The record-union., 1893-02-25
The Corporation Committees Subst-
tute is Adopted.
SHANAHAN'S BILL REJECTED.
SeaWelps Unfair Proposition Also Gets the Cold
ShOulder-GlOve Contests Doomed
County Division.

The greater portion of yesterdays ses-
sion of the Senate was taken up by a de-
bate on the proposed reassessment OF
railroads.
The original document before the Sen.
ate was Assembly Bill No. 10, better
known as the Shanahan bill. A majority
of the Corporation Committee submitted
lengthy report on the subject, together
with substitute for the bill. This SUBJ
stitute was milder than the Shanahan
bill, and was drawn up with view OF
doing some justice to the Southern Pacific
Company-the principal party involved
and of putting an end to the pickering
and litigation in which the State has been
involved through trying to collect illegal
taxes. After this substitute came a
minority report from Committeeman
NSeawen and another substitute-the latter
being the Shanahan bill over again, re-
lieved of its rough edges.
PLENTY OF oRAToRY.
The matter came up in the forenoon as
special order, and Senator Carpenter
promptly moved that the committee sub
SllbuNG OO ttlODltu llSIGdu Ol IuG DILL.
Ostrom moved as an amendment that the
Seawell substitute be adopted, and then
the speeches began.
Seaweu was the first orator. He said
he had no hostile feelings toward the
railroad company-had no ak to grind
and was not seeking revenge. Consider
ing the amount of capital invested, the
amount of their profits and the protec-
ton they are afforded by the authorities,
he did not believe, he said, that the rail-
road people were bearing their share OF
taxation. The bill he had submitted with
his report, he said, covered the constitu-
tional defects of the Shanahan bill pointed
out by AttorneyGeneral Hart. The
speaker had computed that under the
committee substitute the State would get
81 ,00l, $50 II, while under his bill he
thought the amount coming to the State
would be S3,06l, 100 70, making differ
ence of over two millions between the
two propositions-that is, if his bill would
hold water and the money could be col
lected. If the railroad company owed the
State anything, he said, it should pay it.
He did not like the provision in the ma
jority substitute which repeals the tax
levies for the years other than those men,
toned in the substitute, and found fault
with the proposition generally.
CARPENTERS REPLY.
Senator Carpenter replied to Seawell.
The latter, he said, had started off with a
grave error by attempting to give what
he did not know-the amount of money
that would come to the State under the
majority substitute. The speaker was
satisfied that under the substitute the
State would get between million and a
half and million and three-uuarters
Seawell, he said, had quoted volumin.
ously in his minority report from the re-
cent decision of Judge Hebbard of San
Francisco, but he had studiously avoided
the decisions of the United States Su-
preme Court, the Circuit Court of this
district, and the California Supreme Court,
all of which declared that the tax as pro-
posed in the minority substitute was un-
constitutional and void. SeawelPs sub
stitute proposed to assess the Federal
franchise held by these companies, even
thoughithe highest court in the land had
decided again and again that this could
bOl OC 0OAlCs A1O OkstNG NOllIu OILY De
involved in more litigation and would in
the end be deprived of the money due it.
as it had before when going about the
matter in the wrong way.
Senator Seawell interrupted the speaker
to deny that the substitute included the
Federal franchise. He said it only pro-
vided that the assessment should be made
at the same rate as existed in those
years"
Mr.. Carpenter said that that meant the
same thing, but Seawell didn't think so.
"Then can't read" replied the Los An
geles statesman, sarcastically.
Resuming his argument, Mr.. Carpenter
said Seawell's denial of hostility toward
the railroad companies did not agree
with his proposition to impose upon
them an illegal tax. He advocated a
proposition that would stop internal i'm
provements of the State. He complained
that the Central and Southern Pacific
Companies had not obeyed the law. Wha:
law? Where was the law on the statute
books, he asked, that authorized the col
lection of one dollar of the taxes proposed
to be collected by Seawell. The law did
not GXlSl, dilQ Tue ko6lldlOI
cino knew it. The only backing he had
was Superior Court decision, as against
such an array as the United States Su.
preme Court, the Circuit Court and the
California Supreme Court. The Senator
referred caustically to the demagogy that
seemed quite popular nowadays in cer-
tain quarters. Political capital was all
that was in it. 1t was bad practice, as il
excited people to deeds of violence and
worked harm in every way. The Senator
concluded with an eloquent appeal to the
senators to be sensible and take the ad-
vice of the highest courts in the
land for once, and besatisfied with
The money that was legally due the State
from the railroads.
osrRoM AGAINST II.
Senator Ostrom secured the floor and
said he did not understand that the mer-
its of the original bill were under dis
cussion. but mere question of choice be,
tween the two substitutes. If under the