Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-02-14
QIN.D|ICAT''']E|

'-'- s{aS8.
Is GOVERNOR ElND's VETO OF THE
MILLER BILL BY COURT DECISION.
A Practical Application of the Miller Bill
Shown in q Test Case-Governor Lind.
Efforts, Through the Railway and Ware
house Commission to Secure just Coal
Rates to tho Southwest Crowned With
success-How They Would Have Jared
Under the Proposed Miller Iaw-other
State and National Political Points of
the wesk-Deeper aud Deeper Depths
For the Mckinley Administration.
Aguinaldo's Appeal and Admiral Dew
eys Administering in Kentucky
Fit Companion Piece to "Criminal Az
eression' in the Philippines Weeks
Summary.
he1Orm PresS bureau,
St. Paul. Feb. 5, 1900.
The most important state political
event of the week-and a most import
ant one-has been the decision in the
Ramsey county district court, at the
hands of Judge Bum, recognized as
one of the ablest jurists in the state, of
the celebrated coal rate case, in which,
through the railway and warehouse
commission Of the state, Governor Lind
has been for year endeavoring to Sc
cure just and equitable rate on coal
for the people Of the southwestern part
of the state, from Duluth. The fact
that the commission ordered reduction
Of the rate from $2.55 to $1.95 per ton,
from Duluth to New Ulm, is widely
known, as well as that the railway COM
panies resisted, taking the case to the
district court.
The court finds for the state in two
points:
First, that the railway commission
under the law has the power to compel
railroads to establish joint tariffs when
roads are so related as the St. Paul and
Duluth and Minneapolis and St. Louis,
in the case in point.
Second, that it had the power to es-
tablish reasonable rates for such service,
and that the joint rate in question was
Unreasonable and exorbitant, being
higher than the wheat rate.
The point of interest, aside from the
removal of the injustice under which
the people Of this section have long suf-
fered, is the application Of the Miller
bill, which Governor Lind vetoed dur
ing the last session. The manner in
which Governor Ind's Judgment in the
veto preventing that bill to become
law is indicated, is thus stated by Gov
ernor Lind:
"As the law now stands the decision of
the commission, after O hearing, is prima
facie correct, and the rate established by
it just and reasonable. The burden of
proof, as the court we'll puts it, is on the
railroad company to establish the unrea-
sonable and confscatory character of the
rate established.
IF the Miller bill had become law, the
rate established in the first instance
"OuAu utsF0 SuOOO <1o AGsCA0 AtIlI t11u
reasonable rate-for~ the law authorizes
the railroad companies to fix tates in the
first place and that which the law author
ICES to be done is presumed to be rightly
done until the contrary Is shown, and the
burden Of proof would then have rested
on the state at all stages to show that the
railroad company's rate was unreasonable
and that the proposed rate was fair and
~ %10
not do, as all the evidence bearing on
the question is in the hands of the rail
road company.
"Another very important point estab-
lished by the decision is that the St. Paul
and Duluth railroad, or any other com.
pany, whose business originates in the
state, cannot be boycotted by the other
railroads. When the commission made
its decision in respect to- the joint rates
from Duluth, the Minneapolis and St.
Louis company terminated a traffic agree
ment with the Duluth road, which has
been in force for years, and brought coal
from West Superior, in Wisconsin, to
supply the points affected by the decision,
claiming that by making it Interstate
traffic it was not subject to the rates es-
tablished by the state authorities. They
absolutely refused to carry coal delivered
to them by the ST. Paul and Duluth. I'm
'der; this decision they cannot persist In
this course"
Commenting further, Governor Lind
says:
IF had signed the Miller bill, this de-
cision could not have. been rendered I
hope that poor Miller can now see the
matter in its true light. have never be-
1ieved for a moment that he would have
fathered the bill accredited to him had he
known it's inherent viciousness."
The brave fight Senator Pettigrew is
making in the senate, to bring to the
light Of day such Of the iniquities in the
Philippine islands as the Mckinley ad-
ADMINISTRATION has thus far been able to
hide, wins the approval Of every true
lover of liberty. His effort to have the
contents. of the Aguinaldo appeal to the
civilized world known, and the Filipino
chiefs statement Of his relations with
American officers Of the consular, navy
and army service is specially commenda-
BILE. We have received a copy Of the
appeal, as translated from the original
Spanish, and every honest man who
reads it will unhesitatingly confess that
if one-half that is recited there is true,
it's publication should be prevented at
all hazards, for the salvation'of the ad-
ministration.
The appeal Isl under the seal Of the Phil
ippine; republic, dating from June, 1898,
which succeeded the dictatorial govern
ment Of which Aguinaldo was the head,
which in turn came from the revo1u-