The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-07-19
RAILRoADING MADE EASY,

RAlLROAD1NG MADE EASY,
The legislation OF the different
States upon railroad questions is con.
| stantly being brought into the Courts,
and all sorts Of questions are raised
! also before the Interstate Commerce
Commission with respect TO the needs
and service of railroads. Tho most
Puzzling things that come before the
courts, Federal and State, and the
commission, however, arc the State
! laws. Where these laws are reasonable
and buslnesslike, the Federal courts
| quickly sustain them. As in the recent
Minnesota cases, they sustain the State
! legislation, even where that legislation
trespasses upon the Congressional
| field of enactments, where Congress
has not made these cnactmeuts. That
is to say, the States may lcgisate up.
on subjects which are the special yoca-
tion of Congress to lcgisate upon, in
case Congress has not acted
But these State enactmcnts are often
so unintelligible that it is difficult to
get any meaning out Of them. A stat.
ute reported as recently passed by the
Legislature of Kansas is quoted as an
instance of this, that legislation. as
stated, reading: "Whcn two trains ap.
proach crossing. both shall stop and
neither shall 90 ahead until the other
has gone by" That would appear to
be about the limit for legislation pass.
ed, and We can imagine that court,
Federal or otherwise, would be put to
ITS stumps TO ascertain what the Leg.
islaturo of Kansas meant by IL. 1t is
no more than fair to say, however, that
State legislation is not particularly
worse on railroad questions than il is
on questions of other sorts. Nor is
Utah behind the other States in legis.
lation hat gives puzzles TO the courts.
The adjoining States of Arkansas
and Oklahoma afford conspicuous in.
stance of contrariety Of State leelsla.
tiou and regulation. Arkansas, deem.
ing the protection Of railway passeu-
gers from flies and mosquitoes Of the
greatest Importance, has passed a law
fnmng the railroad companies from so
to S25 per car, a day, if they fail TO
keep their passenger ears from May to
November equipped with wire screens
on each window and TO keep these IN
good repair. But the passengers object
TO these screens because they consider
that screens interfere with ventilation,
and so they knock holes in the screens
or tear them out altogether when they
have a chance. This keeps the roads
in anxiety all the time to avoid being
fined in Arkansas on account of the
bad repair Of their screens,
But the roads which run from Ar.
kansas into Oklahoma are concerned
with an even more serious problem. for
Oklahoma has tried the screens in rail
road cars and is moving to forbid them
altogether. A temporary notice has
been issued by the State authorities
and Oklahoma is now considering an
order that will prohibit absolutely the
operation Of cars in that State which
have screens on their windows, This
will make necessary Q reciprocal. in
stantaneous change in the cars run
ming between Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The cars with screens that in Arkansas
are made obligatory by law under sc.
we're penalties viii be obliged instan-
taneously to drop the screens ont OF
sight when they pass over the line into
Oklahoma. IT is evident that conflict.
ing legislation and orders such as this
are practically impossible of obedience,
and while the opinion is ventured in
railway journals that the Supreme
Court of the United States would up
hold both the State of Arkansas and
the State OF Oklahoma in these local
regulations, we venture to differ from
that opinion; for it would be absolute.
ly impossible for railroads operating
on anything like fair or definite time
schedules to comply with these two
opposing regulations
These opposite propositions merely
illustrate the erratic tendency Of State
regulation for railroads; and they en-
force with even more power than any
mere argument could do, the PROPOSE.
ton that interstate railroads must
eventually take out National incorpora-
tion, and so be independent of these
local and impossible laws, regulations,
and anEoyances.