Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-31
ABBOTT PLEDGE VALUELESS
Text Of Euprsms Court Isoisio7 Takes the
Props from Under Him.
TRUTH ABOUT TAXATION OF TERMINALS
Taking Of Testimony Commenced
in Case Drought by Attorney
General AGAINST Lumber
Dealers.
lion a Sac correspondentl

loIneN general, IN winch appears the IOl-
lowing statement:
I pledge myself to enforce the maximum
freight rate law, as directed by the United ,
States supreme court $50 L, s.. $50
Here Is what the United States court
said about the maximum freight rate law
at the page indicated by Mr.. Abbott:
And Il is hereby declared. adiudged and
decreed that the act above entitled is re-
pugnant to the constitution OF the United
States, for as much by the provisions
OF said act the said defendant railroad
companies may not exact for the trans
portation Of freight from one point to an
other, within this state, charges which |
Weld to the said companies, or either Of /
them. reasonable compensation for such !
services.
1t is further ordered. adjudged and de- |
creed that the defendants. members Of the |
Board Of Transportation OF said state, may |
hereafter. when the circumstances have !
changed so that the rates fixed In the said |
act shall yield to the said companies rea- |
sonable compensation for the services afo~e- |
said, apply to. this court by supplemental |
Dill or otherwise, as they may be advised !
Tor further order In that behalf.
As the State Board Of Transportation was |
declared unconstitutional by the supreme |
court there IL no way the maximum freight |
rate law can be enforced, so Mr.. Abbott's |
pledge amounts to nothing
Taxation of Terminals
In contradiction to the letter OF Tom Al |
len chairman Of the democratic state COM ,
mittee, comes now Governor Mickey,
chairman OF the State Board Of Assess
ment, and makes statement which shows
conclusively that the value of the OmahS
railroad terminals Is not distributed over
the state as Mr. Allen and the railroads
would try to make the people believe. Here
is what Governor Mickey says about the
way the state board assessed the railroads
and distributed the terminal valuation:
The state board now estimates the total
values OF railroad property and by divid-
Ing by the total mileage, estimates the
value per mile Then, the total valuation
| of the road is distributed along the main
! lines and branches as the board sees nj.
! The value OF the terminal Is divided up
among the counties which have the road
Thus the Union Pacific terminal at Omaha
liz valued at more than 10000 and this
| Nebraska. The value Of the Burlington
station in Omaha is about S35OO00 and this
road which owns the station II is, not
divided among all the counties through
among he copntjse baving he risb p0f 9r
/ Of the corporation owning the terminal
The value OF the Burlington terminals
/ located In Omaha is said to be distributed
over forty miles Ct track, from Omaha to
Oreapolis and from Crete to Beatrice. II
Is not even pretended that the other coun-
ties in the state through which the Bur.
lington runs get cent Of the valuation
taxation purposes. The Union Pacific
terminals are not supposed to be distrlb-
uted through the counties in which the
Union Pacific runs. but only on the line on
which the terminals are located, thus the
branch lines get not a cent of this val
luatior. While the democratic committee
and the railroads are trying to make the
people believe that to tax railroad termI-
nails and depots locally would be to give
to Omaha and take from the STATE the
facts are should the republican platform
he carried oIt nothing will be taken away,
ibut an additional tax will be added to the
railroads and every city and village in the
state where there is depot will be BEN
Gifted.
Testimony In Lumber Case.
Judge A. n. Post Of Columbus appointed
by the supreme court as referee TO take
Testimony in the sui. against the alleged
Lumber trust, began his work this morning
IN the supreme court room with the fol-
lowing lawyers present: Judge Sinclair Of
Eearney and Deputy Attorney General
Thompson representing the state, and J.
w. COPYRIGHT OF Fremont H. H. Baldrigc
81 Omaha, J. +. Trepler OF Minneapolis,
Charles Flludberg oc Lincoln Judge Kill
patrick and e c. Strobe o. Lincoln. rep
reseuting tbs defendants. Judge J. r.
STROBE, who is a partner of Lincoln's city
attorney, who was recently appointed as
sistant attorney general, is taking no part
IN the proceedings. How much time will
be consumed iE taking the testimony is not
known.
Secretary Critchfeld OF the Lumber
Dealers association was on the stand all
day and in the morning. NJ. L, Fries, de-
fendant was In the court room The
state, in laying the foundation for it's case,
81 Ill.
the association. A list OF dealers against
whom the suit was originally filed was
furnished the secretary and several of
these he sa!d were not members OF the
association and had not been at the time
of the commencement of the suit. The
day was spent in asking Mr.. Critehneld
about these defendants and why he dropped
their names from the roll of the associa-
ton
1t was brought out that Mr.. Critchheld
as secretary was practically the whole
thing i'm the association and investigated
complaints and attended to business with
cut calling q meeting Of the board Of d.
rcctors except when he wanted to. He
received salary Of $500 a month as secre-
tary, but used about $50 a month TO pay
for a stenographer and ONCE rent Late
in the afternoon Judge Sinclair began to
ask about certain complaints which had
been made by one dealer against another
for ''peaching" and as Mr.. Critchfield could
not recall the circumstances, an adjourn
ment was taken until morning. During
the night Judge Sinclair will make up a
formal request for the books and cores
pondence OF the association and Judge Post
will rule on this in the morning,
special Examination In Loup.
Because of a vacancy in the county SUI
perintendents ONCE In Loup county,
caused by the resignation OF the incumbent,
State Superintendent McBrien has issued
an announcement Of a special examination
IN Taylor, the county seat, to permit all
Of the candidates 10 qualify. In order to
occupy the position the elected candidate
must hold a frst-grade certificate. The