Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-10-03

seven months Of its own motion re
assigned the cases to the docket fol
second argument. This was an indi
cation that the eight judges before
whom the case was presented were
equally divided.
| spent six or seven months in
briefng the other seventeen cases
and on the first of last April in an
argument lasting practically three
days, we presented both the APP.
peals and ~cross-appeals, and same
have been finally submitted and are
awaiting decision, which is expected
at the October term. Being thorough.
ly familiar with both the law and the
facts in these cases, | now feel salts
fed that the State of Missouri has an
equal or better chance to win than
the railroads have of securing an af-
firmance of the judgments in the
court below.
The principles involved in this liti-
cation not only affect the State of
Missouri, but every other state in
the American Union. The principles
involved strike at the foundation of
Il government, shall the rights of
the states be preserved or shall they
be swallowed up by the Federal gov
eminent?
To carry these cases to the SUI
preme Court of the United States, on
account of the voluminous records,
was necessarily expensive, burt we
have spared neither time nor labor in
our efforts to sustain these laws for
the people of the commonwealth.
These are some of the important
matters handled by the department
during the three years and eight
months / have been in Office. Our
brief work in the various courts will
cover approximately 10000 pages, or
thirty volumes of a thousand pages
t. the volume. Many of these cases
lave required months upon the rec
ords and briefs. Everyone connected
with the department has been COM
PEELED to work long and unreasonable
hours to handle the business, as there
was a great amount of business left
unfinished when we came into office,
and which dated back for more than
two years. | leave it to the people to
judge for themselves our service from
the record.
The Legislature appropriated to my
department for each of the biennial
periods the moneys it deemed neces-
sary to handle the business. We han
died the business during the first
period and left unused in the treas
ury a fraction less than $40, 100000 of
the appropriation. During the present
period we will be able to complete our
labors and leave unused in the treas
ury at least 100000 90 or more, or a
total for the four years of at least
$50, 100000. Eighty thousand dollars
saved is eighty thousand dollars made.
No other Acknowledgement ever left
any part of his appropriation unex-
pended.
In handling this great volume of
business, we have done so with a less
expenditure than was made by my
predecessor during his term.
STATE POLICIES AND PRO-
GREssloN.
There are many questions of i'm
portance to the people of this state
which must be considered by the next
administration. A progressive spirit
is abroad in the land and we must
push the dome of our commercial and
civic achievements still higher in the
skies.
Public Roads.
Chief among the questions of the
hour is the permanent improvement
and building of public roads. The
public roads of the commonwealth
are it's first great highways of com
merce. They constitute the strong
est link in the chain of commercial
greatness and are the first evidences
of commercial progress. Build more
good public roads and permanently
improve the roads we now have, and
land and other property values will
increase rapidly while business and
commercial activities will follow as
a necessary sequence.
Public Schools.
The public schools of the state are
truly it's great universities, and the
real achievements of a people are
measured by the efficiency of their
system of popular education. Look
well to the education Of the youth of
the land, for therein lies the safety
and hope of the future, for no state
or nation can rise above the intelli-
gence of its citizens. While we have
a good public school system, yet we
should endeavor to increase its eff
cheney and improve the service. Our
public school teachers are progress,
i've, and we should enact laws which
will enable them to give the people
the maximum benefits and bring the
opportunities of a liberal education
to the door of every home. The con-
stitution requires that at least one
fourth of all the revenues be given to
the public schools and, realizing that
popular education is the first element
Of state and national success, the
Democratic party adopted the policy
of giving, not one-fourth, but one
third of all the revenues to the pub
Lie schools and extended the helping
/ hand fa th4 xrna1y ~ 4lnA Z.nn. -.