The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-01-24

Governor, under which, for the year 1911
wben tho BOARD was organized, the valua-
tion of MI railroad property was largely
increased If under Section 8, Arucle
VIII of the Constitution, requiring rail-
road proDerty, except rolling STOCK; 10
be assessed and the taxes collecIeu IN
the counties in which 1t IS sltuale.l; .nis
method is impracticable, provision snouiH
be made. directing assessment VI SuJn
property by assessors and county y, ooa 5ar
Of equalization at its real yaiuG' nn ud
ing Just reference to the SUI our ano,
bonds of the companies, ana leS res a ttns
the right of appeal to the state anu Utn e.
interested parties from the assessoi' ~
the local boards and 1 5neuSe of
the existing State po"'u tho
Equalization. The provision " he
Constitution referred to sneuu ,o. NC
amended and State Board OIL as sroo
ment of railroad property shoulu pe 60 80
ted. composed of the Governor; H .n5
troler and Chairman OF the hai No.
Commission, who should perform tae'e
services without extra compensa'ion
The common practice INDUCED III w
railway companies of issuing iree ti1n1
lportation orpasses should be pronlDlte,u ea
cept to bona fide officers ana empios@
of the company issuing them. Many req,
sons induce this recommendation, put ~
will be here rested upon two broad GROUNDS
stated without elaboration, the lnnereII
political evil involved and the palpa a,,
| Injustice done the paying pubic. Inc
political strength of the pass is proVerDiia.i
and it is ordinarily eXerted III the TWO III
rections of official life and political con,
troversy. Its use in attempts TO cohtrol
or influence or soften otilclal actloh Is
known of all men and when SUCCESSFUL
the effect upon public interests is obvious
and corrupting. Recognizing TINS t1e
people of the State of New YORK recently
adopted an amendment to their consul
tuition, prohibiting the issuance OF passes
| to any public officer of that State. In the
| field of politics, often dominating ana
directing primaries and conventions, lts
influence is still more demorallzlng.. III
| is unquestionably one of the most lnsluu-
Gus and effective auXiliaries employed
| by railway companies in efforts to secure
| favorable political results. If these re-
| Elections need support, it is found IN the
necessity and gross injustice OF requiring
| the general public to pay rates sufficiently
| high to permit the free carriage OF favor
| ties for political and company purposes
1t is manifest error to suppose that
passes are gifts in which the public have
no interest and may not be injuriously
affected. By constitutional declaration
and in the nature of things railroads are
highways in which the public have rights
The function of the State to construct
them and levy tolls, inherent in the
people, has been delegated to corpora
lions to be exercised in part at least fol
public benefit. Lands estimated to be
worth an hundred million dollars anC
valuable exemptions from taxation, the
common property of all, were donated anC
bestowed to aid in their construction; and
the right-of-way over all public lands was
granted. These considerations and the
fundamental principle of equality of right
| in all public utilities should compel the
management of these great thoroughfares
without discrimination or favoritism.
The proportion of free passengers to the
whole number carried is variously estima-
ted from ten to thirty per cent With q
prohibition against the issuance of passes,
compelling all to pay, and the increase of
passenger earnings from the reduction,
the tax on gross passenger earnings can
be increased from one to five per cent
without injustice. In recent valuable
and exhaustive work on the railway ques
ton it is said, quoting from the expe
rience of railway official:
| From the experience of the writer
as an auditor of railway accounts, anC
as an executive officer issuing passes, h,
S able to say that fully ten per cent trave
free, the result being that the great mas!
OF railway users are to be mulcted some
thirty millions of dollars for the benefi
OF the favored minority; hence it is evi
dent that if all were required to pay TO
railway services as they are for mai
services, the rates might be reduced tel
per cent. or more, and the corporate rev
enues be no less and the operating ex
penses no more. In no other country
unless it be under the same system il
Canada-are nine-tenths of the peopl
taxed to pay the travelling expenses O
the other tenth. By what right do tn
corporations tax the public that member
OF Congress, legislators, judges and othe
court officials and their families NAV rid,
free?" ''''' 'iu'
CRIMINAL LAWS.
frequent mlscarriages of justice in fel
9ny eases III the trial courts and reversal
ny the Court of Criminal Appeals upor
purely technical grounds call for promp
relormation of our criminal laws il
certain particulars. That the guilt,
oi'en escape through defects
III CRIMINAL procedure needs neither nroo
nor elaborate comment. 1t is notoriou
and has justly provoked public condemno
ton. Prominent among the cause
which has led to these results are tn
corrupt placing of one or two men on tn
jury who prevent verdicts, and the in,
quality OF peremptory challenges whic
conduces to this practice by defen(
ants challenging down the panel after tn
State has exhausted until the sinker
reached, and which enables them TO oil
inmate for the panel the most INTEL
gent and law-abiding jurors. Notwiti
standing our severe laws on the subject
of bribery and perjury, as long as the vel
diets of juries are required to be unani
nous this evil will perhaps prevail, bu
it may be greatly lessened by equaIizini
peremptory challenges. In misdemeano
cases the challenges of the State and de
PENDANTS are equal; in fe]
onies less than capital tn
state is entitled to five and dc
PENDANTS to ten; and in capital case
the state has ten and defend
ants, twenty. This disparity is based III
on the supposition that individuals chars
ed WIN CRIME are at disadvantage in
contest with the State and should /
granted extraordinary privileges. BIZ
no such disadvantage exists, especially
view of recent legislation. Defendan,
are surrounded with Safeguard
which the State must overcome. In evel
case of a criminal character they a.
armed with the presumption of innocenc
their shield is the reasonable doubt again
which the sword of justice has beaten
vain for centuries. And by recent enac
ment they may testify in their own b