The Green Forest tribune., 1915-03-12
HOUSE DEFEATS BLAND 2lA CENT RATE BILL BY A VOTE
 OF 38 TO 52.
SPEECHES FOR AND AGAINST
Friends of the Measure Urged That 1t Was Matter of Common Jus
 tice to the Railroads.
Little Rock

of the Bland bill to increase the pas senger rates from 3 cents and 21a cents. For some time it had been evi- dent that the sentiment was so strong against a three cent rate that it would be useless to attempt it, and the Bland bill was considered a 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 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 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 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 inpover- ished the securities by watering the stock" and that "high-priced railroad presidents, and OO,OOO-a-year board managers are to blame for the finan- cial depletion of the property. If these are eliminated, he said, he be- lieved the railroads would not need l to increase their rates.
 MT. Sawyer spoke for the bill "As l railroads are owned by private indi- yiduals, 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 i demagogue. The thousahds 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- l 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- l 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 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 1t is almost impossible to arrive at an equitable division of the cost of operating the passenger and freight service"
 MT. Griffin spoke brif1y 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 Mr Griffin, has been horizontally lifted 100 per cent until they are now paying on total property valuation in this state of s93, 0,000
 For the Bill-Alexander, Bennett ot Arkansas, Bennett of Poinsett, Bland Buchanan, Cazort, Collier, Copeland o1 1zard, 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, Rorey Sawyer, Taylor, Wallace, Wilson, Yer ger. Total 38.
 Against the Bill-Belote, Beeson Bell, Bishop, Brawner, Brockman. Bur row, Carr,th, 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 Nicks, Pierce, Pollard, Posey, Shaver Shoffner, Shouse, Smith, Stafford Steed, Street, SuIcer, Swenston Teague, Thomasson, Williams of Ben ton, Williams of Cross, Waggone, Woods, Young. Total, 52.
 , The appropriation bill for the agr cultural schools came through UT , scathed after hard days debate h the Battle-Ax Brigade
 By a vote of to 23, the Senate rt fused to pass bill abolishing the Dc 5 partment of State Lands, Highway and Improvements.
 : The Senate passed a bill by Sens tor Cabanfss to prohibit the employe or railways and electric lines fror . drinking intoxicants.
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