Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-04-17

you. 1t does not touch or involve your
uprightness of purpose or your purity
of motive, but it does involve the vel.
fare of a great people and the sue.
cess of mighty movement
The response to this issue that you
have hitherto made in the columns of
your newspaper is an assault upon my
sincerity. You have, in effect. done
nothing but to declare over and over
again that if / am controlled by the
railroads and the corporations, you
are also l propose now to bring you
to brook, and see what you have to
say before this company of honest
men in defense of the falsehoods con
corning what have done and what
l have said.
Legislative Record.
"You have repeatedly declared that
when became member of the house
of representatives of the Twenty
second general assembly entered that
body to represenet the railways, that
/ antagonized Governor Larrabee in
his efforts to secure railway regulation
and that | voted against the act then
passed and which has \ even since
been the law of the state OF Iowa, and
which is recognized as the most eff
fective railway rate legislation in the
country
eff this be true, was not only
faithless to the people who elected
me, but I am falsifier as well, for l
have again and again asserted in the
most emphatic way that I was part
nf tho nrt 1r,1,i oh ~ %1,o%
resulted in the legislation to which
I have referred. If it be not true
that was then in opposition to Gov.
ernor Larrabee you are either a con-
scious distributor of falsehoods and ca
lumny, or man SO reckless in his
statements that the people of the
state may justly repudiate you and
your campaign. What did in the
general assembly of which was a
member is a matter of record; it is
not attended with the slightest I'M
certainty. give this record to you
with as much brevity as possible.
flames G.. Berryhill, to whom you
have often referred as the real apos.
tie of railway regulation, introduced
in the early days of that session bill
intended to establish a schedule of
maximum railway rates; that is to
say, fixing definitely and specifically
by act Of the legislature the rates that
might lawfully thereafter be charged
by the railway companies.
This was Mr.. Berryhill's pet
scheme, and embodied his plan of reg
ulation. I was opposed to it, and I
voted against it, as did the speaker of
| the house, and as did John w. Luke,
Of Franklin county, who, more than
any other one man, is entitled to the
credit for the passage Of the bill which
is now the law of the state. 1t was
hardly considered in the senate, 1t
was recognized as visionary, unten.
able proposition, and was directly op.
posed to the other plan; namely, the
grant of full and complete power to
the board of railroad commissioners
to prepare and publish schedule of
maximum rates. Mr.. Berryhill's plan
has since that time been repudiated
everywhere, and similar legislation by
| the state of Nebraska was afterwards
| declared unconstitutional.
Asks Mr.. Perkins to Answer.
$50 much for the bill against which
! I voted. would vote against it now
were I member of the Legislative
body before which it came. and
pause to ask you, and I expect you to
answer these waiting people; whether
you believe in the plan of a Legislative
schedule of rates, rather than the
grant of power to tribunal such as a
railway commission, to fix and deter
mine rates. Tell these people wheth
err, if you are elected governor YOU
will recommend lne repeal of our pre-
sent law and the substitution Of leg
(, islative schedule of rates.
| early in the session of the twenty
second general assembly introduced
a bill comforting upon the railroad
commission full and adequate powers
I to fix rates for the railway companies
4 I have copy of it in my hand. It is
a part of the records OF the Office 81
the secretary of state, and neither YOU
nor can pervert or change it. I ash
YOU to stand before this company o.
Intelligent men and tell them whether
you ever read it. | do not know
I, whether you have or not. If you have
you have been careless of the truth
if you have not, you have been guilty
OF grave lnJuSLlCS IL dSSuulug u
state what it was without having in
formed yourself of its scope and pur
pose. | assert that, in legal effect, i
would have, if it had become a law
conferred the same power on the rail
road commissioners of Iowa that tht
Hepburn bill, which recently pcSset
the house of representatives in Wash
ington, will confer, il it passey tn,
/ senate, upon the interstate cohmerc'
commission. The only objection the,