The Carlisle independent., 1915-03-11

There will be no increase in railroad passenger rates in Arkansas for the next two years, at least. This was made clear by the defeat in the house of the Bland bill to increase the pas senger rates from cents and 2jk cents. For some time it had been evi- dent that the sentiment was so strong against a three cent rate that 1t would be useless to attempt 1t, and the Bland bill was considered a compromise.
 When the bill was called up at the afternoon session a motion by Shouse or Boone ito table it was lost by a vote of 31 to 59. At the night ses- sion, all of which was devoted to a dis cussion of the bill. speeches in favor of the measure were made by Messrs. Cazort, Sawyer. Griffin, Wallace and Rogers of Desha, and speeches against it were made by Messrs Nicks, Car ruth and Jeter
 MT. Carruth made the principal ar gument against the bill He said there had been a marked change in the leg tslatorS since coming to Little Rock, and that he feared they were forget ting the fellows back home" He charged that railroads have impover- ished the securities by watering the stock, and that 'high-priced railroad presidents, and S1OO,000-a-year board managers are to blame for the finan- eial depletion of the property. IT these are eliminated, he said, he be- lieved the railroads would not need to increase their rates.
 MT. Sawyer spoke for the bill AS the matter now stands" said he, "the railroads are owned by private indl- viduals, and they are as much entitled to consideration as your or my prop erty rights. They are the big taxpay- CTS and contribute at every turn to de- velop the localities they touch. Yet they have no standing with the law making bodies and no friends at court They are regarded as the prey of every demagogue. The thousands of people they employ, the values they add to otherwise valueless lands and the stimulation they give to business are all lost sight of in the fog of preJu- dice. They can't even petition the members of the legislature without somebody getting suspicious that there is something crooked going on
 The man who can't receive a re- quest or a petition from railroad not keep his hands clean is a poor specimen of statesmanship, and the sooner he leaves any legislature the better
 "The United States Supreme Court never has said a two-cent passenger rate was not confiscatory It merely said that the railroads had not made a showing that the rate was confisca- tory, and this in the face of the fact that it is almost impossible to arrive at an equitable division of the cost of operating the passenger and freight service
 MT. Griffin spoke brify for the bill and submitted figures showing the comparative taxation against railroads now and in 1907, when the three-cent rate was abolished With a reduced passenger rate, their property assess ment in Arkansas, said MT Griffin, has been horizontally lifted 100 per cent. until they are now paying on a total property valuation in this state of s93,- 100000
 For the Bill-Alexander, Bennett of Arkansas, Bennett of Poinsett, Bland, Buchanan, Cazort, Collier, Copeland of Izard, Creekmore, Davis, Dipboye, Dowdy, Dunlap, Gray, Griffin, Helms, Holland, Hollensworth, Hooker, Hud- son, Josephs, Jones of Pulaski, Little, Love, Nixon, Perkins, Plemmons, Reid, Riegler, Ruble, Robertson, Rog- CTS of Desha, Rogers of Logan, Rorex, Sawyer, Taylor, Wallace, Wilson, Yer. ger. Total 3S.
 Against the Bill-Belote, Beeson. Bell, Bishop, Brawner, Brockman, Bur row, Carrrth, Copeland of Howard, Creswell, Dunn, Ellis, Findley, Gen. try, Halbert, Hatley, Hawkins, Con- dray, Humphreys, Jeter, Johnson, Johns, Joiner, Jones of Washington. King, Lefier, Lewis, Willard, Miller. Moses, Mosley, McGill, Newberry, Nicls, Pierce, Pollard, Posey, Shaver, Shoffner, Shouse, Smith, Stafford. Steed, Street. SuIcer, Swepston, Teague, Fhomasson, Williams of Ben ton, Williams of Cross, Waggoner. Woods, Young Total, 52
 MT. Condray introduced a bill which