Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-03-05

Session Hinted at II the Presen
Fails.
Immediately after the House wa
called to order Saturday morning thu
Speaker laid before the members /.
message from Governor Rogers on tn,
question OF railroad legislation. Th'
message was as follows:
l beg leave to call the attention o
your honorable body to q matter o
great interest to the people OF tht
State of Washington. This matter i.
doubtless as well known to your honor
able body as to myself and yet the
near approach of the end of the ses
sion without action upon it causes mt
to remind you of the assurances giver
to the people during the late campaign
that relief should be afforded then
from unjust railroad charges. Prom
ises most specific were made. Those
promises must be fulfilled or this
Legislature will go down in future
records as having failed to carry out
most solemn ante-election assertions
In view of these facts desire that re.
sponsibility be placed where it un'
qestionably rests, to wit: On the
members of this Legislature.
1t is true that anyone can criticize
existing conditions, but it is also true
that wise and constructive statesman
ship is required to propose practical
measures which will bring about de-
sired improvements. With respect to
railroad legislation, this is most emf.
nently true. Realizing that those
who have never given especial atten-
ton to railroad matters are untitled
to grapple Offhand with problems
which have for years staggered the
minds of able men, / am led to
quote from the work of Ex-Governor
Larrabee, of Iowa, which he has just
sent me. Governor Larrabee was no
small part of the movement in his
State which led to the repression OF
the various railroad abuses. / believe
we shall do we'll to listen to his wise
and sagacious counsel.
In his chapter on Railroads and
Railroad Legislation in Iowa, after
tracing the efforts of the Legislature
of that State to correct long standing
abuses through the enactment of
rate laws, he tells us that
the general assembly, or the greater
number of the members, finally rea-
lized that the failure of the law to
bring the expected relief was not due
so much to the imperfections of the
law as to the absence of a power to en-.
iOICc ~. I1c says
"The writer, with others, was con-
vinced that strong and conscientious
would be a much more
potent agency to secure reasonable
rates for the shipper than the maxi
mum tariff law without proper provis.
ions for its efficient enforcement !;
they, in short, preferred a commission
without a tariff law to a tariff law
without commission. The question
became the subject of many animated
debates in both houses of the general
assembly, but the commissioner sys.
tenn at last prevailed. The act of es.
tablishing Board of Railroad Com.
missioners and defining their duties
was approved ON the 23d of March,
1878, and went into force q few days
later. The act empowered the COM
mission to exercise a general super.
vision over all the railroads operated
in the State, to inquire into any ne.
glect of violation of the laws of the
State by any railroad corporation OF
or its officers or employees, to ex'
anime the books and documents ol
any corporation, to investigate com
plants of shippers that unreasonable
charges had been made by railroad
companies, and to modify any charge
which they might deem unreasonable.
1t was also made the Commissioners
duty to make annual report to the
Governor disclosing the working OF
the railroad system in the State, the
officers of each company being re.
quired to make annual returns to the
board for this purpose.
Though the enactment of this law
was surprise to the people, they ac-
cepted it in good cheer and determined
to give it an honest trial. The law
was extensive in its scope and strin.
gent for that time, and, if strictly en-.
forced in letter and in spirit, promised
to be, and would have been, entirely
sufficient for the thorough control of
railroad corporations.
Nevertheless, in the course of time
it became apparent that either the law
had not lodged sufficient authority in
the commission or the commissioner,
did not make use of the authority
which the law had given them. In
spite of the commission, the railroad
companies manifested pools and
charged extortionate and discriminat-
ing rates, in direct violation of the law.
1t is true the commissioners righted
many wrong. In investigating the