Mower County transcript., 1907-03-06

.'-s .s---
10 Indication of approval. While
very few voted for Senator Hardy
amendment Ri there wa not & another
senator on the floor 10 was willing
to- advocate 1t publicly except Senator
Wilson. "
Senator Peterson who had ]. intro.
duced the bill, d advocated g s2-cent rate ]:
and opposed the 221kk rs cent an a ndmentt.E l1'
He claimed that the railroads had 1aytl I
brought the situat ion upon themse selves
BY. excessive charges on freight and g.
did not advocate or attempt to reply
to Senator Wilson'S argument that II y
was unfair and unjust to enforce -
cent rate. 3ss a: ]. VI ,:g Ssss. 8
Senator Durment Of st Paul did not
In reality oppose the 2-cent rate, but
he thought there was a serious doubt 5't !
whether it was constitutf tfonal and
could be enforced and he wished to-
offer another amendment which would a
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
Hardy there were 1S affirmative votes
and 43 negative. = y. Z
Applies to Every Railroad.
AS an evidence of the temper Of
the senate it can be stated Senator
ELaybourn 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 full fledged railroad in
Duluth which is only two miles long
! and that this road charged cents
fare for Communication tickets and T.
cents fare for single-rides. He argued
/ that it would really conascate the
property to apply this law to that
i road, but his amendment was twice
, voted down, as it applied to- different
sections of the proposed law, one time
receiving 1S affirmative to 43 negative
votes and the other time receiving "a
affirmative to 80 negative votes. After
two or three hours debate the original
bill was put on for final passage and
was adopted by. IS yeas to 6 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
! Of course for the parliamentary pur-
pose of preventing the reconsideration
! of the bill 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 I, consequently the senate bill
must go back to the house, but there
will undoubtedly be a concurrence of
the date as to when the law goes into
effect and consequently so far as: the
legislature is concerned it is over.
Anti-Pass Bill Approved.
| Whether the railroads will take the
matter into the courts on the consti-
tutionality of the bill as intimated in
the senate is a matter which the fu-
ture must reveal. Following the pas
sage of the 2-cent bill the anti-pass
i bill, it's 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
i losses for carrying passengers for 2
cents per mile. These are problems
for the future which l 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 %& 81"
| 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 a unanimous vote, 62 yeas
:! and no nays. The argument of Sen
] ator Peterson on both bills was that
! should be allowed to either bill and
j that the legislature should go the
! whole length and take no chances by
leaving any loophole for legal contro-
! versy. !,., +. z....s. 4. 5I. Il. /. s s.5.
| AS this matter is liable to be the
subject of much future controversy
| have calmly recorded the, argument
pro and con, Senator Witherstines
and Senator Wilson's positions prac-
tically representing the whole situa-
tion. The Legislature inquest tionably
represented the popular sentiment as
developed in political discussion, but
whether the controversy was abso-
lutely ended remains for the future.
sundberg Committee Still at II.
The measures noted have been the
absorbing topics of the week in and
out Of the legislature eantime Sen
ator Sundberg's committee has been
industrio iousl " at 6 work to. ascertain
what the railroads have cost. in order
Ito ascertain whether they are making
taundue profits. IS That this report will
be completed IN its entirety before
the session adjourns seems quite prob
/ lematical. was stated III the debate
that the railroad commis ission 6of wis