The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-06
PROVES OF SHIPPERS CONDI-
TIONALLY BUILDING CARS.
AFTER THE COUNTRY TRAMPs.
Bill Providing That Justices Could
Make Prisoners Perform Work
ON Public Highways.

railrOading, the large number of meas
ures disposed Of, as far as general
orders are concerned, will serve as
bright example to follow during these
few remaining days of the session. 1t
is true that with one or two exceptions
the bills passed upon yesterday were
considered at such length as to make
unnecessary, if not impossible, any ex-
tended debate upon them when they are
called on the calendar for final dispo-
sition by the house. Mr.. Staples oc-
cupied the chair and presided over the
committee of the whole, which lost but
little time getting down to business.
Possibly thirty bills, some of them
Of more than passing Importance,
were taken from the list of $50 and will
either never be heard Of again or next
On the calendar.
The sensational scenes of the house
upon the last night of the session of
1895 are recalled by the special order,
which the house set during the morning
for Wednesday afternoon, for the con-
sideration of bills providing for the
taxation Of sleeping cars, express, fast
freight and equipment; telephone, tele-
graph and similar companies. The
bills are five in number, H. F. 800, being
substitute for H. F. All, providing for
the taxation of express companies bas-
ed upon an ad valorem principle and
taxing the property by the state board
of equalization, the same as all other
property is taxed; the Dyer bill, H
F. 357, which proposes to tax these
companies per cent upon their gross
earnings, minus the amount paid the
railroad companies; the Anderson bill,
H. +. 81, for the taxation of sleeping
car companies; the McGrath bill, II.
F. 876, to tax telephone companies, and
the Ferris bill, H. F. 933, for the tax
alton of fast freight and equipment
companies.
AS soon as the house reached the or
der of motions and resolutions, Mr..
Dyer moved that his bill, H. F. 357,
| and the committees bill, H. F. 822, be
made special order for the time stat
ed. Mr.. Smith, the chairman of the
house committee on taxes and tax laws,
! stated that he was awaiting some
statistics which were being gathered by
the railroad and warehouse commission,
| and, as he did not expect these to be
! that the matter go over until Friday
morning. Mr.. McGrath was strongly
| opposed to delay. He was supported
by Mr.. Dahl and Mr.. Jacobson, who
urged that there should be no unneces-
Sary delay. Mr.. Meyers explained that
the committee on taxes has given the
subject a great deal of time, and that
days delay could make no difference.
Mr.. Dyer said the bill he had intro
duced was copy of the Ohio law upon
which that state now collects SAC, 900 to
$1,000 taxes; it had been sustained by
the supreme courts of Ohio and of the
United States so that it was safe legiS-
lation. Mr.. Feig suggested that if the
statistics were not available by We'd
nesday, the consideration could be put
off. With this agreement, Mr.. Smith
Withdrew his proposition to delay I'M
til Friday, and the special order was
set as stated. Subsequently, upon mo-
ton Of Mr.. Douglas, the three bills,
Sll, S76 and 933, above referred to, were
added to the special order The last
| three bills are favorably recommended
| by the committee on taxes, and are
based upon the same principle.
BUILD THEIR OWN CARS.
Henry Feig was called to the chair
when the house went into committee
Of the whole at the opening of the
afternoon session. The first measure
taken up was the Laybourn bill, pro
Vidlng that shippers in their inability
to secure the use of cars, could con.
struct and maintain their own and
| have them wheeled to the markets
Speaker Jones made an open opposition
to the bill, which he said was danger
Gus in that its provisions would serious
| ly interfere with the interests Of the
| Independent wheat shippers by putting
1t in the power of the big elevator com
panies to block tracks, fill up spurs
and generally run matters to suit
themselves. The bill. in it's present
form, ne thought, the people of the
state did not want to put upon the
books.
Mr. Jacobson came to the support Of
the author, and at the same time
agreed with Mr. Jones that any move
which would hamper the grain shippers
should not pass He suggested some
amendments.
Mr. Laybourn, briefly but clearly. ex-
planned that while the bill might have
the effect mentioned as regards wheat
it was designed to give assurance to
the independent iron ore shippers in
the northern part of the state, that
if they invested money and operated
their properties they could get their
product to market. At present there
was no trouble, but he explained that
| the two iron ore roads on the range
were owned by the two big iron cor
| porations, and that the bill was intro
/ duced at the instance and in the in
| tereSt of the Merritts and some Of their
! friends who had properties which they
| wished to ship ore from. They simply
! wished, in their failue to secure cars
! for this purpose, to be allowed to con-
! struct their own cars and then arrange
/ with the roads for a fair Wheelage
charge.
Mr.. Jacobson thought nobody from
i the agricultural district should oppose
/ the measure when it was arranged as
not to apply to wheat, and after this
had been incorporated in the bill. the
committee recommended it for passage
without dissent.
THE WEARY WILLIES.
Another bit of Legislation for the
farmers was advanced to the calendar
in the house in the shape of the Dunn
senate measure, to compel prisoners
from courts Of justices Of the peace
| to perform work on the public highway.
| Mr.. jacobson made strong plea for the.
! bill, which, he said, was needed to drive
out of the state lot Of Weary WiIlies
! who did not want to work, even at
| good salaries, but preyed upon the
farmers. The city members, he hoped,
would not oppose the measure. Mr.
| Meyers, of Hennepin, raised the point
! that the bill would not make cOnstf-
tutional law as it provided that justices
of the peace might sentence prisoners
| to hard labor. Judge Hicks interposed
/ the view that the justice in such cases
as those covered was sentencing to
| fine and not to hard labor and that the
policy of allowing men thus sentenced