Omaha daily bee., 1896-03-24
PROTEST GOES IN PERSON
Mayor Carson Heads a Delegation for re,
Moines on Special Business.
AGAINST TEMPLES STREET RAILWAY BILL
Measure, ~ Passed, Dcprives the Cit,
of All Control and Most of She
Revenue Derived from
Motor Lines.

Motor Lines.
A delegation of Council Bluffs citizens
headed by Mayor Carson, left for Des Moines
last night to file a protest with the leglsla.
ture against the passage Of house file No
1876, a bill to place the street railways q
the cities under charge of the State Railway
commissioners.
The bill in question was introduced IN the
house by Representative Temple. II looks
harmless enough on its face. and some q It's
provisions are considered merit rious, hut
local officials OF the city we're not long in
finding a senegambian in the wood pile, and
took steps which resulted in the formu.
lation OF the protest. Under the provisions
OF the bill the control Of all street railways
operated by other than animal power is
placed in the hands of the State Railway
commission. There Is a long-winded sec.
tion which provides the manner in which 8
party CT company may secure right to bui id
and operate an electric railway. Other sec
lions Of the bill are as follows:
Sec 5. Every person, company or cor.
poration within this state engaged in the
operation, management and maintenance
of an electric railway or street railway,
operated by other than animal power, sha.
pay, as hereinafter set out, an annual IL
cense fee.
Sec. 6. Such license fee shall be based
upon the gross receipts of such person, com.
pany or corporation from its railway bust
ness, and shall be in lieu OF all other taxes,
assessments and licenses of any such cor
p,oration, and all persona. property, fran
chises and real estate owned by such com.
pany or corporation and used for, railway
assessments and taxation for the year 1896
Sec. Z. The amount OF the said license
| fee tn he maid in each wear shall no cal
culated by the said commissioners upon the
gross receipts of such person, company OF
railway in this state for the last preceding
fisca! year, as follows: One per cent or
per, cent on the gross receipts over $3.50 oO(
and not exceeding $500, 600, and 2 per cent
on all amounts over $5OO,ON.
In response to a call by Mayor Carson a
meeting was held at the city building yester-
day morning, which was attended by a large
number of property owners and representa-.
tive citizens. M. f. Rohrer was selected as
chairman and Alderman Greenshields as Sec
rotary. The bill presented by Representa-
tive Temple was read by Mr.. Rohrer and
then every one had a whack at it.
T. j. Evans stated that If the bill became
a law the street railway company would be
practically exempted from taxation. The bill
was similar to the one passed by the Wiscon-
sin legislature, which the Milwaukee people
are now clamoring to have repealed.
c. NJ. Harl stated that under the provi-
sions of the bill the city would receive but a
small per cent Of the tax now received from
the motor company, and would be required
to pay the special tax assessed for the pave
ment between the street car tracks now paid
by the street railway company.
W.. S. Baird moved the appointment of a
committee of five to protest against it's pas
sage. This was adopted and the chair named
Messrs. w. S. Baird, G. M. Harl, H. w. Til
ton, r. N. Whittlesey and j. b.. Atkins.
The idea of securing signatures to the pro-
test was abandoned for want Of time, as the
bill comes up for consideration in the legis-
lature today. A committee consisting OF
Mayor Carson, T.. J. Evans, M. F. Rohrer, c,
NJ. Harl and Spencer Smith was appointed
to go to Des Moines at once and use every
effort to secure the defeat of the measure,
The following resolutions were adopted in
protest against the proposed legislation:
Resolved. That this meeting of citizens
and taxpayers Of the city of Council Bluffs
do earnestly protest against the passage OF
house file No. 1876 for the following reasons.
1t takes the control and supervision OF
local street railway COMPANIES from the
1t in a commission having no knowledge OF
the needs or wants of the community ano
no direct interest therein.
1t relieves the street railways from al
control now vested in the cities and sub
~stitutes no adequate safeguards in place
It practically destroys all opportunity 70,
competition and establishes a monopoly IN
favor of existing lines.
and would deprive this city annually Of
thousands of dollars of taxes now received
The tax proposed is wholly inadequate IN
return for the privileges granted.
There is need of extending the control
of government over these corporations
rather than limiting and impairing that con-
troll as Is done by the proposed bill:
The provisions Of the bill are wholly In
favor Of the corporations rather than in
the interests of the people.
There is no provision whereby mere car
be adequate control of interstate electric
ines or taxation upon their property OF
earnings.
That under existing laws these corpora
tons now pay less taxes than other classes
of property, and under the proposed bill
would pay but a fraction OF what they now
do. and the city, county and state Would
receive much less in taxes than under eX'
There is no provision in the bill by which
truthful statements of gross earnings toi
purposes of taxation can be obtained.
Resolved. That we urge our representa-
tiyes in the legislature to use al means
in their power to defeat this bill as hostile
to the interests of all the people.
Mayor Carson yesterday sent kilograms
TO the mayors of all the larger cities OF the
state calling their attention to the Dill ana
asking their cooperation in accomplishing
tho defeat of the measure.