The Monticellonian., 1915-03-11

of the Bland bill to increase the pas senger rates from cents and 2ia cents. For some time 1t had been evil dent that the sentiment was so strong against l three cent rate that it would be useless to attempt 1t, and the Bland 1 bill was considered a compromise.
 When the b1ti was called up at the afternoon session a motion by Shouse 1 Of Boone to table 1t was lost by a vote of 3t to g At the night ses- sion, all of which was devoted to a dis- eussion Of the bill, speeches in favor of the measure were made by Messrs. Cazort, Sawyer Griffin, Wallace and Rogers of pesha, and speeches against it were made by Messrs Nicks, Car ruth and Jeter.
 Mir. Garrnth made the principal ar sument against the bill. He said there had been marked change in the leg islators since coming to Little Rock and that lie feared they were forget. 1 ting the fellows back home" He l charged that railroads have impover- | ished the securities by watering the l stock" and that "high-priced railroad presidents, and l0O,000=a-year board managers are to blame for the finan- cial depletion of the property If these are eliminated, he said, he be- l lieved the railroads would not need to increase their rates.
 MT. Sawyer spoke for the bill As the matter now stands" said lie, "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 Yalueless lands and the l stimulation they give to business are all lost sight of in the fog of preIu- dice. They cant even petition the members of the legislature without somebody getting suspicious that there is something crooked going on.
 The man who cant receive re- quest or 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 two-cent passenger rate was not confiscatory. II merely said that the railroads had not made a showing that the rate was confisca- tory. and this i'll 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 brify 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 total property valuation in this state of s93.. 000, ,000
 For the Bill-Alexander, Bennett of Arkansas. Bennett of Poinsett, Bland. Buchanan, Cazort, Collier. Copeland of l]ard, Greekmore, Davis. Dipboye, Dowdy. Dunlap, Gray, Griffin, Helms. Holland, Hollensworth, Hooker, Hud- son, Josephs, Jones of Pulaski. Little, Love, Nixon. Perkins, Plemmons, l 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. Letier Lewis, Willard. Miller. Moses, Mosley, McGil1. Newberry. Nicks, Pierce. Pollard, Posey, Shaver. Shoftner, Shouse. Smith, Stafford. Steed, Street. SuIcer, Swepston, Teague. Thomasson, Williams of Ben. ton, Williams of Cross, Waggoner. Woods, Young. Total. 52.