Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-04-03
SESSION KEARS END
CLOSING WEEK OF THIRTY-sEc.
oND GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
Include Primary Election Bill, Two.
Cent Fare and Joint Freight Rate
BiIIs-Many LegaIizing Acts Passed.

INCLUDE primary ELECTION Bill, TWO
Cent Fare and Joint Freight Rate
BiIls-Many LegaIizing Acts Passed.
Des Moines, April 1.-THE last week
of the session of the Thirty-second
general assembly of Iowa is we'll un.
| DER way and from this time things
will go forward with a greater rush
than ever. More than 900 bills have
| been introduced since the legislators
met on the 14th of January, but when
the final accounting is had at the close
| OF the session it will be found that
| less than one-third of that number
| have been enacted into law, and OF
these the great majority of measures
are corrective or legalizing acts. The
important bills of the session, as
usual, can almost be counted on the
| fingers of the two hands. They in
| clude the primary election bill, the
2-cent fare bill, the joint freight rate
bill, the bill giving railroad commits
sioners large extension of powers, the
municipal reform bills, and the gov.
eminent by commission bill in aid of
Des Moines and other cities OF $4,000
or more population. OF course, there
are other measures in which the peo-
| pie will be interested and by which
| they will be benefited, but those emu
| merated form the bulk of what has
been deemed important legislation,
and il the assembly had done nothing
| but pass these bills it would go down
in history as one of the most import
ant legislatures ever assembled in the
state.
Joint Freight Rates.
Senator Jameson of Page county,
who is the author of the joint freight
rate bill which passed both houses by
practically unanimous vote, consid.
ers the measure more important and
of more real value to the people of
the state of Iowa than even the 2-cent
fare bill. In presenting the merits
of the bill to the assembly Senator
Jameson said it would prove of i'm
mense benefit to the manufacturing in.
dustries of the state, and gave sew
eral illustrations of the workings of
the present system of freight rates
detrimental to Iowa shippers and deal
ers. Instances affecting his own city
of Shenandoah were given. He cited
a shipment from Shenandoah to Cres-
cent, sixty miles; the minimum charge
on small shipments includes two To-
Gals and a transfer and the charge is
G ant
st. Louis to Crescent, through Shen-
andoah, over the same tracks and in
the same car, with the transfer
charges at Council Bluffs, would cost
a total of rs cents. The distance is
seven times as great and the charge
is only one.third as much. The ratio
of discrimination against the Iowa
manufacturer affected he showed was
2 Ito !.
AS another illustration he said:
If farmer near Sioux Center wants
Ito ship fifty-pound bag of seed corn
from Shenandoah by way of Council
Bluffs, over the Wabash and North
western, to Sioux City and from there
over the Great Northern, he would
have to pay three locals and two
transfers, total of $1.25. If farm
er living at Worthington. Mimi. or
near St. Paul made the same ship.
ment, it would cost him 20 cents. a
discrimination in that case of to /.
Again, he said: There are two of
the largest nurseries in the world at
! Shenandoah. Ii farmer living close
TO Dubuque. on the Iowa side, wanted
to ship thousand pounds Of nursery
stock from Shenandoah to his farm
over two lines of road it would cost
him $500. He could go over the same
lines through Dubuque and to the east
side. of the Mississippi river to ILL
nois and it would cost him but Sc,
difference of $3.50.
The Jameson bill gives the board
OF railroad commissioners power to
fix joint rates between Iowa points
and it is expected this discrimination
will be done away with.
/ Few Freak Bills.
| This Legislature has been remark
ably free from freak bills. A year
hSO Representative Wyldnu VI SHGlUy
made himself somewhat famous by
introducing a resolution at the request
of some nervous women OF his home
town to prevent honey bees and other
| like insects from roaming at large
about the streets of the town, and
buckingham of Buena Vista had bill
providing for the legal taking OF the
life of helpless cripples and hopeless
sick persons. Neither of these bills
have been duplicated this session be-
cause the members have been con-
fronted with the faces of new repre-
sentatives from Shelby and Buena
Vista. showing the wrath of the peo-
pie as visited upon freak statesmen.
But in milder form some bills of a
peculiar nature have been presented.
There was one by Senator Gale OF
Mason City, bill in rhyme, provid.
Ing that the executive council OF the
state should supply all Iowa hens
with automatic rubber stamps and
| that tho banc must MN o, aanh 1u.