Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-03-12
Iii
Ant PASS Law
House @azes the Way for Such
Action in the Future.

EXEMPTIONS ARE INCREASED
Nimocks' Bill Permitting Certain Per.
sons to Accept Free Transportation
Passed-FuII Crew Measure THROUGH
Senate Despite Strong Railroad On.
pos;tion-5i'' to Require Electric
Headlights Abandoned.
st. Paul, March 8.-The railroad
committees of the legislature and the
legislature itself have a good many
problems to wrestle with and the in
dications at present are that they will
be downed by some Of them. Already
the house has had a tilt with the anti
pass law and got rather the worst of
it. In consenting to the passage of
the Nimocks bill, which greatly en-
larges the exemptions from the opera
ton of the law, it has blazed the way
for the ultimate repeal of that meas.
ure and furnished the railroads. if
they were in need of one, with a rea-
sonably valid excuse for a return to
the Scent fare. One of the strongest
arguments used when the Scent fare
bill was on it's passage was that the
fares from those who had previously
Travelled on passes would go long
way towards reimbursing railroads for
the reduction of one-third in the reg
ular rate. During the past year or
more they have acted on the implied
suggestion with considerable advan.
tage to themselves. But if as a result
of the passage Of the Nimocks bill, If
1t receives the endorsement of the
senate, the railroads submit to the
additional pressure that will be
brought to bear on them for the extern
sion Of pass privileges it is not unrea-
sonahle to anticipate that they may
consider the propriety of a return to
the Scent fare. In that case the legal
representatives OF the state will, to
some extent at least, be embarrassed
in maintaining their contention in the
litigation now in progress that the
rate bills enacted at the last session
are reasonable and fair and afford
railroads ample raconpense for the
service performed.
= !. !.
Another bill which has PASSED the
senate and which the committee Of
the house now has under considera-
ton is the full crew bill. A strong
railroad lobby has been working
against this bill now for some weeks
and Mr.. Hill himself took fall out OF
it the other day in his address before
the Legislature. The efforts to prevent
its passage by the senate have been
ineffective, however, and it is now ur
TO the house. The measure provides
ehat besides an engineer, fireman and
conductor there shall be two brake
men on each train and, where there
are more than sixty cars On train,
that third brakeman shall be en-
Iloyed. Mr.. Hill assumed in his argu-
ment that all the. shorter trains. now
carry full crew and he ridiculed the
suggestion that On the longer trains a
third man was necessary, as no mat
ter how long the train the brakiug is
really done from the engine. "The
duties Of the brakemen, two on a
train,' said he, "are, one to take care
OF the rear end, the other of the front
end. The duty of the man at the rear
end is to go out and protect the train
Now, to put third man on, they
would have to cut the cards or toss a
cent to see who would go back and,
in the meantime, something serious
might occur Mr.. Hill no doubt re-.
ferred to the practice on his own road.
bit the fact is, as l learn, that on
other roads the two brakemen are not
always employed. There are passen-
ger trains running out of st. Paul
made UP of eight or ten coaches, in
Guiding sleepers, upon which but a
single brakeman is employed and
doubtless freights are equally ineffi-
GENTLY equipped in some cases. It is
to remedy these conditions that the
bill has been prepared and the siren
uous efforts made to defeat it indicate
that they are more general than Mr.
lLilI assumes. AS to the third brake
man railroads would only be required
to employ one in rare instances, as
there are few trains made up of more
than sixty cars. It is no doubt the
intention of the railroads to fight the
bill through. ..~
+ i. 4.
4 house bill over which there was a
great deal Of discussion in committee
Friday aims to require railroads, in
case track, is abandoned, to RECON-
pense adjacent property owners for
the loss involved. By it's terms this
measure, with doubtful constitutional
ity, is made to apply to pending iiti-
CATION. It appears that by a change
in the track the village of Winnipeg
Junction has been left so far Oft the
line Of the Northern Pacific railway
that it is no longer possible to 10 bust:
ness there. This Seems to be admit
ted on ali sides The result has hnar