Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1906-01-12
features, however, which i venture to

dates for all Offices filed by the voters,
and the Office of senator in the con-
gress of the United States.
Second-lt should provide q primary
election for all political parties, to BIZ
held ac the same place and time.
Thrd--It should provide that the
person receiving the highest number OF
votes for any particular office should be
the nominee of the party for such Office.
Fourth--It should provide that every
voter, II he votes at all, should vote the
ballot of the party with which he Is NJ
tliated.
Remember that am not advocatins
any especial bill. am advocating
only the spirit of a measure which when
1t becomes law will. as earnestly be-
lieve, promote the cause Of good govern
ment and the interest Of all the people.
Railroads.
There has been much discussion. not
only in our own state but elsewhere, re-
specting free transportation, or passes,
over railway lines. The practice Is VI
cious and should be prohibited. 1t is
utterly indefensble from any point OF
view. 1t il certainly not true that
every pass issued by railway company
is issued with corrupt intent. nor is II
true that every person receiving pass
accepts it with an unlawful motive.
great deal of free transportation has
been issued and is being issued in obedi-
ence to a custom that has become firm
~ fixed IN the gradual growth Of years.
1t is, however, true that the system has
taken on such proportions and is so gem
orally used to influence public opinion
and bride public officers that it should
be abolished, root and branch. l shall
endeavor to point out in another part OF
my message how natural it is-indeed,
how inevitable it is--for railway COM
panies, in common with other great cor
porations. to attempt to direct the
course of government and mould it's
policies to promote their own interests.
1t is to be expected that railway man
ayers will endeavor with all their might
and main to secure the enactment OF
such laws as will make their properties
more valuable and their revenues more
ample. 1t is to be expected that they
will exhaust every influence to prevent
the passage of laws which restrain or
regulate their practices. In 50 far
as they can accomplish these results
by fair, open argument, they are emit.
tied to all the victories they can win;
but when they use free transportation
to tempt either the private citizen or
the public official into friendly coopera-
ton; when they employ the pass to
turn activity into apathy or to convett
independence into servility; in short,
when they pay men to ignore the public
good and forget the general welfare, they
commit crime against the fundamental
tenet OF free government. 1t g wholly
impossible to discriminate between those
who can be influenced with such oourte.
sizes and those who cannot and there
fore II the remedy is to be commen-
surate with the evil it must prohibit
all free transportation. This IL right
from any point of view. The railways
are public highways, and all persons
n nnftt I'D To =
terms under like conditions. Under
the pass system those who are best able
to pay travel for nothing, and those
who are least able make up The loss
l earnestly recommend the adoption of
law which shall have no exemptions
to the prohibition except two, and they
are not, when properly analysed, excep-
tiOns. Persons in the service Of a rail-
way company who receive passes by
the custom Of the companies us 4 part
of their compensation should 5e per-
mitted to receive them, and the stock
shipper, who must either accompany his
stock or send someone in his stead,
should be allowed free transportation and
return to his home, because an attend
ant is necessary to. care for the stock
and the transportation for such an at
tendant is a part of the freight charge.
In some states in which there are stat
utes against passes, the attempt is made
to limit the prohibition to persons hold.
ing official position. regard such
statutes as altogether inadequate for
there is as much harm in giving free
| transportation to prominent men, to
| leaders in political contests and to dele
gates to conventions as there is in Civ
| ing them to men after they have been
| elected to office. l sincerely hope tina.
your patriotic judgment will lead you
to make an end, once for all, of this
custom, not part of it but all of it,
condemned as it is by the universal
opinion Of mankind. 1t will be under.
stood that what l have said about rail
ways applies with equal force TO street
railways, telegraph, telephone, express
companies and sleeping car companies
in short, to all public service corpora
ticns. au.,
| respectfully recommend, also, SIR
| Their regulation with respect to passen.
ger fares upon railways. At, the pre-
sent time, the ordinary traveller pays
sell mileage book covering 1000 miles
OF travel, good for one year, at the
rate of three cents per mile with re.
bate for the mileage, to be exhausted
within the year, of $3.50, or substanti-
ally one cent per mile. They have al
| 50 a credential system which involves
a travel of 1000 miles within the same
period, with a rebate of one cent per
| mile. l am unable to perceive the
equity of fairness of these rules. If
the mileage book plan be a good one.
| it seems to me that you should require
| the railways to sell mileage boOks, good
| for 1000 miles and upwards, at fiat
| rate of two cents per mile, good until
used, and if purchased by the head of
a family there is no reason why it
should not be used by any member of
| the family. l understand and ap-
preciate the difficulties of Identification,
difficulties are not insurmountable, and
believe the effect of such legislation
would be to at once tighten the burdens
| of the people and increase the revenue
of the railways. The man who travels
little IS at present at too great dis
advantage as compared with the man
who travels much.
''long and short haul' clause in our sta
tute absolutely forbids railway fro12
| charging a less passenger fare for 4
greater distance than lesser one on
the same line. The general justice OF
| such provision is unquestionable, but
believe that there are circumstances
permitted to meet competition without
! affecting intermediate points. You
will better understand what mean
through an illustration. A passenger
| desiring to travel from Des Moines to
al routes. The Chicago and Great
| Western line is the shortest route, and
| the fare which that company is per-
| mltted to charge is three cents per mile.
can see no good reason why the
Chicago and Northwestern, for instance,
should not be permitted to carry the
passenger for the same fare that Is al