The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-26
The FIGHT is ON.
Express Companies and State in
First Clash.
John Dawson Makes Big Fight
for Reduced Rates,
SHOULD LEAD,
Not Wait for Other States in
Matter of Low Rates.
Is Reply of State to Demurrer
of Express Companies.


|of Kansas and the express companies
doing business in this state is being
held before the board of railroad COM
rnissioners at the state house this after
noon. This brush is the signal Of the
battle which is due to result in one of
the biggest legal fights of the year. The
trouble is over a suit filed not .ong ago
complaining of the high express rates
in Kansas and asking for a general re-
duction.
About month ago John D. Dawson.
railroad attorney for the state, fled
suit before the railroad commissioners
complaining that express rates in Kan
charging that ali the express companies
in Kansas were violating the law by
|reglecting to file their Kansas tariffs
with the state board; and that the ex-
press companies DID not operate under
uniform tariffs as contemplated by law;
that at every express office in Kansas
the rates were based upon the principles
of private business, charging "what the
tariff will bear" instead of complying
with the uniform legal principle that
public service corporations shall only
charge such rates as are reasonable and
just"
In support OF his complaint John Daw-
son filed an elaborate schedule compar
ing the rates to all points in Kansas
from cities of Concordia. Manhattan.
Newton Hutchinson and Parsons with
the rates in use in Nebraska, Iowa,
Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, in which
it appears that Kansas rates are from
10 per cent to so per cent higher than in
the adjacent states. The Kansas cities
mentioned were taken because they rep
resent the different points and different
lines in the state that would serve as
good examples of the rates now on the
express schedules.
Deny Dawson's Right.
The contest this afternoon arises over
certain preliminary legal questions
raised by the express companies. In an
answer to the complaint filed by the |
states railway attorney they question:
ed the law and in their fight this after |
noon the attorneys for the express
companies deny the authority of John
Dawson, attorney for the railroad
board, to bring a suit of such magni |
tude and Importance and deny the
power of the board to compel the COM |
panies to make a wholesale reduction |
of rates in Kansas as this suit con-
templates.
In their answers the express COM
panies declare that wherever in these |
neighboring states the public enjoy |
lower rates than in Kansas such rates
have been forced upon them by state
laws and by order of the state railroad
most of these lower rates are being
contested in the courts at this time.
This constitutes the bulk of the
argument of the express companies be- |
fore the railroad commissioners this
afternoon.
Dawson Stands His Ground.
To the allegations of the express
companies Mr.. Dawson replies that
there is a presumption of law that the |
of these other states have done their
duty and that the rates forced upon the
express companies are just and reason
able.
He continues that Kansas should not
drag behind her sister states in secur- |
ing from public service companies just
and reasonable rates and that this state
cannot afford to await the final de-
termination of the courts of othe-
states on every controversy of this
sort. /
In 1907 the legislature of Nebraska
horizontal reduction of 25 per cent on
all express rates in that state. TIL
new rates went into effect at once al
though the law has been contested in
both state and federal courts. Not long
ago the supreme court of the state up
the federal court has made findings OF
fact that the new rates have proved
profitable and compensatory to the eX-
press companies.
It was also found that in one notable
instance the reduced rates have stimu-
lated express business to such a degree
that the company is making more
money than it did under the old rates.
NFictaLau for a Rabbit