The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-12

fund to policy holders for the payment of
les, for Reinsurance and that all COM
/ panies doing business in the state be re-
whom service Of snnnons can be made.
| TEXT BOOKS
| The people of the state demand. and
should secure legislation that will cheap
/ en- the price of school text books and
state the means for a common school eclu-
! cation. The text book question has re-
! lures in this state, and has been legisla-
| ted upon in all its phases in the states of
/ evolution of this legislation in the states
mentioned, has resulted in the district
| tending the public schools being provided
with text books without money and with
chaser of text books into direct relations
| with the publishers thereof. Quickening
| mend to the consideration of the members
| of the legislature. the laws of Minnesota
- 1O'''i GAS AND OIL WELLS.
has reached a point where they should
receive some legislative attention; 1 rec
will enable them to secure right OF way
for their pipe lines;
The abuse of permitting a long series
of irrelevant questions to be asked of jur-
placed upon the privilege. 1 recommend
that by specific enactment trial judges he
\
lions that may be propounded to the jury
in any given legal proceeding by either
ELECTION LAWS.
The chairman of the county committee
should be entitled to name the judges or
election who are to be of his political
our present system appears to be more
expensive than is absolutely necessary
THE STOCK YARDS.
The Kansas City Live Stock Commits
sion company is in the enjoyment of Ger
lucrative. Considerable complaint is
made as to their charges. and sometimes
hundred per cent profit above the price
in the Kansas City market is sufficient
p p dan an enactment ti ito to that erect
The statutes should provide that the live
control of the stock yards owned by the
above named company, as shall be neces-
make if this recommendation commends
| itself to your judgment
RAILROAD LEGISLATION.
The question of the regulation of trans
/ portation companies has been one that
latures of the various states since rail-
| roads were first introduced These cor
| poratiOns have received their charter
| rights from the various states. and these
| states naturally concluded that they had
! the right to regulate and control the cor
| porations that they thus created. This
| view of the case was constantly combat
I they were private corporations they We're
| not subject to state legislation far
| they have not yet abandoned When, how
| ever the courts of the states began to
hold that they were public corporations.
! and therefore anenable to the legislatures
| of the states, they appealed to the federal
( private corporations. and secondly, that
/ If they were quasi public corporations,
| the regulation of them could only be had
! through the federal congress The courts
! having sustained this view, the people of
| the various states then demanded that the
! federal congress should pass such legis-
| lation and create such boards of control
as We're necessary to secure to the people
| their Just rights in the matter. In obed-
! fence to this demand, congress, eleven
! years ago created that subterfuge for
justice called the interstate commerce
| commission and enacted legislation that
! purpose of securing their rights and con-
! trolling these corporations After eleven
now told by this commission in its tenth
! annual report, just issued, that the law
| tive and had been held by the court of
last resort as imperative and uncOnSti-
| in this direction. we find that practically
nothing has been done toward the con-
| has been avoided and delayed as much
| as possible through the courts. and finally
| at the end, find the will of the people
! thwarted. and the corporations resting
| upon the bosom of the supreme court with
| ity that an infant reposes upon the bosom
/ of wet-nurSe. If the congress of the
/ torpid snake of Mitigation will again be-
gin to crawl slowly through the mazes
| of the law toward the court to final juris-
diction. and if the leaden heel of justice
/ is as slow, and if the meditations of the
! court as great. and if they shall pom
! the law in the future they have in the
| past. posterity viii have arrived in time
| to bear their next decision and the
| existing generation will have ceased to
on this earth. because they will. by. that
! time. have been transported beyond the
Jurisdiction Of the court Therefore, il
seems to me that if relief is desired by this
| generation. they cannot wait upon the
! slow evolution of the federal congress and
without resorting thereto.
| I therefore recommend that the 1egisla-
will be fair to corporations and just to the
people. 1 believe also that the board of
clearly vested with the judi
cial power of court, and
freights within the state. of Kansas as
! they may deem just, and not exceeding
shall be made definite and certain. but
| subject to appeal to the supreme court OF
lature should not proceed In any spirit
! of retaliation or revenge for the misdeeds
, of the corporations in the past, but they
should make their purpose clear to these
| terests of the citizens Of this state are to
/ be taken into account as well as the well
J in good times and losses in bad ones are
to be equally shared between them. If
! the corporations will accept such just and
| fair REGULATION subject to review bv the
! supreme court of the state, well and good
/ flock under the projecting wing of the
| federal courts where justice to the peo-
pie seems not only blind it should be-
! but deaf and dumb also then 1 advise
! the people Of the state of Kansas to seek
/ for justice out of court. In
doing SO. I can only point to one route
by which it can be obtained, and that is
| for the states west of the Mississippi
river to build a road of their own to tide
water by the shortest and most direct
route, which will put them in a position
to command the situation without get
| ting into any complication with the rail-
road companies, or with the federal
| courts.
We have at Galveston, now, a harbor
| thai can be entered safely by the lareeSf