The Forrest City times., 1899-01-20

species of property in the state. but il
Is certainly desirable that the laws
passed TO control, regulate and govern
them shall be fully efficient for the
purpose intended. The people of the
state have borne with more patience
than might have been expected the
abuses and unjust discrimination and
excessive charges practiced by rail-
roads In this state. and IL Is time that
these things should be stopped. We
have for a long time had ample laws
upon our statute books against these
abuses, but the great expense at
tached TO their enforcement has been
such as to make them wholly ineffect-
ual: hence the demand for n railroad
commission to enforce the laws with
out too great cost / am aware of the
fact that opposition upon the part of
the railroads has been made to the
creation of an efficient railroad COM
mission law, and that parties acting
in their interest have urged that no
laws regulating rates by such COM
mission can be carried into execution.
and they claim that the supreme court
of the United States in a late case
from the state of Nebraska has so de-
cided: but l trust. and believe. that
you will not be deceived by such So
phistry; for, upon examination of that
decision of the supreme court you
will find that 1t Is incapable of such
construction. You have full power
To create commission and to invest
1t with authority to control and regu-
late the charges of the railroads and
fix reasonable rates, and, in my judg-
ment, the people of the state will not
be satisfied unless you so do. In the
act creating such commission the rail-
roads should be assessed and taxed to
Pay the expenses and salaries of the
commissioners. This is just and fair,
both to the railroads and the people,
because, first, the refusal of the rail-
roads to obey the law renders the COM
mission necessary, and second, the
expense at last comes out of the peo-
pie who use the railroads. This is ap-
parent when you come to consider that
the rates of the charges by the rail-
roads to be fixed by the commission
must be based upon fair value OF
the property of the railroads used for
the convenience of the public, to-
gether with the fixed charges, of which
one would be the taxation to pay the
expenses and salaries of the commits
sion.
The supreme court of the United
States has held that there can be no
sound reason against compelling these
corporations to meet the expenses of
the commission in this manner. and
that it is no encroachment upon the
constitution OF the United States. and
l am quite sure that there is no con-
stitutional provision of this state
which would be infringed by it. For
more elaborate discussion of this
question l refer you to the case of the
Charlotte Railroad Company VS..
the reports of the supreme court of
the United States.
RAILROAD CHARTERS.
Our statutes in relation to granting
charters to railroad corporations are
entirely too liberal and afford too much
opportunity for irresponsible parties
to obtain these valuable privileges and
hold them to the detriment of the state
and against others who might really
wish to construct railroads.
/ recommend complete revision and
amendment of these statutes so as to
put proper limitation upon the power
of any one who may wish TO obstruct
the construction of these valuable ar
teries of commence and trade. A board
consisting of all the executive
stute officers should be created, whose
duties ii should be to inspect all ar
ticles of association for railroad in
corporation and all preliminary sur
veys, maps, etc. filed Herewith end
approve the same before they shall be-
come effectual. and ii should be IL
vested with full power to disapproye
any, which in the estimation OF the
board, would not be for the state's
best interest. / commend the matter
to your careful consideration.
STATE RAILROADS.
At the extraordinary session OF the
general assembly of 1897, an act was
passed to create a state board au-
thorized to locate, establish. survey.
build, and operate state railroads and
telegraphs, to provide the manner for
raising revenue for such purposes and
to provide a penalty for misappropriat-
ing money and for other purposes.
This is commonly known as the Bush
Bill In my judgment no more i'm
portant bill for the best interest of
the state was ever devised, but I'M
fortunately the act as passed is de-
fective in failing in the most of its
sections TO clearly express the inten-
ton of the legislature The board
created by the act has diligently en-
deavored since its passage TO contract
with parties having sufficient financial
ability to construct q railroad from
the state capital in northerly direc-
ton through those counties most need
ing n railroad but thus far has been
unable TO accomplish the purpose, be-
cause of the imperfections of the act.
Another objection to the act is that ii
fails TO grant power to the board to
lease the road when constructed. 1t
is urged by capitalists that the state
cannot properly operate n railroad be-