in bad condition, the fault lies with
the commissioners, oyerseers, and the
people. [ do not deem the present road
law a good one, for 1 have always IA
vored taxation so as to reach corpora
ions and non-residents. Citizens should
no oil cd TO
and they should also give an honest days
work. have often seen party of road-
workers take an old ak or garden hoe and
ride over the road without doing one dol
lar 3 worth of work to the mile. The law
ought to fix standard for public roads
of every class. As the law now stands,
every one has his own ideal of q standard
road to be governed by, and not q legal
standard. I think every county should
elect county superintendent of public
roads and require him to give bond and
let the specifications for the standard OF
each class of roads be nominated in the
bond. This would give our commission
er's court standard by which to report
their roads. l also think, instead Of re-
quiring our honest farmers and tax pay
ers to pay SIS per month to feed our
county conVicts and keep them in idle
ness, it would be better to use them on
our public roads. L think by this method
We would have better roads, and at a less
cost, than by any other means. L am
not in favor of permitting counties to
issue bonds for road purposes. There is
no provision Of the present constitution
that has subserYed q wiser and better
end than the one inhibiting oountis
from issuing bonds. : 81
Pure leaf lard at the Port Worth Gro-