The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1906-12-15

Eugene, Dec. 5.-The attandou
the shippers meeting was 50 ms
larger than was expected that tbo :.
inal intention of holding it at thu a. :
mercial club rooms was abandoned
the large courtroom at the courtbor
was secured. Even this was sllsas
overlooking, every seat being occu.;,
at both afternoon and evening sesa;a,s
Promptly at O'Clock the meetino
called to order by Chairman Wb;t..
who, in few words, stated its ob;.u
II. L. Thompson was chosen sec,a.s
Railroad legislation, drastic to I'D 4
limit, seems to be the penalty that ,' ar
be inflicted on the Hartman svstan ~ Z.
its failure to supply cars to the Orea ~
shippers. The meeting today broussh M
together, among other delegates q na.
Der of men who have been uracties sa
ruined by the car shortage and maa
others who are lowering on the hr sl
of bankruptcy. D''''
Unlike the usual run of patberiD,,
of this nature, very few of the shines
especially lumbermen, were too 'f brs.
to attend. In fact, most of Them ~
several weeks have had nothing to d.
except to lie around in idleness .rI
curse the railroad companies.
This sentiment of resentment ub;.1
was SO pronounced, was at the baein'
ming of the meeting reflected in the IN
troductory remarks of Chairman
Whitson, president of the Eugene Com.
mercial club, when he stated that ri,
meeting was not for the purpose ofs
heart-to-heart talk with the railroaJ
men. He declared that it was too lsts
for any more conferences and that tbs
time had now come when the shinpe,s
must strike at the "head of the GREAT
octopus" by means of legislation which
would produce results which time had
proved it impossible to obtain tbrouob
any efforts that might be put forth
with local railroad men.
1t was noticeable feature of the sst
speeches made, that no attempt was
made to place the blame on local off,
Gals, those officials in nearly every
case being mentioned in complimen
tary terms.
A definite understanding as to inst
what kind of legislation would Be
sought at Salem was not reached. Re-
demurrage and maximum rate
bills are almost certain to be demand.
ed, and there is considerable sentiment
favoring railroad commission bill.
There is little difference of opinion,
however, as to the kind of commission
to be asked, and the majority of those
favoring commission are not in favor
Of allowing the appointing powerto
rest with the governor, their conten-
tion being that the commission should
not be in politics.
The interest which the coming legis-
lature will have in the matter was
shown by the presence at the meeting
ioday OF the following members: Ses-
ators Kay, of Marion; Miller, of Linn,
Marion and Lane; Booth Of Douglas,
Josephine and Lane; Multi, of Jack-
son; Johnson, of Benton; Loughery,
II Polk, and Hodson, of Multnomah,
md Representatives Rodgers, of Mar
on; Brown and Upmeyer, of Linn;
1aton and Edwards, of Lane; jackson,
II Douglas, and Jones, of Lincoln.
The suggestion of W. M. Killings.
yorth that something be done to break
he strangle hold of the Southern Pa
Inc ON such a large amount of the pub
&c domain was received with wild ap-
'lause. This same subject was revert
q to later by Representatives,
dul1t, OF Ashland, who asserted that
ne-half the land of jackson county
vas owned by the Southern Pacific.
lie most emphatically stated that at
he coming session of the Legislature be
7ouid introduce bill providing that
ctlon be commenced against the
outhern Pacific for its refusal to sell
hese lands at the price fixed by the
overnment.
railing in this, he said he would en-
eavor to secure the passage of reso-
ltion calling on congress to pass law
'rclng the road to sell the land.
1t will be seen from this that car
lortage legislation is not the only
'ouble that will confront the Southern
aciilc at the next meeting of the legls-
.tura and IL tba soo+;,,,o.,+ of +1,a rao.
lie remains at its present white heat
atll the legislature meets, it will be
'mparatively easy to pass almost any
md OF an anti-railroad bill that may
me IN.