Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-07-09
COMMISSIONERS DENY CHARGES
j. G.. Lawrence OF the State Railroad
Commission, Gives Inside
Facts

The State Railroad Com mission
denies the charge made by people
of Pennington and Connell that
those towns were sighted by the com
mission when it made its tour over
the lines of the Oregon Railroad &c
Navigation Company. ]. G. Law
renee, the Whitman county member
of the commission, has written the
following letter in explanation of the
commissioners actions, and the let
ter gives an entirely new appear
ance to the dispute. 1t was charged
that the commission refused to see
delegations at these points and pass
ed through the towns without Civ
ing notice of the arrival of the spec
ial train. Mr.. Lawrence goes into
detail in explaining the matter and
this paper gladly gives his side of
the matter. His letter follows:
I'VE arranged on leaving Spokane
to wire to each agent at each sta
ton along the line in advance, about
the time of the arrival of the com
mission, so that notice would be had.
| At nearly every station we were met
Iby a committee of representative
citizens. We could not always tell
the exact hour of our arrival, owing
to the uncertainty of the duration of
the hearing at a particular point.
You can readily see that a hearing
might occupy Is minutes or an hour
and a half without the commission
being able, in advance, to know
whether it would be the one or the
other. There were one or two in
stances coming to our attention
afterwards, where the people were
disappointed. We travelled as rapid
ly as we could. Where we found
complaint We stopped to give all
the time necessary in taking testi-
mony. If there was no complaint
we got away as quickly as possible.
We arranged with the officials, in
advance, to pay for the services rend-
cred. 1t was necessary for the rail
road officials to be present at the
hearings, and for the commission to
conduct this series of hearings as
expeditiously as possible, hence the
special train. On this train all the
members and employees of the COM
mission paid the regular fare, in ad-
dition to which we paid for the ser
vice furnished on the car, the mem
bers of the commission occupying a
car separate and apart from the
officials of the road
The only two places from which
a kick" came, as far as known to
the commission, were Pennington
and Cornell. An article appeared in
the Spokesman-Review, from Con-
nell to the effect that the commits
sion had been there very early in
the morning, but had gone away
without an opportunity of being
seen by any citizens. The facts are
| as follows: While in Cornell, a
short time previously on the North
ern Pacific, we were met by a COM
mittee of citizens appointed for the
purpose of representing the town be-
fore the railroad commission. Testi-
mony was taken relative to the COM
plants on the N. P. We then sug-
gested that a statement of any COM
plants they might have against the
o. r. & N. so that we would know
about what was coming up when
reaching there over the o. r. C N.
They said they had no complaints as
to the o. r. & N. We then stated in
that case it might not be necessary
to run down that branch as far as
Council, if they had no complaints.
1t was found necessary, however, in
operating the train, to save backing
up a long distance, to run down to
Connell to turn the engine. This
was done in the night. We left Con-
nell about the next morning.
was up at and around town for an
hour. 1 saw few of the citizens,
of course, but we had in mind, all the
time, the previous statements that
they had no complaints to file.
I'm regard to the other complaint,
which came from Pennington: We
reached Pennington in advance of
the hour when the o. R. & N. agent
expected us. l asked him If he had
given notice to the citizens. He said
Yes" l asked him if there was to
be a committee and he said Yes"
and added: But they were not ex-
pecting you quite so SOON" l ask
ed him to phone up town, telling
them that we were there, but would
wait. After little I stepped inside
the station building and he said he
had not succeeded in getting any
| one vet I told him to call I'D Hay