The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1905-03-02
by Jacob Waldeck,

Staff Correspondent of The Press.
TOPEKA, Kan, March 2.-While
the achievements of the trust bust
ers" in Kansas are history, the man
ner in which they won their fight is
not so we'll known. 1t was as simple
and direct as the laws adopted by the
Legislature as a remedy.
When the railroads doubled the
freight rate on oil and the Standard
cut the price of crude so per cent, the
producers saw plainly enough that
their property was on the edge of
confiscation. They had the choice of
peaceably accepting financial ruin or
making a fight. The proud Kansas
spirit called for fight.
The producers came to Topeka and
explained their troubles to the legis-
lators. The latter were sympathetic,
but slow to accept the notion that
state oil refinery, an untried and un-
heard-of remedy, would solve the
problem.
Then the producers decided to APP
peal direct to the people.
They secured at the state house
the names of the 1900 township
trustees in Kansas. Letters were
sent to each of these men, explaining
the raid of the Standard on the oil
fields. In an effective way the argu-
ment was made that a state refinery
would help the producers and would
remove the users of refined oil alb
solutely from the clutches of the
trust. These township officials were
asked. if they approved of the pro-
posed remedy. to speak to their
neighbors about it and have the lat
ter pass it up to the legislature.
The response was immediate. The
people did endorse the remedy and
let their representatives know how
they felt. There was such a cyclone
of this sentiment that the legislators
hustled into the statute books every
thing that looked like an antitrust
bill
Il was opposed to the refinery"
said one member, but I voted for it
rather than try to explain to my
people the ground of my opposition"
Kansas Is a trifie CLOSE" on the
subject of Legislative compensation.
The assembly meets only once in two
years and the members are allowed
compensation at the rate of SO a day
for so days. If the session extends
over SO days they work for nothing
They will donate two weeks service
to the state this year Some folks
irreverently refer to 'the solons as
"s3- a-day-statesmen."
An interesting fact to be brought
out by the federal investigation Is
that the traffic managers Of these
western roads do not fix the freight
rates on oil. All other traffic is UNI
der their jurisdiction. They get the
rates on oil from New York.
AS n side issue to its contest with
the Standard. the Legislature Is taxi
ing a whirl at the railroads. The
These stubborn Kansans can not I'M
derstand why the railroads should
charge more to haul corn across this
state than they do to carry II to the
Atlantic seaboard. They propose to
see about II.
There's a neighborly feeling at
the sessions of the Legislature here
that does not appear at most state
capitols. 1t is due chiefly to the
absence OF suspicion. There Is IA
feeling of confidence that results
from the absence of graft and a
lobby. 1t is remarkable to see big
things going through the assembly
without the buttonholing and star
chamber methods that ordinarily at
tend legislative procedure Then,
too. it's In the nature of n westerner
to be friendly. At sessions the mem
bers do not mind sitting about with
their feet on the desks Convention
ality at an evening session was car
lied further than usual by d member