Willmar tribune., 1899-07-05
Answers the Criticism Of His
7. Veto of the Railroad and y.
Warehouse Bill. " Z
Promptly Demands Retraction
:. Of Charges Made by the
Luverne Herald. Il =
THE CHARGES RETRACTED
Vetoed Measure Would Have
~ Made Redress of Griev- -
ances Impossible.
Full Text of Governor Lind'a
Statement in Regard to
the Railroad Case.

ST. PAUL, June 29.-The Luverne Her.
aid, of which State Senator H. J. Miller
is the editor and proprietor, has led the
Republican criticism against Governor
Lind for his veto of the Miller bill, being
Senate File No. "a, to make findings Of
fact in proceedings before the Railroad
and Warehouse Commission official court
records in such cases. In a recent is
sue Senator Miller charged unworthy
motives on the part Of the governor and
that he had been governed in his &C
ton by certain railway influence.
Thereupon Governor Lind addressed to
Senator Miller an explicit denial and
demand for retraction of his charges,
coupled with a. full statement regard
ing the bill and reasons for the veto.
Senator Miller, in The Herald of June
%, retracted the charges, with the state
ment that he would publish Governor
Lind's letter in full in the following
issue. The full text of the governors
communication is as follows:
ST. PAUL, Mimi, June co. 1899.
Hon. H. j. Miller, Luverne, MINI.
DEAR SIR confess was not little
surprised when copy of your paper of
June 9th was placed before me and I
saw the article headed ''Lind's Betrayal
of Trust" the first paragraph of which
reads as follows: 1.-The Herald has
made the charge in previous issues that
Senate File No. "a, relating to proceed
ings for the enforcement of the orders
of the Railroad and Warehouse Com
mission. was killed by Governor Lind
at the instance or by the demand Of the
Great Northern Railway company"
had been informed previous to this that
you had made charges OF some such
character in earlier issues of your
paper, but paid no attention to them
as hoped that you would be down
to the City and that might have an
opportunity to place the facts before
you in their proper light, my time
hardly permitting communication by
correspondence in matter SO involved
as the consideration of our statutes re-
lating to the Railroad and Warehouse
Commission, but this last charge is such
a brazen falsehood and of such charac-
ter that, coming from the sourceit
does, feel that it demands not only an
explicit denial, but an explanation of
the law as it now stands and the effect
Of the proposed amendment, 50 that YOU
and any citizen who desires to under
s1and the matter may see and appreci-
ate the dangerous character of Senate
File No. "a, which I refused to sign.
In Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway
Company vs.. Railroad and Warehouse
Commission, "A Minn., 1856, which was
one of the earlier cases under the pres
ent railroad law before our Supreme
Court, Judge Mitchell uses this lam
guage: 1.-THE act claws 1887, Chapter
10y regulating common carriers and
creating the Railroad and Warehouse
Commission is a piece of legislative
patchwork composed of provisions bor-
rowed from different and dissimilar
sources without uniformity of plan and
not always consistent with each other.
A construction of the act is therefore a
difficult task" Although the act has
been amended several times since
that language was used with reference
to it, it is still applicable to many
of the provisions of the law as it
now stands, as any one who has read it
with care must concede; but, neverthe-
less, it has now been before the Court
so often and many of its sections 80
tbo~o,,o.h1,, oopo%r,,o1 +ho% %lo ,~,oc
striking inconsistencies have been rec
onciled and the legislation, as whole,
made harmonious by judicial interpre-
tation. In my message to the legisla-
ture recommended only one change
and in the following language: THE
report of the State Railroad and Ware
house Commission will be laid before
you. No new legislation is needed on
that subject, except that the record
made before the Com mmission on hear
ing should be made to constitute the
record ON appeal. The present practice
of trying case de novo in the District
Court is useless and expensive and by
it's delays tends to defeat the ends of
the law" An amendment in harmony
with this suggestion would have been a
decided improvement on the law as it
now stands and would have had my
prompt approval, as it had my cordial
endorsement in advance. Icannot help
feeling that you are under the impress
sion that Senate File "a would have
accomplished the purpose indicated by
my recommendation, for l can hardly
conceive that a man of your standing
would purposely traduce and malign a
public servant from partisan motives
alone. l shall therefore take more time
and exercise more patience in explain
ing the law to you than Fwould to one
for whose character and motives have
less regard than I have had for yours in
the past, believing that when the mat.
ter is placed before you in it's proper
light you will have the manhood tc
undo, so far as you are able, the injus'
tice which you have done me.
BY our legislation constituting the
Board OF Railroad and Warehouse Com
missioners and defining their powers, the
duties Of the Board are divided into two
classes. The first, and most important.
Sis to pass upon the reasonab bleness sot
transpo portation rates and to prevent dis.
elimination between persons and
places The second, is the power Il
regulate the manner Of maintaining and
operating the railroads, with q view K
iln1suring the security, convenience and
saccommod odation of the general public
without regard to the question of rates
inso other word he rate-making powel
and the administrative power respec
lively This distinct ctiion must besborns
IA mind IN fvsf ~, f, ,1;f