Omaha daily bee., 1897-09-06
PLYING TIE PEOPLE ZOE FOOLS.

PLdrING THE PEOPLE FOR FOOLS.
The joint attack begun last week by
the railroad attorneys Of Nebraska upon
the constitutionality Of the law creating
the state Board of Transportation is a
masquerade designed to divert public at
tcntion from the shameless sell.out of
the people by the present members OF the
state board.
The history of the state railroad COM
mission, known as the State Board of
Transportation, offers an instructive les
son. In 1856 an amendment TO the con-
stitution creating an elective state rail
road commission was voted down at the
polls by decisive majority. The people
Of Nebraska although desiring relief from
extol tionate tolls and protection against
favoritism had no faith in railroad com
missions either elective or appointive.
They demanded from the legislature the
enactment of laws fixing maximum rates
and imposing penalties for discrimina
ton as contemplated in and authorized
by the state constitution. In defiance
of the expressed will of the people the
legislature of 1887, chosen at the same
election at which the constitutional
amendment was rejected, passed bill
at the instance of the railroad manager
and framed by the railroad attorneys
creating an appointive railroad commits
sion. In order to get around the supreme
court decisions that no new executive
offices can be created by the legislature,
the commission was to take the form of
three salaried secretaries to a board COM
posed of three of the existing state
officers.
The manifest aim and object of this
legislation was to stave off railroad
regulation by law and pull the peoples
noses through three railroad tools paid
by the taxpayers. The expectation of
the railroads was that in due time the
law would be declared void by the courts
or that the powers of the board would
be cuItaicd so as to make it harmless.
In this they were disappointed. When
the test case was made the supreme
court not only upheld the law but con-
strued it to give the commission all the
powers of regulation which the legisla-
ture could exercise Thwarted in this
direction the railroad magnates found
| little trouble in multiplying the law
| through subservient secretaries ap-
| pointed with their sanction and ap-
proval. This bare-faced imposture
naturally eXasperated the people and
| finally eliminated in the maximum rate
| bills which We're promptly hung up by
| the railroads in the United States courts.
Ever since the populiSts organized as
political party their conventions have
made it a special point to denounce the
| do-nothng state boards of transporta-
| ton and their abolition was repeatedly
| demanded in their platforms. During
| several sessions of the legislature popu-
list members introduced bills repeating
| the law creating the board which We're
carefully smothered by the railroad mem
| bers of their own and other parties
| When the populists came into full con-
| troll of the state government year ago
| it was expected that one Of their first
acts would be to do away with the use
less and costly State Board of Trans
| pOrtation.
| But here the people were fooled once
more The policy Of the fusion state
| government not to abolish sinecures but
| to fill them and increase their number
became quickly apparent. All that was
done was to exchange one set of railroad
puppets for worse set. if such thing
! l,o l,,,nSpI nrin ia
no prctense of doing anything more than
drawing their salaries. The new secre-
taries pose as enemies of monopOlies and
| trusts while they owe their places TO the
railroad influence and take their orders
at railroad headquarters rs regularly as
| do the men who wear railroad uniforms
and badges For eight months this farce
| had been in progress at the state house
when the approach of the allied anti
| monopoly conventions made new
demonstration necessary to prevent an
expression rejecting upon the board as
well as upon the whole fusion govern
ment. The Tibbles case afforded the op-
lportunity for another grand-Stand play
and the railroad lawyers promptly came
to the rescue with an attack upon the
constitutionality of Il law for which they
themselves are responsible and which
for ten years has been on the statute
books and its validity recognized by
them.
| While this ruSe was successful with
the convention that was bulldoz"d into
harmony by tin-pan stage thunder and
skyrocket oratory. the game can not be
worked so easily on the intelligent
| masses.