The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-03-03
THE RAILROADS IN THE HOUSE
WE TAKE IT BACK.

THE RAILROADS. IN TIE HOUSE.
WE TAKE IT BACK.
Last week we gave high praise to
the Minnesota House of Representa-
tives. We begin to fear we were pre-
mature. On the 26th of February,
they killed Mr.. Douglass bill to re-
duce railroad rates on wheat and coal,
by referring it to the Tomb Of the
Capulets," the Committee on Rail-
roads of the House. We quote from
the Minneapolis Journals report:
1t was said by Representative Doug
las, during the mornings debate, that
the schedule proposed for the estab-
llsnment Of distance tariff was very
conservative. He maintained, more
over, that the opposition in the COM
mittee had seen tit neither to amend
nor combat the proposition he had
advanced, an Indication that their
cause was weak. In view Of such cir
cumstances, he argued with great per-
slStence that in justice the committee
of the whole should give a hearing to
the measure and not condemn it until
its provisions were thoroughly under
stood. He declared that no railroad
had shown or offered to show the
committee that the coal rates were
not abnormally high His schedule
he had fixed at the tariff charged on
stone. Coal was hauled from Duluth
to Moorhead and three dollars ton
charged, and yet for half a dollar adj
dltional it could be brought all the
way from Chicago. From Montana to
the head Of the lakes cattle were
transported for SO a car, but for a
car Of coal from Duluth the Red River
Valley farmers paid as high at times
as eighty dollars a car. Where there
was oppression, where the rates were
so sproportionate that they were
from q to 30 per cent higher than in
other states. then he thought it was
time that legislative action should be
had. Never had he seen so mon
strous" lobby in the employ of any
corporation during all his public eX-
perlence as that working against the
bill.
Further along this line he said:
"DeXtrouS and peculiar arguments,
have been offered to both indiyd-
uals and the committee. Before the
committee | heard one of the paid at
tOrneyS OF one of these roads declare
that Il rate reduction would mean a
cut in salaries, and a little LITER rep
resentative OF the Milwaukee line
made The claim that it would only af-
feet the income of the bondhoders
and stockholders. Do these state
ments, at variance with one another
as they are, bear the searching light
Of inves tigation and study?'
In referring to- the Eastern Mime
Gf II 81 if,r no
quoted the figures used in the minor
ity report. That road itself had not
only come here to protest, but had
employees of its own before the COM
mlUtee, and had even compelled its
men to lobby in its interest by max
ing the assertion that rate reduction
meant a decrease in their wages.
Touching upon the condition of some
of the other roads. lie said that the
Chicago Pacific had been sold for
practically $4,OU0,oU0, and within less
than week bad been bonded for $50
100000. 1t had paid dividends to the
extent Of $9,0O0,UO watered and re-
Watered as the stock was, and on the
fixed charges, two, three, or four times
the actual value Of the property. In
this case the $9,OOO,O0O had been ex-
torted from the people.
Recurring to the justice of the rates
as they at present exist, Mr.. Douglas
declared that the railroads in his ter
ritOry demanded one-fourth of the re-
turn received by a farmer for his
grain for carrying that grain to mar
ket. Since 1888 the charge On cereals
to the Red River Valley had been re-
duccd but One-half Of | per cent per
hundred pounds, and on coal there had
been no reduction in the last eighteen
years.
His close was an appeal to his fellow
members to come to the aid of all
classes of the people, for he believed
that his bill affected all their inter
ests vitality. jewellers in the cities as
we'll as the farmers who titled the
soil.
The vote on the motion to commit
to the railroad committee was as fol-
lows:
Those who voted to refer the bill to
the railroad committee were: Messrs.
Abbott, Anderson. Barta, Basford,
Bigelow, Boutwell,, Briggs, Cray, Gun
ming ham, Dale, Dare, Davies, Drom-
merhausen, Dunn, Eigenbrodt Ferris,
Eoell, HartshOrn, Hicks. Hill, Hollis
ter, Holmen, Jameson, Johns, Krak-
er, Laing, Larson, Lillman, Littleton,
Lovejoy, Manchester, Mansfield,
Meyers, Munger, McElhaney, Nc
Grath, Parker, Reeves, Scott.
Schmidt, Smith, Snodgrass, Snyder,
Torson, Underleak, Vail. Wilkinson.
Yates, JoneS-50.
Those opposed to the motion to re-
fer and were friendly to the bill, were:
Messrs. Beldon, Bergley, Brusletten,
Dahl, baltimore, Donnelly. Douglas,
Dyer, Emerson, Finney, Fosnes, Foss,
Froslee, Gilbertson, Goar, Goss, Gron-
dahl, Hall, Hayter. Heimerdinger,
Henderson. JACOBSON, Johnson, Kelly,
Laybourn, Leach, Lee. Manhood. Marin,
Martin, Mattson, Mcdonald. Nc
Lean, Odds, Peterson, Foetz, Reinar,
Sampson, Scribncr, Sloan, Staples,
Stone, St. Sohn, Trewe, Vigen. Wood
-46.
All the Populists voted together for
the bill. We did so; but at the same
time we stated that we were not SO
sanguine of satisfactory results as
Mr.. Douglas was. We had been in
this fight, we said, for twenty-five
years; and while we gladly voted for
the bill, and would so vote for any
other bill that promised relief to the
people, we at the same time did not
want to deceive the people into the
belief that the passage Of that bill
would be followed by lower rates. If
Mr.: Douglas bill, we said, got
through the House, and successfully
ran the gauntlet of the Sevete, the
railroad corporations would begin