Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-04-08

the public. It is public right and pub
lie property, and only ought TO b'
granted On fair terms. To ascertain
what are fair terms, the public anC
public authorities must know il:
value, and that value can only be ar
rived at by having the information
suggested. In view of the willing
free and full disclosure of the losses
and embarrassments of the company
it can hardly be conceived how the
exposure of the other side of the
ledger can be detrimental to its in
terests unless it discloses a hard bar.
gain with the city"
That was well said then, and Is just
as true now. In his report Mr.. Searle
made the very modest request that the
| franchise provide for a scent fare to
Milan after 1909.
The Tri-City Labor Congress also
protested against this franchise in a
series of resolutions published the
! day before Mr.. Searle's article APP
peared. | commend them TO the
thoughtful consideration of the pres
ent members of that body. One of
the resolutions was as follows:
Resolved, That Il proposition tn
authorize five-cent fare for a long
term without providing for possible
changed values of wages and mater
ials. and without reserving the bene-
fits which will inevitably follow from
growth of population. would be a
universal surrender of public prerog-
atives that cannot possibly be ade-
quately compensated now, and should
meet with universal condemnation"
Yet what the congress condemned
is exactly what the city council pro-
ceeded within a week to do. and now
the congress and council unite to be-
rate the states attorney for attempt
ing to undo it.
At that time. if the council had de-
manded 5-cent rate To Milan and the
Watch Tower, il could and would
have been conceded. But this paper
and the other daily paper stood idly
by and allowed the public right and
public property" of the people to be
surrendered without Il protest.
The ordinance was passed and the
franchise extended for - years. The
company doubled its capital stock.
Whether that 100000 of stock issued
in October, 1900, was water or not. L
do not know.
In the summer of 1901 the franchise
of the company in Milan expired. The
people of Milan demanded scent
rate The people of Sears made the
same demand. Both were refused. y
citizen of each village applied to me
to bring a quo warrantO proceeding
against the company to test the
rights of the company in their re-
spective villages, and the suits were
brought. Then the Sears people
took slcdgehammers and crowbars
and started to tear up the track. The
company enjoined them. Then the
people brought an Injunction suit to
prevent the company from running its
cars. The suits were consolidated.
heard in the circuit court. decided in
favor of the company, and the people
appealed. The quo warranto suits
were allowed to rest pending the de-
cision in the injunction suits. Finally
the supreme court announced its de-
cision holding the franchise of the
Tri-City Railway company void, be-
cause as an Iowa corporation it could
not take or hold franchise in IlH-
IlbAS. II WIS dl OllCt Sttli w the
company that their franchise in Rock
Island was void for the same reason.
Then there was mounting in hot
haste. The COmpany'S representa-
tives hurriedly filed petition for a
so that the decision would
not be published. went to Sears and
Milan. granted the scent rate. com
piled with every demand. surrendered
and induced the people to
dismiss their in junction suit in the
supreme court. That was done pend
ing the petition for rehearing, and
thus by the vigilance of the com
pany's attorneys the supreme court
reports do not contain the report of
the case of THE village of Sears ". Tri-
City Railway company" The people of
Sears and Milan having obtained all they
could reasonably ask. requested me
to dismiss the quo warranto proceed
ings, which | did.
And thus the j-cent rate was club
bed out Of the company by little Sears
after the great city of Rock ISL
and. merchants association. ncwSpa-
pers. and all. had supinely surrender
ed. But the company did not rest.
1t knew its franchises had been held
void. SO they went to Spring
field and had the legislature
pass the so-called Enabling Act" I'M
dertaking to validate all their fran
chiSes and to authorize them as an
Iowa corporation to do a street rail-
way business in Illinois.
IF this quo warranto succeeds il
will compel the Tri-City Railway com
p&uy To DO two things:
First. Incorporate under the laws
Of Illinois. The franchise of a street
railway company X personal proper
ty. ~ such ii j. taxable where the
company has its home. The Tri-City
company has its home in Scott coun-
~. Iowa. If the franchises granted
by our city to the company have any
value. they should he taxed like any