The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1898-12-30

purpose in any court in this state. but the last
schedules determined to be reasonable ones by
the board Of railroad commissioners shall be
the evidende and the only evidence as to what
are reasonable charges Railroad companies
should also be prohibited from demanding
freight charges in advance except on perish
able property or that having no marketable
value at the point of delivery. All written
contracts should be prohibited
have merely indicated in very general terms
the lines on which it would seem that the leg
fslature must proceed in order that just and
reasonable rate may be established by public
authority and the power Ell actually taken from
the railroad companies to levy and collect, as
they do now, all that the traffic will bear with
out reference to its reasonableness or unreal
sonableness
The commissioners should be given abundant
power to carry their judgments into execution
and to see that the law which prohibits the
companies from taking more than the reason
able rates determined by them is enforced, and
to this end the legislature should provide an at
torney for the board whose special duty it shall
be to appear whenever necessary and protect
the interests of the state in the enforcement
of the law. II the railroad companies per-
sist in exacting greater rates than those deter
mined by the board to be reasonable all persons
injured should have the right to recover their
damages with reasonable attorneys fees, in
any court OF competent jurisdiction To be
efficient the law must strengthen the hands Of
the people interested SO that they shall not be
wholly dependent on the action of public au-
thorities for the enforcement OF the law.
A law should also be passed limiting the
amount of mortgage indebte dneSs that may
be placed upon u railroad. As the matter
stands now they are free to place mortgage
bonds upon their property without regard TO its
cost The only difference that see between q
bond issue by the state and a railroad bond is
that the money to pay the interest Of a state
bond is collected by taxation while the money
to pay the interest on a railroad bond is levied
by the company upon the productions OF the
country. the people must as surely pay one
as the other; therefore they have right to
protect themselves with a law that will limit
such Indebtedness to the actual cost Of the
road either by purchase or construction.
Two years ago a bill was introduced in the
legislature to provide for the expense of having
Kansas represented at the Omaha exposition.
Owing to the fact that the holding Of this ex-
position was not yet assured, the legislature
did not make any provision for representation
Afterwards. when it became apparent that the
exposition would become great national al
fair, the state board of agriculture passed
unanimous resolutions asking that Kansas be
represented The mayors and councils and
commercial bodies Of many cities in the state
also asked that steps should be taken to the
end that Kansas might be properly repre-
sented.
AS ready money was essential to the success
OF project, aSKSu Cue TalrOdu COulpdIllcS
of the state to guarantee 1900 of such fund
Some of the roads did not respond, but the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe gave S6.u49. o;
the Missouri Pacific gave a. 843 o. the Chicago,
Rock Island Pacific gave 5000; the St
Louis & San Francisco gave 1850, making q
total of ia, 5429J contributed by the railroads
of Kansas. A number of counties in the state
and good many citizens contributed
also. making the total amount con-
tributed 21,O739O. or this sum the
commission has on hand Cd. 1887, out OF which
expenses estimated at a1.OO) must be paid
which would leave balance on hand of about
1900. AS this exposition was Of great beneht
to all the people OF the state, and as the rail-
roads not contributing were benefited as much
as those who did. 1 deem it just that the legis-
lature should reimburse all corporations coun-
ties and persons contributing to this fund, so
that the expense may fall equitably upon all
classes benefited. and I recommend that the
legislature reimburse to the parties contrib
uting all sums of money so paid
JOHN w: LEEDY, Governor