The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-27
ONE MAN OPPOSES
PRESCOTT BILL
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER NOR
LEY THE ONLY ONE AGAINST
COMMISSION MEASURE.
0Staff Correspondence.)

Helena, Feb. 26.-A little incident
of recent inside legislative history re-
veals pretty plainly just how the
politicians play the game of hide and
seek with legislation in the interests
of h people. 1t occurred at a meet
ing of one of the house committees
which had under consideration house
bill 25S, introduced by Prescott of
Missoula, to extend the powers of, and
prescribe additional duties for, the
state board of railroad commission
erS.
In brief the Prescott bill contains
the following provisions:
Section one provides that no members
of the commission shall hold n other
office or shall pursue any other bust
ness, but shall devote his entire time
to the duties of his office.
Section two makes it the duty of the
board to diligently and efficiently in
form itself as to the freight and ex-
press charges of the railroad and ex-
press companies of the state to the
end that there may be no discrimina-
ton against shippers that do bust
ness in Montana.
In section three the board is ordered to
require of railroad and express COM
panies such information as will enable
it to ascertain whether any discrim-
nations are made by those companies
and to that end the board is given
power, and the duty is laid upon it,
to require the trar Sportation and ex-
press companies within 80 days, and
at least once each year there
after to furnish a complete
schedule of tariffs charged by
them, to and from all cities in
Montana, M such other comparative
tariffs and charges as will enable the
board to ascertain if these rates are
discriminatory.
Section four requires that when the
board shall find that any common
carrier shall be charging a greater
rate to or from Montana points than
is charged for like service in other
states, or when it shall find that any
rule of the interstate COM
mission has been violated, or that any
common carrier shall have given any
undue preference to any person, firm,
corporation or locality, it shall be the
duty of the board to require the COM
mon carrier to make a reduction or a
correction in it's rates. If the common
carriers do not make the proper cor
rections within 80 days the board
shall file complaint with the interstate
commission, and ali such
cases shall be prosecuted at the ex-
pense of the state, without the neces-
sity that any shipper or other person
shall file a complaint. There is a
further provision that nothing in the
act shall be construed to prevent any
person aggrieved from prosecuting an
action in his own name.
Section five provides that the gov
ernor may suspend any commissioner
for failure to perform his duty, and
that any member of the board who
shall violate any of the provisions of
the act shall be removed from office.
This bill wa introduced by Repre-
sentative Prescott for the purpose of
meeting the oft repeated complaints
of the members of the state board of
railroad commissioners that the law
did not give them sufficient powers
to make of their body an effective
agency for the regulation of the
uahiePoil dlloll anu cypress companies
of the state. This defense for the in
activity of the board has been made
by it's members for a long time, and
has been repeatedly set up in both
houses of the assembly now in ses-
sion, and abou the capitol and other
public places.
Strange as it ma seem, however,
he only person to appear before the
committee having the Prescott bill