The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1907-01-12
Would Have Legislature Make
aLaW Preventing Combi-
nations of Capital.
is SAME AS SEN. HUGG'S
GENERAL ASSEMBLYS WHEELS
ARE WELL OILED AND MANY
BILLS WERE PREsENTED-TWO
CENT FARE LIKELY.
icy Demas S. coe.)


wheels well-oiled, the legislative ma
chinery of the sixty-fifth general as
sembly began moving today. In the
senate fifty bills were put into the
hopper, the authors anticipating, al
least hoping, that they will come
forth as laws. 1t required just forty
nine minutes by the clock for the fifty
bills to be presented, and the senate
thereby established a new record for
the record for the number of bills in
troduced SO early in the session
Across the corridor, in the house, the
one hundred legislators failed to do
as active work as their colleagues in
the senate had done, for but ten bills
made their appearance.
Senator Kirkman, of Wayne county
and Senator Martin Hugg, of Marion
county, shared honors in the first pre-
sentation of antitrust measures,
though Senator Hugg having an al
phabetical' advantage, his name ap-
pearing on the roll before that of
Senator Kirkman, his measure was re-
ceived first. The measures are prac-
tically identical, and are modelled aft
er proposed laws that have been under
consideration in past sessions. Sen
ator Kirkman's bill in part. follows:
BE it enacted by the general as
sembly of the state of Indiana, That
every contract. combination in the
form of trust or otherwise, or con-
spiracy in restraint of trade or COM
merce, is hereby declared to be lille
gal Every person who shall make
any such contract or enter or engage
in any such combination or conspira-
cy, either as principal or as an agent
orwenplo.e Of another person Or as an
officer or representative of any corpo-
ration. either domestic or foreign, or
in any manner whatsoever. shall be
deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and.
on conviction thereof, shall be punish
ed by fine of not less than one hun
dred dollars or more than five thous-
and dollars, or by Imprisonment in the
county Jail or workhouse, for a term
not exceeding one year, or by both
fine and imprisonment, in the dis
cretion of the court or jury by which
he is found guilty.
Penalties Within the State.
Every person who shall monopo-
lize or attempt to monopolize or COM
bine or conspire with any other per-
son or persons to monopoliZe any part
of the trade or commerce within this
state shall be deemed guilty of mis-
demeanor. and on conviction thereof.
rH.n he Itch hy fine nf lnCS
than 500 nor more than $4,000 or by
Imprisonment in the county Jail or
workhouse for a term not exceeding
one year, or by both fine and impris-
onment, in the discretion of the court
or jury by which he is found guilty"
Two Cent Fare Bills.
There were two-cent railroad fare
bills galore Six such measures were
presented in the house, one in the
senate All of them are simple in
form, providing merely that any rail-
road operating either in whole or in
part in Indiana, shall not charge pas
sengers at rate to exceed two cents
n mile for distances of five miles and
over There can be no questioning
the prevailing sentiment in the legis
lature on the question of cheaper rail
road fares. No matter whether the
railroads can show with degree OF
accuracy that they are not making
great sums from passenger traffic. but
depend upon the freight end of the
business for revenue. the minds of
n majority of the legislators appear to
have been made up. There will be
two-cent fare law without doubt, un-
less something should arise to change
the situation from what it was today. i
There is no indication either that the
railroads will make a great fight to
prevent the law from being enacted. +
At any rate there is no outward sign
of opposition and it is possible that
the companies realize that such a /
statute is inevitable.
Depository Bills.
There were numerous public depoS-
tory bills presented to the legislature /
today. and perhaps the most notable /
was that which came from Senator
Goodwine. one of the most conspicu-i
ous republicans in the upper branch /
Of the assembly. Senator Good
wines bin was outlined with respect 1
to it's effect in the handling OF state
funds. some weeks ago. Relative to
the county and city funds the measure
is as follows:
THE County finance board is to be
of the three county COM
the county auditor and
three voters of the county, one from
each commissioners district and of
opposite political faith from that of
MS respective commissioner. These
members are to be appointed by the
circuit Judge and are to receive So a
day while they are in session They
are to have no interest in any banks
or trust companies in the state. At
first each is TO serve until the commits
sioner from his district retires. and