Omaha daily bee., 1893-04-13
NnALL nE slnN nR 1870,

SHALL HE SION or lETOf
Tremendous pressure has been brought
upon Governor Crounse 90 veto house roll
No. 81, the maximum freight rate bill.
Railroad managers, wholesale dealers,
bankers and railroad employees have
each in turn argued importuncd and
demonstrated against the bill. II is
claimed that the bill is vicious
because it is class legislation, that
the bill is unconstitutional because
it makes exception in favor Of roads
built since 1889; that the rates fixed by
the bill are unreasonable and would, ii
enforced, prove ruinous to the railroad
companies: that the rates, il enforced,
would ruin the farmers in the western
part of the state and bankrupt the job
bers in the eastern part; that it would
prevent the building of new railroads
and stop the eetension of established
lines, and finally that it would reduce
the wages of railroad employees, cripple
the retail merchants and afford no bene-
fit to anybody or any locality.
Now a bill that would really produce
all these disasters and fail to benefit
anybody would certainly be u vicious
measure, and should not become a law.
But it strikes us that there is such a
thing as painting the devil altogether
too black. The opponents of house roll
33 have overdonc the thing when they
piled up their objections mountain high.
In the first place, if the bill is really
unconstitutional, the courts will soon
set il aside. The railroads have
the ablcst lawyers in the state
hired by the year, aud they Will
be at very little expense in showing
up the constitutional defects The Union
Pacific claims an redemption because it is
a national road, and if this claim is sus-
tanned in the federal courts competing
roads will have good grounds for insist
ing that they shall also be relieved.
At any rate it is not for the governor
to interposo his veto under preteXt of
| constitutional defects unless they were
! too gluring to be passed over lnas-
much as the rcmOnstrants and protest
ants against the bill llatly contradict
each other in their predictions of the ter
rible things that will happen if the
maximum rate law goes into effect,
| great allowance should be made by the
| governor for their cXtravagant assump-
! tiCns.
Maximum rates have been established
| in various western states from time to
| time and their railroads have not been
ruined. their cities have not been de
populated nor have their merchants and
farmers been impoverished. In none Of
those states has railroad building ceased
entirely: on the contrary, their mileage
has kept pace with and gone even ahead
of population.
1t does not stand to reason that the
proposed rate law will increase the tolls
on staple farm products and heavy COM
modities in the larger half of the state
and yet reduce the earnings of the
roads, much less is it reasonable to
assume that the bill will cripple whole
sale dealers and heavy shippers and at
the same time increase the cost of com
modities to the consumer.
The truth is that the opposition to the
bill is inspired almost entirely by the
railroad managers, and their opposition
Is IlOl 81 llllltll w VIC UcN IuUtS dS w any
regulation by Legislative act 1t is nat
urally to be expected that the rates will
in some instances be found too high and
in other instances too low. If they are
too high the railroads are at liberty tC
lower them; if they are unreasonably
low the courts will set them aside
Whatever defects may be found after a
seasons experiment can readily be cured
by the legislature. 1t is absolutely GER
tain that special session will
have to be called for next winter
to plug up the holes in our varions
state institutions and meet the deficits
caused by the collapse of the Moshel
bank and readjust the penitentiary
labor under state control. So much OF
that score.
Viewed from Il partisan standpoint
the veto of house roll 33 by the governor
in defiance Of public sentiment, his per
sonal pledges in the campaign and the
party platform, &uld simply meal
,,nli+inol .,,,i,t1a an1 ,,ortV 5iSSp1utinn Il