The Saint Paul globe., 1905-02-24
D[MURRAGE BILL is
CLOSE TO A FINISH
Railroad Committee Nearly Puts
NOian'S Measure to
Death

committee of the house yesterday aft
ernoon came very nearly putting the
Nolan reciprocal demurrage bill to its
final sleep. The vote on the motion
to indefinitely postpone was s for and
10 against
subcommittee, consisting of W. H.
Putnam, P. A. Gandrud, NJ. D. Flower,
A. K. Ware and B. S. Bennett, was
named to further consider the bill and
report to the full committee. The bill
is a lengthy and complicated document
and will be carefully examined, Chair
man Putnam says, before being re-
ported to the committee. A number
of complaints filed with the railroad
committee as to alleged abuses that
have occurred under the present law
were also referred TO the subcommit-
tee.
The action Of the railroad committee
followed on the heels of a public hear
ing on the merits of the bill. Pierce
Butler, general solicitor for the Chi
cago, st. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
line, was the principal speaker against
the bill.
Make Matters Worse
He declared that the effect of the
bill, instead of being to facilitate the
movement of cars, would be to operate
to make conditions worse. Demurrage
to a railway is simply car rental, and
the use of the car to the railroad COM
pany is worth many times more than
the charge received. He pointed out,
too, that the cars stand in valuable
terminals and blockade traffic. Rail-
ways were bound by ordinary diligence
to furnish cars and to move them. The
Omaha now has six cars to each mile
of its tracks and the Nolan bill. If made
into law, would impose the purchase of
very many more cars. The provision
which gives the shipper all the cars he
asks for, under penalty of a charge Of
81 day per car against the railway
company, would open the door to fraud
in men ordering cars which they did
not need. 1t would give them oppor-
tunity to speculate in the companies
cars. The popularity of the bill was
largely in its mouth filling name, Mr..
Butler said, for there was nothing re-
ciprocal about it. 1t would not re-
move abuses, nor make conditions any
better. 1t meant more cars, greater
trackage at terminals, the protection of
perishables by the companies against
heat and cold, enlarged warehouse fa-
cilities and reduced mileage of cars
each day. 1t would also permit the
peddling of perishables from cars.
A. H. Bright, general counsel for the
500 line, filed statement of the car
service on the Minnesota division of
the system, showing that 1T required
three times as long to release its cars
from terminals as required to move its
cars from shipping points to terminals.
The percentage of empties moved to
its entire box car equipment was 74.7
per cent during given period.
Mr.. Nolan made brief argument,
offering to submit to any amendment
to his bill that was fair and equitable.
He said he believed that his bill was a
fair measure, and he was willing to
leave 1t with the committee.
e. j. Cannon, attorney for the Min
nesota Shippers association. made a
somewhat extended statement of his
case. He denied that the railroads
furnished cars to the best of their abil-
ity, and intimated that they gave pref
erence to high class traffic. He quoted
figures as representing the cost of the
modern box car and it's earning ca
pacity. He said the proposed law was
more liberal in it's terms to the rail-
roads than the Virginia law, and the
proposed Ohio ana Wisconsin laws.
Appeal Always Open
Mr.. Bright suggested that an appeal
to the state railway commission is al
ways open to men who claim that the
railways are giving preference TO high
class freight as against all customers.
There was an informal discussion of
the bill, participated in by the railroad
attorneys and members of the commit
tee, and then the committee went into
executive session, where the motion to
indefinitely postpone the bill was lost
by vote of to 10.
The railroad committee agreed to
the Gandrud bill requiring railways to
file with the state railway commission
the list of killed and injured, With the
names of employees responsible, in rail-
road accidents, within forty-eight
hours after the accident. An amend
mept proposed by NJ. d. Flower, is
designed to protect the railroads from
shark lawyers in securing the names
of the injured and of employees. The
original bill declared that the reports
filed should be for public inspection.
The committee struck this clause from
the bill.
The Ware anti-pass and cut-rate
bill was recommended for indefinite
postponement. Mr.. Ware has divided
the subject matter of the bill into two
bills, and these were made a special
order for Monday afternoon at 3
o'clock.
The committee agreed to the John
son bill, as amended. 1t provides that
at all stations where telegraph oper-
ators are actually employed at the
time for the arrival of a train notice
of the expected arrival of the train
must be posted on a bulletin board in
the depot twenty minutes before the
trains regular time of arrival. Trains
arriving within fen TloinnfnS fhair-
schedule time are to be considered as
on time.
CAQI CON NOTE RuI