St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-31
THE ELEVATOR PROBLEM.
The Brown Bill PrOvOkes Another
Bitter Contention.

1
Senator Tawney insisted that the
mere reading of the Brown bill should
be sufficient TO convince every senator
on the floor that the bill is impracticable
| and that it cannot be enforced. The
bill compelS railroads to build elevators
at each station, and it forbidS the COM
panies from buying and selling. Mr..
Tawney said that it is not within the
province of the legislature to compel
any person or corporation to embark in
any business, and he commended that
this was Just what the bill proposes. He
pronounced the bill clearly unconStitu-
tiOnal. Senator DOnnelly offered an
amendment, at the suggestion of Sena-
tor CaneStOrp, providing that the act
should not apply to railroads that per-
NIT any person or corporation to erect
elevators upon their right OF way with
out fee or CHARGE
Senator DOnnelly argued for the bill.
Tile railways erect warehouses for
| everything but grain. He couldn't see
that it would create monopoly. III his
! estimation there was no remedy for the
existing evil until the whole power Of
the state is brought to bear to lodge in
| the peutentiary the gigantic raScalS
| to 10 cents busael.
Senator Brown denied the unconsti-
/ tutiOnality Of the bill, and maintained
that there is really nothing in the act
except matters provided in the charters
! of the railway companies. Senator
| Hompe said that if the bill passes the
! elevator men will want to sell out, and
the railway companies
WOuId Have n MOnOnOIV
He conceded that it is proposition
| he disliked to vote upon.
| Senator DOnnelly at some length eX-
! planned his amendment. and then ac-
centuated that one of the horrible an
omalies of the business is that the rail-
| way companies have refused to allow
any man 10 build elevators upon the
right of way of the companies unless
they belong to the combine. 1t is one
Of the shocking conditions. He hadn't
much faith in the bill. 1t would be
! doing away with two monsters and
! supplanting them with one monster.
! that this one monster will eventually
! have just as firm grip upon the wheat
| traffic as the Two did. The amendment
was adopted, although the author prof
i tested that it was taking the meat out
| the measure.
Senator Mayo thought the bill would
| react, like a sort of a boomerang, and
! that will prove serious injury to the
wheat growers, for it would result in
the railways compelling the farmers to
! sack their grain.
Senator Tawney said the legislature
had already taken a long step toward re-
lieving the farmers from the evil COM
| planned of, and he referred to the bill
! giving persons the right of eminent do
! main-tO condemn the right of way of
the railways for elevator sites. He
! argued that the bill under consideration
would give the railways absolute con-
troll of the wheat market. To put the
bill into effect and get the elevators by
the first of next September, as the bill
specifies, the railways would be forced
| to send abroad and get an army of
! measures, and Tawney pronounced the
| idea an absurdity.
Senator Leavitt asserted that if there
| Is any scheme in the senate it is to pre-
vent taking wheat handling out of the
wheat ring. He moved that the bill be
referred to Senator Brown upon the lat
| ter;s suggestion for the purpose of
amendment, and that it should not lose
| its place upon the calendar. Upon the
roll call, when his name was called,
| Senator SevatSon explained that he had
| a letter in his hand from friend which
recited that he had had a carload of
| wheat two months on the road, and that
| it was forty bushels short.
Senator LeaYitt's motion prevailed.