Arizona republican., 1906-08-31
RAILROAD RAIE LAW
 EFFfCT IN ARIZONA
It's First Hardship Was Visited On a
 Hundred Miners.

The interstate commerce law has been in effect twenty-four hours but within that period Yavapai county has experienced the injustice of one of it's principal provisions, says the Journat- Miner.
 One hundred miners from McCabe made application for a special train m order to attend the funeral of a dead comrade' which took place yesterday fu Prescott. General Passenger Agent Jones was obliged to deny their appli- cation because the interstate commerc, act which just went into effect po5i- uVeiy prohibits a railroad company from making any special rates. or changing its rates without previously giving thirty days notice to the inter state commerce commission To vio- late this law would subject the com pany to a fine of $5OOO The McCabe miners. knowing that special rates had been made to baseball excursions uD to that time, and not understandfney the rigid provisions of the new law. which became operative yesterday. the day of tae funeral, fancied that the railroad was discriminating against them be- cause of their union affiliations. and when they arrived in town yesterday
 N-NSA SiiA0iy DilNCI III lIGlr com platnts against what they believed to have been unfair treatment. Later in the day officers of the McCabe union Were requested to call upon President Mm phy, and doing so they were made acquainted with the circumstances and are now satisfied that there was no Just cause for grievance against the railway provisions.
 MT Murphy, president of the Santa Fe. Prescott and Phoenix Railway com pany. yesterday wired the interstate commerce commission as follows:
 Chairman Interstate Commerce Com
 mission, Washington, D. c.
 As I interpret interstate commerce! act effective yesterday, railroads this 'erritory deprived of privilege of mak- ing special or excursion rates except on notice as required. even though same thrown open to public. We were obliged to refuse one fare round trip requested by 100 miners desirous of extending funeral in Prescott today. They are complaining bitterly Can not some immediate action be taken by commission that will allow railroad company to cooperate with patrons for mutual benefit when same can be done without discrimination as to individu- als or communities?
 F. M. MURPHY,
 The foregoing telegram was sent as the result of an interview between MT. 1 Murphy and Messrs. Leggett and Col lagher, two representatives of the min CTS union of McCabe. Until the req sons were pointed out to them by Mir Murphy the visitors were firmly of the belief that the railroad company. in not granting the desired favor of a special ty af -aI,- discriminating against the miners of McCabe. After Mir. Murphy had thor oughly explained the provisions of the new interstate commerce law, which distinctly provides that no change fin rates can be made without first giving thirty days notice to the commission, ! the miners departed in a better frame 1 of mind. and expressed themselves sat l fried that the railroads action admit 1 ted of no other alternative.
 Mr. Murphy later stated to the Jour 3 al-Miner that he deeply regretted the inability of thc company to accommo- l date the miners. and had it been pos sible for such a request to have been made before the new law became op- erative that it would have been promptly and cheerfully granted.
 It is to be deplored that the framers of the Hepburn bill did not give more consideration to the needs of the west, particularly to a section like Arizona. the present development of which has been chiefly brought about through the assistance given to it through the rail- roads. This is particularly true in northern Arizona. where the spirit of operation evinced by the Santa Fe has not only been manifested in the ex- tension of it's lines into practically virgin and unproductive territory. but also in a more concrete and direct form. The big shelter at Humboldt would probably never have been built and the mining indUstrV of Yavapai county would have continued to languish had not the Santa Fe shown it's confidence in the resources of the country by con- tributing $2OO,00O to the enterprise, ds a means of inducing eastern capital to establish the plant. The company even went further and made low rates on ores from all parts of the territory in order that the miner might ship his poduct to the smelter, and b. assured of a profit