The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-06-29
D. R. c. CROWD
HEARS LAMAR
CONGRESSMAN Discusses the
Recent Legislation
on Railroads.
Refers to Part Played by
Unionisn in Getting
Good for Public.
A GREAT CROWD HEARS HIM AT
MAGNOLIA BLUFF-HlS OPPO-
NENT IN THE CAMPAIGN is
DETAINED OUT OF TOWN, AND
THEREFORE UNABLE TO KEEP
ENGAGEMENT TO SPEAK.


Those who had anticipated hearing
both Congressman Lamar and Hon.
J. Walter Keboe, who is also can
didate for primary nomination for
congress from this district, were dis
appointed yesterday, for business
kept Mr. KehOe out of town, and he
was unable to get to the o. R. c.
picnic at Magnolia Bluff to keep his
appointment with Mr.. Lamar and the
public.
At $50 p. m. the crowd gathered
in the pavilion. v. A. BlOunt, Jr.,
delivered a short address, welcoming
those present in behalf of the Order
of Railway Conductors. He stated
that it had been the intention Of the
committee in charge of the picnic to
have Hon. J. Walter KehOe address
the crowd, but Mr.. KehOe was in
another part of the state, and could
not be present.
Mr. Blount then, in very eloquent
and mplimentary terms, presented
| to the audience the popular congress
man from the third district, Hon. w.
B. Lamar, who spoke in part as fol
| lows:
Mr.. IandrS ADDRESS.
| I'VE are the guests today of the
noble Order of Railway Conductors.
| l say noble because it is a noble
profession, in which the body and
mind of its membership are cOnse-
Grated to the safety of the lives of
their fellow men.
In the crash of colliding and
wrecked trains. in flames that
speedily consume blazing cars, these
noble and heroic men give up. at fire.
quent intervals, their own lives, that
others may not die.
All honor then to the noble Order
of Railway Conductors. We are happy
| to be with you today. We are proud
| to be your guests on this occasion.
! 1T is pertinent on this occasion for
me to say some things about your rela-
ton to the. railroads of the country.
| No public man, of any claim to fair
ness or intelligence, should permit
| himself to indulge at this time in any
mere defamation or abuse of rail
roads.
Great and Useful
! Railroads are chartered by the
people to subserve great and useful
purposes. The people endOw them
with the power of eminent domain
the right to condemn land, and take
| it for railroad use, by paying it's
value to the owner. They have been
allowed for fifty years almost to fix
! their own rates Of passenger and
| freight tolls. For about the same
| length of time, it has been thought
that railroads were private concerns,
with which the legislatures Of the
states. and the congress of the
:. United States, had no power to inter
| fere.
But gradually there came a better
and more just understanding of +HC
nature of railway property The courts
defined it to be private property, bat
with public use attached to it. Upon
that ground, state legislatures and con-
gress have enacted laws compelling
| railroads TO equip themselves with
safety appliances. The railroads at
! first bitterly resented this legislation.
And TO show how they shall resist it,
/ need only point TO the fact that in
| the past few months. the attorney
general of the United States has in
stitued many penalty suits against
many railroads 10 fine them heavily
for their neglect to add safety app.i-
ances to their trains.
Employers Liability.
Again, the employers liability act
! on interstate roads, was lately en-
acted by the United States congress
| both voted and spoke for that law,
on the floor of the house of reprcsen-
tatives In 1887 when ! was a mem
Der of the Florida Legislature. I intro
duced an employers liability act. Il
became a law. II protects, with the
amendments to il. the lives and limbs
of railway employees And that Jaw
in this state breaks down the Old and
q
law, which made any negligence a bar
TO a damage recovery by the employe.
1t fixes a more lust rule Of law Il
prescribes that the Jury trying thC
case shall award damages to the en-
plOye. if the railroad is guilty of Il
greater negligence than the injured
or killed emplOye. Surely that is bat
Justice
president ROsevelt's recommended
ton that the employe or his family
shall receive damages, whether he
was guilty of negligence or not, if he
was injured or killed, is based on the
extra hazardness Of the life of raj
| way employee. If | find that recon-
mendation just and proper, l vii
heartily support il.
IN 1891 as attorney general OF
! Florida. I placed in my biennial re-
port a Recommendation that the Ieeis-
! lature of Florida fix shorter and
reasonable hours of labor for railway
employees, that the long continuous
hours of their labor be shortened 5v
law I have supported such measures
! az Washington and l shall continue to
I do TO so.
UnioniSm.
ITO accomplish these reforms, and
! general benevolent purposes there
grew the Order of Railway COnduc =
ors and other associations with rail