The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-03-13

20 advocate IL publicly except 6alaL9f
Wilson
Senator Peterson. who had intro
duced the bill, advocated a 2-cent rate
and opposed the 2!h-cent amendmea it.
He claimed that the railroads had
brought the situation upon themselves
by excessive charges on freight and
did not advocate or attempt to reply
to Senator Wilson's argument that it
was unfair and unjust to enforce a 2
cent rate
Senator Durment of st Paul did not
| In reality oppose the 2-cent rate, but
| he thought there was serious doubt
whether it was constitutional and
could be enforced and he wished TO
offer another amendment which would
make it constitutional Later in the
session he offered his amendment and
1t received only two votes besides his
own. When the roll was called upon
the amendment offered by Senator
Hardy there were Is affirmative votes
and 43 negative
Applies to Every Railroad.
As an evidence of the temper of
the senate it can be stated Senator
Iaybourn Of Duluth offered an amend
ment that the 2-cent fare should not
apply except to roads over five miles
long. His reason for Offering this was
that there is a full fedged railroad in
Duluth which is only two miles long
and that this road charged cents
|. fare for communication tickets and
cents fare for single rides He argued
that it would really confscate the
property to apply this law to that
road, but his amendment was twice
voted down. as it applied to different
sections of the proposed law, one time
receiving is affirmative to 43 negative
votes and the other time receiving q
affirmative to 80 negative votes. After
two or three hours debate the original
bill was put on for final passage and
was adopted by So yeas to nays
To guard against accidents after the
bill was passed Senator Clague moved
that the vote whereby the bill was
passed be recOnsidered and asked that
his motion be voted down This was
~ ND"At2C iCi tliC pa ia = III
pose of preventing the reconsideration
of the blu at any later period The
senate bill is due to go into effect on
July /, while the house bill. which
had previously passed. goes into effect
on May /, consequently the senate bill
must go bac'- 10 the house, but there
will undouh IDLY be a concurrence of
tho NJ -, NH 4f,a JozY- o-Do- S,+
effect e91 consequently so far as the
legis1o, re is concerned it is over.
Anti-Pass. Bill Approved.
Whether the railroads will take the
matter into the courts on the consti-
tutionality eff the bill as intimated in
the senate is a matter which the flu
ture must reveal. Following the pas
sage of the 2-cent bill the anti-pass
bill, its companion, was taken up 1t
had been argued during the original
debate that preventing the issuing Of
passes would enable the railroads to
make enough money to recoup their
losses fer carrying passengers for 2
cents per mile These are problems
for the future which I do not care to
discuss. While the anti-pass bill was
under consideration Senator Hall,
chairman of the railroad committee,
offered the following amendment:
Provided, That nothing in this act
shall prevent owners or publishers Of
newspapers in this state from receiv-
Ing free transportation or mileage in
payment for Advertising"
The standing Of the newspapers was
Illustrated by the promptness with
which this amendment was voted
down. The roll call on the anti-pass
bill showed unanimous vote, 60 yeas
and no nays. The argument of Sen
ator Peterson on both bills was that
no amendment of any description
should be allowed to either bill and
that the legislature should go the
whole length and take no chances by
leaving any loophole for legal contro-
versy.
AS this matter is liable to be the
subject of much future controversy /
have calmly recorded the argument
pro and con, Senator Witherstine's
and Senator Wilson'S positions prac-
tically representing the whole situa-
ton. The legislature unquestionably
represented the popular sentiment as
developed in political discussion, bur
whether the controversy was abso-
Iutely ended remains for the future.
sundberg Committee Still at It.
The measures noted have been the
absorbing topics of the week in and
out CT the legislature Meantime Sen
ator Sundberg's committee has been
industriouslY at work to ascertain
what the railroads have cost in order
to ascertain whether they are making
undIe profits. That this report will
be completed in its entirety before
the session adjourns seems quite prob
lematical. 1t was stated in the debate
that the railroad commission of Wis
consin began last April to ascertain
this fact in that state in order to de-
termine whether railroad fares should