Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-03-10
HOUSE DEFEATS BLAND 2I5 CENT RATE BILL BY A VOTE
 OF 3e TO 52.
SPEECHES FOR AND AGAINST
Friends of the Measure Urged That It Was a Matter of Common Jus
 tice to the Railroads.
Little Rock

passenger rates in Arkansas for the made clear by the defeat in the house of the Bland bill to increase the pas senger rates from cents and 215 cents. For some time it had been evi- dent that the sentiment was so strong against three cent rate that it would be useless to attempt it, and the Bland bill was considered compromise.
 When the bill was called up at the afternoon session a motion by Shouse of Boone to table it was lost by a vote of 31 to 59. At the night ses- sion, all of which was devoted to a dis cusston of the bill, speeches in favor of the measure were made by Messrs. Cazort, Sawyer, Griffin, Wallace and Rogers of Desha, and speeches against 1t 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 islators 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 S10O,00O-a-year board managers are to blame for the finan- eial depletion of the property. If these are eliminated, he said, he be- raj to increase their rates.
 MT. Sawyer spoke for the bill "As the matter now stands" said he, "the railroads are owned by private indi- Yiduals, and they are as much entitled to consideration as your or my prop 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 re- quest or a petition from a railroad company in matters of legislation and 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 confscatory. 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 1t is almost impossible to arrive at an equitable division of the cost Of operating the passenger and freight service"
 MT. Griffin spoke brifiy for the bill and submitted figures showing the comparative taxation against railroads HOW 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,- GOO, 0,000
 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. HolIensworth, 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 K1ng, Leher, Lewis, Willard, Miller, Moses, Mosley, McGill, Newberry. Nicks, Pierce, Pollard, Posey, Shaver, Shoffner, Shouse, Smith, Stafford, Steed, Street, Sulcer, Swepston, Teague, Fhomasson, Williams of Ben ton, Williams of Cross, Waggoner, Woods, Young Total, 52.
 The appropriation bill for the agrf- cultural schools came through un- scathed after hard days debate by the BattleAx Brigade.
 By vote of 6 to 23, the Senate re- fused to rcss a bill abolishing the De- partment of State Lands, Highways and improvements.
 The Senate passed bill by Sena- tor Cabaniss to prohibit the employes of railways and electric lines from drinking intoxicants