Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-01-21
varIoua Reeom ondntlonn.

| CoHSOlluauOn OF boards is recommended
30 as to have all the penal institutions
under charge of the board of directors for
penal institutions and all of the charitable
Institutions under the supervision of the
state board Of charities"
Reform of the insurance laws for the pro-
lection of insurers Is urged
District ownership of textbooks while not
urged upon the legislature, is strongly rec
commended,
AS to the Kansas Jity stock yards, Gov
ernor Leedy suggests that 100 per cent
profit above the price in the Kansas City
market is sufficient on the sales of grain and
hay, and recommend an enactment to that
effect. The statutes should provide that
the live stock sanitary commission should
have such control of the stock yards owned
by the above named company as shall be
necessary to the enforcement of the laws
you make, If this recommendation COM
mends itself to your Judgment"
Mortgage Legislation.
Governor Leedys recommendation as to
mortgage legislation is as follows:
"A great deal of complaint comes from
over the state in regard to mortgages made
and executed in this state, which have been
made, as rule, to companies organized
under the laws Of our state for the pur-
pose of loaning money These mortgages
are sold in the East and in many cases the
party who struggles through and pays his
loan finds that he has been swlndled and
in order to clear his title he must again
pay the amount err lose his home Section
1889 should be so amended as to require
every assignment of mortgage, or note Sc
cured by mortgage, to be placed on the rec
ords in the county where the real estate Is
located This, in great measure, will guard
| against any recurrence of these swindles,
which are unjust and work great hardship
to the people of the state. Such an enact
ment will enable the debtor to deal directly
with his creditors, without the Intervention
OF somebody who preys upon the necessities
| of both"
Commissioner Breidenthal's recommend
ations as to the changes in the banking laws
are commended to the attention of the leg
| islature, and strict state supervision of
building and loan associations and of loan,
trust and investment companies urged.
A State Railroad Proposed.
IF the corporations will accept such just
| and fair regulation, subject to review by
the supreme court of the state, we'll and
| good but, in the future, as in the past,
they flock under the protecting wing of the
federal courts, where justice to the people
seems not only blind as it should be, but
| deof and dumb also, then advise the peo-
| pie of the state of Kansas to seek for Justice
out of court In doing so can only point to
one route by which 1t can be obtained, and
that is for the states west of the Mississippi
river to build road of their own to tide
water by the shortest and most direct route,
which will put them in position to COM
mand the situation without getting into any
complication with the railroad COM
panies or with the federal courts We
have at Galveston now a harbor that
can be entered safely by the largest ships.
The federal government has expended
S6,0000 900 in creating an outlet in Galveston
bay and providing a safe harbor for term
inal point. In order to get to this harbor
there are no mountains to tunnel and no
large rivers to cross and no engineering
difficulties in the way. 1t is practically
plain upon which road cannot only be
built, but can be operated as cheaply as any
where IN the world. At the present value of
labor and material road can be built for
from Sc, 900 to $4,000 mile, and it would
be as unjust to the people of this generation
to ask them to support railroad
bonded at $4,000 a mile as it would
have been to the people of preceding gem
Grafton to haul their grain and merchan-
disc on the turnpike of that time, after they
had been parallelled by railroads, No doubt
the owners of stock in the turnpikes of that
day claimed that they had a vested right to
fair interest upon their investment, but the
railroads did not consider the interests of
the turnpike owner in any way. They SIM
ply superseded the turnpike, and If the rail-
road company of the present time do not re-
duce their capital to a basis upon which
railroads can be built now, then the people
will be forced, as a last resort, to parallel
these roads as they did the turnpike.
Arguments for n State Road.
1T the states OF Texas and Nebraska would
join us in the building of a line to Galveston
the expense of building such a road would be
merely nominal, when compared with the
vast sums of money that would be saved to
the citizens of these states through the
lowering of freight rates; in fact, the over
charge above what is reasonable and fair
charge on grain upon the crop now existing
in the state of Kansas would pay all the
charges of completing such road, were the
state of Kansas to undertake it herself,
Such a road, when completed would place
the people of this state in position of indie
pendence in the matter of transportation so
far as the railroad companies and the fed
eral courts were concerned, and do not be-
lieve that such move would be injurious to
the railroad companies in the long run.
"The lowered rates of freight would at
tract a great and constantly increasing
business by drawing traffic in that direction,
and the decreased rate at which the rail-
roads would be compelled to carry freight
would be made up in the volume of business.
The state of New York, by completing the
Erie canal and keeping the tolls at low
rate, has caused the commerce of the coun-
try to flow in that direction, so as to make it
the great commercial metropolis of the
country, but this did not retard the
building of railroads. which do business
in competition with it; in fact the
finest railroad in the world, with fou
tracks, was built for the purpose of com.
peting with this canal for business The
total amount of money expended by the
state of New York upon the Erie canal, ac-
cording to recent publications, has been
s116,000,000, and the receipts there
from have been S1320O0,0O0. If the
state of New York has prOhted so vastly
by pursuing this course, I think it would be
policy for the West to quit taking their ad-
vice on commercial affairs and begin to
follow their example And elsewhere,
where it has been necessary to compete
with water transportation in the carrying
of freight, railroads have never hesitated
to enter into that competition. The haul
from Chicago east to the Erie canal is
greatly reduced, because water transporta-
ton makes it necessary. The hsul from st.
Louis to New orleans is also made at low
rate in order to compete with water trans
portation. These railroads that do business
at a very low rate and in competition with
water transportation are in as good condi-
ton financially as railroads which do not
have to compete in such way. Therefore,
1t seems to me that it would be wise for this
legislature to ask the legislatures of Texas
and Nebraska, whose state laws have been