The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-05-09
GUARANTEED under the Food and Drugs Act June 3O

that Hitchcock, of Tioga, the sham re
| former is not in this roll of honor. IL,
obeyed the machine mandate a
promptly as any of the servile slave
who make no false professions of hon
esty.
| BUSY WEEK IN THE LEGISLATURE.
Last week was period Of achieve
ment in the matter of legislation. Tn,
House held three sessions day as us
| ual and most of them were drawn out
to something more than the usua
length. The body is doing good work
moreover, which is gratifying, if no
surprising. That is to say it has passed
some very excellent legislation which
will, of course, be buried in the Sena
torial sarcophagus later on. 1t tails IN
important emergencies, some times
however, as in the defeat of the resolu
tion to put the Oster bill providing fol
the sale of unused or misused railroad
franchises on the calendar. That bill
was aimed at the South Penn railroad
which was chartered back in the early
eighties for the purpose of creating
competitive railroad facilities between
the Eastern and Western borders of the
State. After several millions had been
expended on the enterprises the prop
erty was absorbed by the Pennsylvania
railroad and abandoned. OF course that
action deprives the people of the South
ern tier of counties of needed railroad
facilities and those of all sections of
competitive service.
The argument against the Oster bill
was that the present owrers, having
expended vast sums of money to ac-
quire the property, the seizure and sale
of it would be something in the nature
of confiscation. That is literally alb
surd. In the beginning the purchase
was made in violation of the funda-
mental law of the State and conse-
quently invalid. Therefore the pur-
chasers have no claim to consideration
The only Just claim in connection with
the transaction is that the people who
were outraged by the juggling of the
franchises, The only purpose of rail-
road charter is to provide the people
with needed facilities to operate their
business and enjoy the pursuit Of hap
piness. Some of the corporation pi-
rates imagine that charters are for the
purpose of giving them, for nothing,
valuable property, which they imme-
dately christen "vested rights" 1" That
is utterly and criminally absurd and i'm
the case in question a full measure of
justice would not only confiscate the
property but would put those concern
ed in the original crime in the peniten-
tiary.
There is hopeful sign in the fact
that Creasy's "trust busting" bill got
through the House finally and is likely
to get through the committee of the
Senate, even if it gets no further. This
achievement of the Democrats of the
House is the fruit of vigilance, energy,
assiduity and courage. Early in the
session there were signs of differences
in purpose among the Democrats which
were ominous. But lately that admir-
able little group of earnest men have
been pulling together splendidly and
efficiently. 1t would take too much
space to name all of them and where
all are efficient it is invidous to make
distinctions. But l may be permitted
to refer especially to Minehart, Sipes,
Blakeslee, Dersham, Mcintyre, Price,
Noll, TroXell and Enright, who have
supported the honest leadership of Mr..
Greasy with courage and consistency.
1t makes one proud of his party to wit
ness such fidelity in an era of recreancy.