Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-17
companies from charging for return

companies from charging for return
ing money collected on C.. o. D. pack
ages. Any Of you can see the injus-
tice of such charge by an express
company. A package comes to you c.
o. D.; you could send your check in
payment of It; you could give the COM
pany the money for 1t; but they re-
quire you to pay an exorbitant price
for them to return your money, or
they will refuse to give you your pack
age. 1t Is simply "hold-up," and you
should not allow 1t.
Flat Two-cent Passenger Rate.
I respectfully recommend, as I have
done in my message heretofore, and
as l advocated on the floor of the
house Of representatives when a men,
ber Of the senate, and on the public
rostrum as candidate, that you pass
an act making a fiat rate Of two cents
per mile for passengers on all railroads
in this state. No doubt some who have
not heretofore favored this position
be very vigorous in their support of II
possibly wanting to be elected to
some other Office or reelected to what
they have, and. having reached the
conclusion that 1t Is popular plat
form, they are ready to jump on 1t and
say they did 1t, when, as matter OF
fact, many Of us have been working on
1t for years, and 1t has simply come to
the point now where 1t is thought that
1t will win. Whether the credit for it.
however, be properly placed or not
the main consideration Is what Is best
for the people Of the state. The rail-
roads are making money; they are
prospering. OF that am glad. would
not, under any circumstances or con-
ditions, wish to injure a railroad
Many Of the engineers, conductors,
flagmen, and other employees Of the
railroads are my best friends, and
fully realize that II you cripple the
railroads financially It will injure these
men; but such an act would not Grip
pie the railroads. I fully realize also
that 1t will be urged that the railroads
will say to these men. "Oh, yes, your
legislature did thus and so, Mr.. Engi-
neer; We have to reduce your salary;
Mr.. Conductor. Mr.. Flagman, we have
to reduce your salary" We do not
want to do anything that will injure
by their labor unions, and, unlike US,
they can make the railroads come to
their terms, because the railroads have
got to have them.
Now, gentlemen, this Is no unfair
proposition. II the railroads can sell
me a mileage book for twenty dollars
because I have the money to pay for
1t, there Is absolutely no reason on
earth why they should not sell any
citizen a ticket for two cents per mile
I do not believe they ought to be torn
on trains; I do not believe they ought
to be accepted for tickets; I do not
believe you ought to have any; and
hope you will not pass any law relat-
ing to that abominable and foolish sys-
tenn. But reach all the people. Say to
the poorest man, who Is only going a
mile, You can go for two cents" or,
If he has to go fifty miles, You can
go for a dollar" and say to the rich
man You can't have any privileges
that the poor man can't have" That
Is democracy, and we claim to be
Democrats. The railroads say, oh,
We have to put on ticket collectors.
For what? Gentlemen, 1t Is the merest
subterfuge. Here. is a railroad COM
pany that says to you, Here is our
conductor; put your wife on this train
with your children; or, II you please,
put your sixteen or eighteen-year-ol old
daughter on this train; she Is safe In
the hands Of our conductor; he will
take care Of her; he will protect her."
and yet, In the same breath, that rail-
road company says to you, Pay your
fare or give your ticket to the collec-
tor; We can't trust our conductor.
Mind you, gentlemen-cant trust the
conductor with their money and yet
saying to you, Trust your wife and
your children or your daughter or
your sister, with him; trust that which
is dearer than all things else on this
earth to you with man"-when the
railroad can't trust him with its mon
ey. If the railroad can't trust him
with their money, what right have they
to trust him with the safety of your
family?
I hold In my hand a book costing
five dollars, good for two hundred and
fifty miles over the Piedmont Traction
company, in the upper part of this
state. This mileage Is taken up on
the train; upon 1t baggage Is checked,
and it can be used by any member OF
the holders family, or by any person
who has it when he gets on the train
Now, II we are going to have mileage
books, which / do not favor, then let
us have a mileage book such as the
one l have referred you to. If the in
terurban can have it, there Is surely no
reason why the railroads cannot have
II.
But, gentlemen, give your people q
fiat two-cent rate; and those OF you
who favor it, when the bill Is called up
If the author of the bill, who has
1t in charge, gets up and says, Pass
it over" you get up and ask why. l,
Is usually considered courtesy to al
low the author Of the bill to handle It.
Ln In
says, Mr. President" or Mr.. Speaker
pass this bill over" it is customary
for others to say nothing. But
warn you to watch and see that when
these bills are reached in their regu-
lar places on the calendar, no matter
who requests it, they are not put on
until the last days Of the session and
then crowded out. But let some OF
your members favorable to them, gel
up and force the fight; for not al
ways are authors of bills their best
friends.
Capital and Labor.
Labor and capital have been work
ing most harmoniously and pleasantly
together.
l was called upon to take action
| with regard to a strike that was go
ing on in Augusta, Georgia, which
some people thought would be brought
into this state, because the corpora
ton was operating cars in the county
of Aiken. l took the matter up with
some close and valued personal
friends in the Horse Creek Valley
who kept me in close touch with the
situation. I was asked to order ou,
the militia. This 1 fatty declined to
do, and advised the railway men to
put their cars in their sheds. and not
run them from Georgia into South
Carolina. The situation became tense
Letters and kilograms, and sometimes
personal conferences, were brought to
bear; but stood firm in my position,
did not order out the militia, and
pleaded with my friends-and 1 am
glad to say l have many true ones
in the Horse Creek Valley"-not to
violate any Of the laws Of the state,
but to stand, in an orderly manner,
to what they believed were their
rights. Arbitration was had; peace
was restored; all is we'll. 1 would
not have had a repetition In South
Carolina of the Augusta soldiers
shooting down innocent men for all
the railroads in the American Union
Another strike in the city of Co
lumbia came on. | asked the news
naper reporters to saw to the head OF