Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-01-20

by Senators Mates, Van Law, DeWolf,
Frudden and Peterson. Ream, the DEM
ocrat who holds the seat, will be rep
resented by ex-senator Cheshire, and
Hambleton will be represented by
James Dewitt. At the preliminary meet
ing yesterday Cheshire moved to quasfl
the whole contest on the ground that
| the notice is indefinite and does not
eompl, with the statute in that II
merely makes broad assertions as to
the ballots. Hambleton will insist upon
a recount of the ballots. 1t is expected
the matter will not take long.
| It is already evident that the pro-
posed school legislation is going to stir
up a great deal Of feeling. One of the
prominent representatives from north
western Iowa stated today that the
people in his part Of the country are
much exercised over it and are already
scared over the prospect Of adding to
the burdens of the school funds by
more salaries. The thinly populated
communities will oppose the scheme on
the ground that the time has not yet
come for the consolidation and central
ization that Is contemplated in the
is increasing evidence that the school
book interests are becoming active
The bill introduced by Meredith to
establish the office of commerce coun-
sci is regarded as one of the most inn
portant which has yet appeared. This
seems to be in line with the desires
of the shippers and especially the corn
belt meat producers and fulf1lls the rec
concentrations found in the message to
the general assembly. The counsel is to
be appointed by the governor, to have
an office and assistants, and
'It shall be the duty of the COM
merce counsel to diligently Investigate
the reasonablehess of the rates
charged, or to be charged, for services
rendered or to be rendered, by the pub
lie service corporations, companies or
associations, operating in whole or i'll
part in the state of Iowa; and when
ever in the judgment of said attorney
any of the charges affecting any of the
citizens or industries of the state are
undue, unjust, unreasonable, unlawful,
unduly prejudicial, or unjustly discrinl-
inatory against any of the citizens or
industries of the state Of Iowa it shall
be the duty of said attorney to insti-
tute proceedings relative to the said
matters and to prosecute the same,
presenting or assisting in the presenta-
ton of such facts in a lawfdl manner
before the interstate commerce COM
mission or the state tribunals having
jurisdiction over the same and power
to act in the premises"
sss
Senator Peterson introduced a bill to
amend the law as to the liability Of
employers in case Of accidents. There
is to be determined effort On the part
of the laboring men Of the state this
year ito have the employers liability
law changed so as to conform more
nearly to the national law passed by
congress since the Iowa law was en-
acted. Already the representatives Of
organized labor are active in the mat
ter.
Law contemplates some direct and
simple method for cities and towns to
find out whether or not the rates
charged for gas, water, electricity, etc,
by publics service corporations is rea-
SonaDle ana Ialr. .Speclnc authority Is
given the municipal authorities to have
access to the books and records of such
companies and to require sworn state
ments and reports-ip short, the pow
er is to be lodged somewhere to fnl
out whether or not rates are reason
able, SO there will be some kind of a
basis for fixing the rates.
A great flood of bills came into the
legislature today, among them the fol-