The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-08
GOES GLIMMER|NC
Last Hope of Utilities Bill Is
Dispelled.
Morgan Measures Are Slaughter
ed in the Senate.
FITZGERALD'S WATCH
Lieutenant Governor Recipient
of Beautiful Watch.
FITZGERALD'S WATCH
Senator Porter, President Fro
Tenn Is Also Remembered.

PUBIC utility legiSla ton at this session
of the legislature went a-glimmerine.
saturday night when the senate. in
committee of the whole, amputated
the enacting clauses from the three
Morgan make -believe'' utilities bills
This operation was performed by the
anomalous union of two factions hav-
ing entirely different purposes and
tendencies, but which in this case got
together and worked hand in glove.
| The three Morgan bills, H B. No
| SSI, go and 971, were at the head of
the calendar under general orders and
were the first to be considered in com
mlttee OF the whole. Opposed to the
passing of these bills on the one side
were the administration forces who
| desired a strong public utilities bill or
none at all. and those senators who
deslred none at all. Supporting the
Morgan bills on the other side were
the luke-warm, middle-course utilities
| senators, who, it is intima ted, were not
SO des1rous of enacting a public utili-
sort of make-shift to throw as a sop
10 the dear peepul' so as to diminish
Whatever of value might accrue to
governor Stubbs in the way of mater
id1 lot future campaigns, in the event
ne might desire to go before the voters
with pubic utilities as an issue
Ihe fight on these bills was one of
tne closest and most interesting that
position to the passage of the Morgan
bills was led by Senators Cambern.
BRADY and Myers while Senators Quin-
cy and Carey led the fight in support
OF the plIls The opponents of the
b1Ils had the advantage in numbers
from the beginning of the contest, but
the supporters struggled defantIy to
the last ditch.
The measure upon which the hard
est tight occurred was H B. No. 9S7,
winch empowered the railroad com
mIss1oners to value and regulate rail-
roaus ana common carriers appro-
prlatlng for the purpose 100000 for
each of the years next ensuing In
order to secure the passage of this bill
the supporters offered to make all
Kinds OF concessions. Senator Carey
suggested reducing the appropria-
tion to $25, 900 a year and he promised
to give his support to a bill providing
for an increase in the number of rail-
road commissioners from three to five
members. as Governor Stubbs recon-
mended in his last message This sort
of a measure, it was argued was ex-
actly what the governor desired and it
would meet all requirements of the ad-
ministration. But the administration
forces were obdurate and declined to
make any compromise with the Nor
gan bill supporters and the enacting
clause was taken out of the bill close
down to the roots.
On the first consideration of H. B.
No. go, the administration faction in
some manner permitted the bill to be
recommended for passage subject to
amendment and debate. This was the
bill that gave mayors and councils OF
second and third class cities powers to
fix rates and regulate their public
utilities. Later on, however, Senator
Fowler moved a reconsideration of
that bill which motion carried and
after some debate this bill was also
separated from it's enacting clause. by
a vote of 5 to 13.
There was not very much of fight
over H. B. No. 971, empowering the
authorities of cities of the first class
to control their utilities and that
measure was also killed.
But even after the Morgan bills
had been killed in committee of the
whole, the supporters of the bills en-
deavored to have them resurrected
after the committee arose and the re-
port was presented to the whole SEN
ate for adoption. At that point Sen
the report relating to the Morgan
bills be rejected. On this proposition
the vote stood Is to Is. A call of
the senate was demanded and the
ssergeantt-at-arms was sent out to
bring in the absentees. Senator's
Huffman, Stillings and Brewster were
brought in from committee rooms.
Senator Lefdy went over to the sup
porters of the bill and Senators
parently been undecided on which side
to align themselves, finally concluded
to join the administration faction. The
second vote on the Quincy motion to |
reject the committee report with re-
spect to the Morgan bills showed |
victory for the administration by 8
to Is.
Even after this test of strength the
supporters of the Morgan bills would !
not surrender. but as the report on
each of the three Morgan bills was
read some one of the anti-administra- |
ton faction bobbed up with mo-
ton to reject the report on the par
ticular bill. But the administration
faction gathered increased strength |
with each vote and when the report
on the third bill was read it was
adopted with &c votes in its favor, |
Senator Quincy finally voting with |
the administration.
With the adoption of these reports
the senate settled definitely the fate
of the Morgan bills and killed all pros |
poets for any public utilities legisIa-
ton at this session. The alignment
of the senators on the Morgan bills |
was as follows:
Administration = Avery, Bender,
Fagerberg, Fowler, Hodges. Hostrup,
HUFFMAN, Murphy, Myers, Potter, |
Robertson. Smith, Stannard. Anti |
Administration~Anders9n cian6 td greTster sidT
Lower, Price. Quincy, Reed. and |
Stewart Senators Travis, Stillings, |
Porter and Chapman have been |
against all utilities legislation and |
they joined the administration forces.
During the session Saturday night |
the senate rejected the conference re-
port on the state engineer of high |
ways bill by a vote of II to IL. This |
action may defeat the enactment of |
that bill unless the house should ac-
cept the report and the senate should |
accede at the last moment.
The senate late Saturday afternoon
passed two of the procedure bills.