| Show I THAT RAILROAD BILL Very Strong Arguments Against It Last Night THE BUSINESS MEN SPEAK RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY CHAMBER CHAM-BER OF COM3IIERCE PRESENTED The Hone Committee Hears l Ex prcsHioii Sentiment That is All One Way JInyor Kimball of Lo pan Judpre Patton of Ogden John Clark of This City and Oihcrs Are Heard The house railroad committee held another public meeting in representatives representa-tives hal last evening to hear argu irents upon r B No 32 creating a railroadcommission with power to regulate reg-ulate passenger fares and freight irates within the state The meeting was attended by a full committee and quite a number cf IJeb pie interested on one side or the other in the bill Representatives of the chamber of commerce of Ogden and Logan occupied the greater part of the time the remainder of which was divided di-vided between two interested railroad people and the representative of the Salt Lake Jobbers association ALL FOR THE RAILROADS I the expressions of sentiment heard at the meeting indicates the true feeling feel-ing of the business community who are the largest users of railroads there is certainly no occasion for a railroad commission in Utah at the present time I would seem only reasonable to believe that such is the feeling as the speakers were all disinterested citizens representing commercial enterprises indifferent in-different sections of the state Without exception the gentlemen who addressed the committee were unalterably opposed I op-posed to a railroad commission andbut one or two had they their way were willing to have any railroad legislation enacted at all at the present time Among the speakers of the evening were Mayor Kimball of Logan Judge A B Patton president of the chamber cham-ber of commence of Ogden A B Hayes secretary n H Whipple S H Babcock Bab-cock of the Rio Grande Western Mi Bruback and John Clark of Clark Eldredge Co MAYOR KIMBALL SPEAKS Mayor Kimball of Logan was first invited by Chairman Cazier to address the meeting He began by stating that he represented the business interests of Logan and Cache county and then read the following resolution which had been adopted by the chamber of commerce of Logan and which he had been requested to present to the com mitteee LOGAN Utah Feb 12 1896 Whereas There is r bill known as house bill No 32 forlan act to create the state transportation commission for the control and regulation of all railroads and other cpmmon carriers now pending before the state legislature legisla-ture and AVhereas We believe at the outset of our career as a state such legislation should only be attempted Which is absolutely ab-solutely necessary and that it Is far better that legislation follow a requirements re-quirements demand than to blindly anticipate an-ticipate conditions that may never exist ex-ist and Whereas We recognize that the resources re-sources of the state ire undeveloped and need the unrestricted assistance of capital I for their proper development and we recognize the extension of railroads roads to be essential to the development develop-ment of our resource and that the good will of such corporations should he fostered and Whereas We realize railroads are diffident about entering states where their operations lf hampered by legislation leg-islation inimical to their interests and under the existing conditions and all probable conditions we believe the interests in-terests cli the people Tf ill r best sub served If business and commercial principles regulate the affairs of trade and traffic and that the state should not interfere too much in the commercial commer-cial relations of the people Therefore be it resolved That the Logan chamber of commerce most vigorously vig-orously protest against the passage of house bill No 32 a entirely unnecessary unneces-sary burdensome and inimical to the best interests of the people of the state hampering our commercial interests and restricting the development of our resources and that a copy of these resolutions and our reasons therefor be sent to our representatives in the state legislature JOSEPH KIMBALL W C Gates Secretary President Mr Kimball then proceeded to express ex-press the views held by the community in which he lIved having as hestated been chosen to appear before the committee com-mittee for that purpose He thought those views were pretty thoroughly I stated in the resolution but he would urge his personal experiences with the railroads His people did not want any railroad legislation They were satisfied satis-fied with present conditions which were a good as they could expect until un-til the railroad could afford to give them better facilities They were promised better service when that time should come and the railroad had never broken its promise to the people of Logan He could see no occasion to create a commission to regulate rates which would because of the nature of it be composed of inexperienced men there being two exofficio members with only the possibility of one member mem-ber being a man experienced in railroading rail-roading he being the one the governor gover-nor might appoint He could see no occasion for placing the railroads in control of such a commission when men trained to the business could not make the roads pay as yet Mr Kimball was convinced such a course would be highly injurious to the people for the state needed railroads and capital could not be expected to invest in the construction of railroads if the conduct of the roads was to betaken be-taken out of the hands of those who put their money into them JUDGE PATTON Mr Kimball addressed the committee commit-tee very forcibly on the various provisions pro-visions Of the bill and then yielded the floor to Judge Patton of Ogden who addressed the meeting as one of a com mittee chosen meetins Ogden chamber of commerce to present resolutions to the legislature He read the following RESOLUTIONS Whereas Utah hiss just been admitted admit-ted into the union of states and is much in need of more railroads in order to develop its ast resources and Whereas A bill is now pending in the legislature creating a railroad commission commis-sion and Whereas In the opinion of the Ogden chamber of conynerce such legislation at this time would be greatly detrimental detri-mental to the interests of the state now therefore Be i resolved That we the Ogden City chamber of commerce hereby protest pro-test against the assage of such bill or any bill which will in its effects prevent railroad building within the state Resolved That R H Whipple A n Hayqs and A B Patton are hereby appointed I ap-pointed a committee to present our views to the legislature now in session at Salt Lake Clty at as early a day a possible A B PATTON President I I hereby certify that the above is I a true copy OA the resolutions adopted by II the Ogden City chamber c of commerce n i < a o I Seal A B HAYES Secretary Judge Pattern then stated that the people of Ogden were opposed to any railroad legislation at this time as they believed it would prevent further railroad building and the state needed railroads He knew personally of a project to build to Utah which he firmly believed would not be done if the bill became a law He also thought and was sure that railroads the Burlington and Rock Island roads for instance which were now seeking to build to the coast would come through Utah i there was no commission to hamper their interests but he believed if the bill passed they would seek another route His people did not believe in the New York idea that corporations arc thieves They believed corporations tions and wanted the railroads to come The people of Ogden had never had any difficulty in adjusting amicably all differences dif-ferences with the railroads and he believed be-lieved they would be able to do so in the future R H WHIPPLE I R H Whipple was the next speaker He too represented the business interests in-terests of Ogden He had come prepared pre-pared to speak at some length but since coming he had talked with a great many of the members and had become convinced there was very little lit-tle danger that the bill would pass He however held that the law would prove unconstitutional as it would operate op-erate to confiscate the property of railroads To sustain his contention Mr Whipple said Grant that the bill passes the commission com-mission must fix rates and they must fix them lower than at fx they are present pres-ent or your law Is of no benefit I they do reduce the rates they confiscate confis-cate the property of the railroads for not one of them is paying a dividend and all but one are in the hands of receivers re-ceivers You are therefore confiscating confiscat-ing the property of the roads and your law must be unconstitutional uncnsttutonaL Mr Whipple urged the same reasons for not passing the bill that had been advanced by the other gentlemen that it would keep capital out of the state and closed by saying he believed the law would be a big expense to the state and would be in no wise benefi cia SECRETARY HAYES Secretary Hayes of the Ogden chamber cham-ber of commerce reiterated the arguments argu-ments of the gentlemen who preceded him emphasizing them strongly by advancing an argument which embodied embod-ied many original views on the subject JOHN CLARK John Clark of Clark Eldridge Co appearing in behalf of the Jobbers association as-sociation spoke briefly for as he said the subject had been very thoroughly handled by the other speakers He thought and the jobbers thought that the passage of the bill would work Incalculable harm to the stateS state-S H BABCOCK S H Babcook of the Rio Grande but Western addressed the committee briefly He merely wished to correct a statement which had been made concerning con-cerning him > at the meeting of the week previous when he was charged with having discriminated against one shipper ship-per in favor of another This he did to the satisfaction of the committee MR BRUBACK Mr Bruback only took the floor for a moment He stated that he was actually ac-tually engaged in trying to raise capital cap-ital for the extension of the road in which he was interested and had been asked many times if there was any danger of unfavorable railroad legislation legis-lation and had replied in the negative as he had not at that time been able to conceive how any new state needing railroads as badly as Utah does could think of creating a railroad commission commis-sion I one was created he would have to lay down his hands There was no use trying to get capital and he would not make the effort The members frequently questioned the speakers on various points chief among which was the price of coal and the probability of being ole to lower it by railroad legislation The speakers thought to compel a reduction re-duction in freight would hardly accom ducton plish the object since the coal companies compa-nies would simply raise < the price at the mines |
