The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1911-05-06

of opinion on the veto Of Governor
Hadley of his bill prohibiting dis
elimination in passenger rates,
and he said
1.-THE attitude of Governor Had.
ley ls hard for me to understand
He moves in a mysterious way his
wonders to perform In his mes
sage to the Forty-ffth General
Assembly, speaking of the dis.
elimination in passenger rates in
this state, he called attention to
the fact that some of the railroad
companies were charging three
cents per mile, while others made
a flat rate of two and one-half
cents, and recommended that leg
islatlon be passed to correct it. A
bill wUs prepared by him and in.
troduced by Mr., Speer, similar to
the bill which / introduced. This
bill passed the house, but did not
pass the senate, and Governor
Hadley, during the campaign de-
nounced the democratic senate for
failure to pass this and other bills
which be thought were desirable.
At the beginning of the present
session of the Legislature, in his
message to the general assembly,
he used the following language:
"The present situation in this
state with reference to passenger
rates is very unsatisfactory. Thlr-
teen of the eighteen railroads do
ing business in the state are charg-
ing two and one-half cents a mile,
while five of the strongest roads
in the state, viz: The Missouri
Pacific, Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe, Iron Mountain, Missouri, Kan
sas & Texas and the Cotton Belt,
are charging three cents a mile.
This charge is being exacted by
these reads in the state of Mis-
souri, Notwithstanding the fact
that in the contiguous states of
Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kan
sas they are charging only two
cents a mile, and Notwithstanding
the fact that a Judge of the United
States Circuit Court, in e%njoining
the enforcement of the two-cent
passenger rate law in this state,
gave it as his opinion that two and
one-half cents a mile would be a
reasonable rate for these roads to
charge. If legislation can be en-
acted to correct this manifestly
discriminatory and unfair charge
that is being exacted from the
people of Missouri, it should be
enacted"
Early in the session, my bill
which was No. 40, wal introduced
and Mr.. Lloyd from st. Louis, the
republican floor leader, introduced
the Hadley bill which was intro
duced two years ago and was No.
949. Ny bill passed both branches
of the legislature in the house, |
believe, by 1874 to II, and in the
senate it received every vote.
Governor Hadley has three OBJ
iections to No. 40. One is that if
it became a law, railroad COM
panieS can not issue mileage books,
which are now used so extensively
by commercial men. My under
standing is that there is not a rail
road IN Missouri which makes a
flat rate of two and one-half cents
which sells a mileage book. The
three cent roads do. A mileage
book of two thousand miles is
issued by a combination of rail-
roads, which Is sold at $4,000.
This book is good from the main
line of the Missouri Pacific to the
Canada line, and from Ohio to
Montana. In Missouri, it is good
for only 1900 miles, and in all the
other states in that vast region, it
is good for 1000 miles. In other
words, IN all the states horth of
us, one coupon costing two cents,
is detached for each mile travelled,
while in Missouri five coupons
are torn out for every four
miles travelled aud the general
passenger and ticket agent of the
Burlington company, which ira
verses ell these states admitted
before the house oOmmittse that