The Saint Paul globe., 1905-02-19
TROLLEY WOODCHUCK
IS BOOSTED ALONG
House Judiciary Committee
JuggIes With Eminent
Domain

The house judiciary committee yes
terday accepted the statute revision
commissions provision in the new code
giving street railway corporations the
right of eminent domain within city
and village limits.
The agreement was reached after an
extended debate. Carl L. Wallace,
chairman of the subcommittee on cor
porauons, offered an amendment pro-
vlding that the right of eminent do
main for street railway companies
should not apply to territory inside the
corporate boundaries of cities and VII
lages, but the amendment was rejected.
w. p. Roberts, of Hennepin, urged
that the code provision stand, for he
contended that the only relief from
monopolistic control of cities by public
service corporations lay in giving to
rival companies the right TO condemn.
private property. He said that certain
suburban electric companies were now
hghting for a chance to enter Mime
apolis, and since the Twin CITY COM
paly had the right of the streets the
only way in which the rival companies
could enter the city and establish ter
minals was over private property. T.
L. OfSthun, of Pope, was also strongly
Tor the code provision. James r.
Hickey, of st. Paul, registered a pro-
test against the extension of the right
of eminent domain to street railway
corporations, but he was outvoted in
the committee.
Valuable Concession
II is not denied that a valuable con-
cession is given by the code to the
street railway companies in st. Paul,
minneapolis and Duluth. and If the
Lowry interests are opposed to the
code provision, as is claimed in some
quarters, 1t is conceded that the ben
ents Will nearly, if not wholly, offset
the advantages given to their COM
petitors.
The judiciary committee yesterday
remedied several vital defects in the
code as affecting savings banks and
trust companies. Mr.. Wallace reported
number of important amendments.
which were adopted. One provision
neid that savings banks could loan
~ per cent of their money on unin-
numbered real estate in Minnesota,
wisconsin, Iowa and North and South
Dakota, when the real estate was
worth three times the amount of the
loan. line old law, permitting loans
on improved real estate, i'm the five
states named worth double the amount
OF the loan, was restored by the COM
mittee.
Another section, which authorized a
forfeiture of the franchise of a saw
ihgs bank on failure of the board of
trustees 10 hold two successive month
~ meetings, was killed 1t was pointed
out that the innocent stockholders
would pay the penalty of the negii-
gehce or the directors and that the code
provision gave opportunity for board
OF stockholders, If so disposed, to
wreck the institution in which the
public had placed its money and its
confidence.
Protect Depositors
A section of the savings bank act in
the code required banks incorporated
under the savings bank law to put an
nualiy at least l per cent of their de-
posts to the credit of the surplus fund
Ior the protection of their depositors.
rms provision was stricken out, and
the old law restored. A member of
the committee cited the instance of a
minneapolis savings bank with de-
posts or Sl3,000,0O0, which, under the
terms OF the code, would be required TO
set aside Sl3O,000 annually TO it's sur
pIus 1und- In the thirty years of its
existence the bank had passed but
S4oVsoOO to its surplus, and the code
Wouid require the bank to duplicate in
three years what it had taken thirty
years to do.
A number of amendments were Of
Tered. TO the code in committee The
report OF the corporations subcommit-
zee covered some thirty typewriter
pages and represented a vast amount
Oh work on the part of the committee.