The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-02-28

agreement that will be acceptable
to advocates of real rate reduc-
ton. Many of the senators ex.
pressed themselves as. being dis
pleased with the bill while voting
for 1T, but supported the same as
the only proposition upon whlch
a majority had been able to get
together. It passed the senate by
an almost unanimous vote and
even the railroads do not appear
to be disturbed about it. The
concensus of opinion seems to be
that this bill does not reduce rates
and should not become q law. It
remains to be seen what will be
done along this line.
Referring further to the matter
of passenger rates, l will say that
the following suggested bill seems
to meet with more general favor
than any suggestion heretofore
proposed and many believe 1t
would be the best solution of the
question, being substantially the
same as Senator Daniels substi-
tute, which was rejected by the
senate on Friday:
"The General Assembly of North
Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That no railroad company
dolng business a q common carrier Of
passengers in the State of North Caro-
lima shall charge, demand or receive
for transporting any passenger and his
or her baggage, not exceeding i'm weight
two hundred pounds, in excess Of the
following charges, tO-wit: 24 cents
per mile.
Sec. 2. That all railroads shall sell in
Interchangeable mileage nj q rate not to
exceed u cents q mile.
Sec. 3. That all railroad companies
shall furnish separate cars or compart-
ments for the two races.
Sec. 4. That any railroad company
violating any provision of this act shall
be liable to q penalty of n hundred
dollars for each violation and recover
able in an action TO be instituted in the
name Of said person in any court of the
State having competent Jurisdiction
thereof.
Sec. 5. That this act shall be in force
from and after July LIST, 1907"
Little legislation of general in
terest has been enacted by the
present General Assembly. Num-
erous local laws have gone through
and hundreds of others are pend
ing. Two weeks only remain of
the sixty days session provided
for in the Constitution, with q
crowded calendar in each house, SO
the duties of both members and
clerks will be exacting during the
remainder of the time. The writ
er has no official connection with
either house this time, but Is of
ten an interested spectator at
committee meetings and during
the sessions of both the House
and Senate, especially at night.
Nothing Radical, or dangerous
has been passed through both
branches and there is now little
chance for such a contingency.
More conservatism 10 being dis
played among the legislators than
was anticipated at the beginning
of the. present session, otter the
work of the first week. At that
time they, or some of them, ap-
peared to be determined upon
regulating about everything in
the State, but there is no such in
clination apparent here at this
writing. The idea now Is to give
attention to matters that appear
to be important and let minor af-
fairs take care of themselves"
There is small chance for radical
ism to get a hold "at this late
day" and I now believe the pres
emit Legislature will do little that
is calculated to provoke criticism.
A bill has passed the House
which provides for an appropria-
ton of SIS, 900 per annum, to be
paid out of the Agricultural De-
nartment for the purpose of at.