The Advocate and news., 1898-03-16

amount to about per cent. Of the gross
business Of railroad, Is connscatory.
Again, the court says that II the Cir.
cult court finds that the present eOadi-
tion OF business Is such as to admit the
application. OF the statute to tie rail-
road companies In question with but de-
prlving them Of just cOmpensah don, 1t
will be its duty to discharge the injUnc-
tion heretofore granted and to make
whatever order Is necessary to remove
any obstruction placed by the decrees
In these cases In the way OF the enforce
ment Of the statute"
In other words, the court says that
II In the meantime, by the providence Of
God, times have improved faster than
the railroads have been able 10 record
new mortgages, then the law would be
constitutional and the court would mod
ify its order accordingly, thus making
the ConstitutiOnality Of the law depend
upon the prospect ofcrops; but,whllethe
court Is silent on the other proposition,
they no doubt have observed that the
Rock Island, Union Pacific and perhaps
other Nebraska railroads have been talk
ing advantage OF the better crops largely
to increase the mortgages on their prop
erty, and the court no doubt feels con-
fldent that In race between the Lord
and the railroads the railroads will be
able to file mortgages as fast as the
Lord can bring prosperity.
-
AS to the effect of this decision upon
the bill proposed by me In regard to
rates and placed before the people OF
Kansas, 1t will have no effect whatever.
Ever since the decision of the Supreme
court In the income tax case / have
had the utmost confidence In the dis
honesty and nefarlous purposes Of the
court. These conclusions were forced
upon me by the fact that they declared
unconstitutional a law that had been
passed upon, signed and enforced by
Abraham Lincoln as President of the
United States. Mr.. Lincoln, in signing
this law and enforcing II to the extent
Of collecting hundreds OF millions Of
dollars, made plain the fact that In his
opinion the law was constitutional. AS
to the wisdom and knowledge Of the law
possessed by Abraham Lincoln, I need
not speak; and the report Of the ad-
mlnistrator Of his estate shows that In
his conclusions he had not been moved
by corrupt means. VIII the admins
traitors OF the estates OF Judge Shiras
and his gang be able to show as much
for them? Being profoundly convinced
by these considerations that the Su-
preme court had gone so far along the
path of iniquity that 1t could not and
would not retrace It's steps, the railroad
law that ! propose was framed espe-
cially to accord with what conceived
would be the decision of the court
am sorry to say that my opinion Of the
nefarious practices of the court have
been justified. But this bill having been
drawn for the purpose Of according,
not with the constitution, the law, or
the decisions Of the courts previous to
1885, but drawn to accord with the
views now held by the court, that the
rates must be reasonable to be consti-
tutional and that the court Is the sole
Judge OF this matter, believe this bill
will agree with the reasoning of the
court. In the first place, as a maximum
rate has been fixed that has been made
by the railroads themselves, and which,
II enacted into law, would be rate en-
dorsed by the railroads and by the Leg
islature, and want to put the courts on
record to see If this Is a reasonable
rate or not, and II they declare 1t un-
reasonable, upon what grounds.
Again, the court In its decision
takes the ground that the making OF
rates Is a judicial and not legislative
function. Having read the decisions of
the courts on this question since they
first parted with their virtue in 1885,
and seeing no place for them to land
short OF this position, ] prepared this
bill extending the powers Of the Rail-
road Commissioners so as to give them
equal judicial standing with the dis
trlct courts. This was for the purpose
Of having the Supreme court pass upon
the QUestlON aS to whether one coIlrt