The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-30
Senator Campaigning In Old
Seventh District.
Says That Attempt Has Been
Made to Mislead People.
REDUCTION OF RATES.
Shows That Those on Grain
Are Four Cents Less.
One of the Results of the Hep
burn Law.


here Wednesday afternoon, returning
again to the old Seventh district in
the closing days of the senatorial cam
paign. Senator Long declared for the
creation of an administrative body to
take the executive duties off the
shoulders of the interstate commerce
commission and relieve it of all duties
except those of investigation and rate
making.
Senator Long stated that he had
long favored this idea. He said he
had advanced it at Wichita at the
time of hia famous address to the
chamber of commerce that became
known later as the Wichita incident"
He favored it during the tendency
and making of the Hepburn bill, and
tried to have 1t Incorporated in that
bill. He believed he said, that the du-
ties of investigating complaints and
deciding what were just and reason
able rates were sufficient to employ
all the time and the best efforts of the
members of the interstate commerce
commission. There should be, he said,
an Independent, administrative body.
bureau, or officer of the government
upon whom would devolve the execu-
tive duties now performed by the
commission.
TO this southern Kansas audience the
value of the Hepburn railroad rate
law, and what it had done for Kan
sas. He stated that the cents per
hundred reduction of wheat. made
year ago had saved to Kansas, on the
basis of the 1906 crop. more than
million dollars.
Senator Long spoke sharply of Mr..
Bristow and what he termed the false
impression his opponent had endeav-
Z IL
called attention to Mr.. Bristow's
statement at Wichita July 10 that he.
Bristow. had cited the discrimination
against southern Kansas grain for
export in a speech he, Bristow, had
Inado at Caldwell in Aug. 1906. Sena-
tor Long stated Mr.. Bristow sought
10 leave the impression that the rates
in effect on export grain to the gulf
in August, 1905. were still in force and
effect, when. in truth. Mr.. Bristow
knew they were not. Senator Long
said that after the Bristow Caldwell
speech was made m August, 1906, the
Hepburn railroad rate law. so despised
by La-Follette and Bristow, and which
they declare as only good to the big
shipper. went into effect.
Under the Hepburn law, and In July
1907. Senator Long showed that the
Farmers and Merchants club of Pratt.
the southern Kansas millers interven-
ing, had made formal complaint to the
hearing and investigation had been
had, and the rate on export wheat to
the gulf had been reduced cents per
hundred pounds. This reduced rate
was now, said Senator Long, and had
been for a year in effect. The rates
now in effect are not those of the rail-
81 roads. he said, but those of the inter-
state commerce commission. And II
they are not low enough yet as Is pos
sibly the case. said Senator Long, an
other complaint can be made and
hearing had.
Senator Long called attention to the
fact that the interstate commerce
commission in its decision stated that
rates were not further reduced be-
cause il was thought not best to dis
turb the whole fabric of rates. and put
the milling industry of southern Kan
sas in jeopardy.
Senator Long scored Mr.. Bristow
for leaving such a false impression in
southern Kansas, and stated that the
people had a right to know the facts
He cited the growing importance OF
Wichita as a grain distributing point
since this decision. and said that there
was not a wheatgrower in Harper
county and southern Kansas who had
not felt the benefit of this decision.
The decision was made, said Sena-
tor Long, under the Hepburn railroad
rate law, looked down upon by Sena-
tor LaFollette and Mr. Bristow. AS
for himself, said Senator Long. the
proudest act of his legislative career
was the part he had played in making
the Hepburn law which had given this
important RELIEF.
Senator Long discussed the entire
question of the railroads. Valuation.
long and short haul, overcapitalization,
and the like: and expressed the great
est satisfaction that the Chicago plat
form had so strongly Endorsed the Hep
= H.. al hnA ftal1xy n
dorsed, time and again. by both Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Mr.. Taft, said the
senator.
Senator Long made a. long jump to
Anthony He spoke Tuesday afternoon
Moline in, that county; and then char
tered little special train of his own.
for which he paid good money, and
ran to wellington and got a shor.
sleep He then came to Anthony in the
morning. and az he changed cars at
Harper he was Joined by about fifty
Harper Republicans and their band
Reaching Anthony. the Attica band
sized delegation of Anthony Republi-
cans. The crowd marched uptown
both bands playing.
The meeting was held in the open
air in the courthouse yard. There was
q large crowd, and many were present
from adjoining counties and from al
over Harper county. Scores were there
who. as elsewhere in the old Seventh
have met Mr.. Long this year, have
been his loyal supporters for sixteen
years, since he was first a candidate
for congress in this district. In Harper
county, too, there is another bond due
to propinquity to Barber county, the
senator's home, and to the fact that
before going to congress Senator Long
represented this county in the state
senate.
Harper county was one of the Popu
list strongholds. Many years ago i
WAS one of the hitter counties in tht