Show BILL arguments presented by bv eacle side i during the debate washington dec 8 it was late yesterday when the antl anti scalping bill got before the house the first committee called was the 1 1 committee on interstate commerce and mr hepburn called up the antl anti scalping bill he offered to make an j arrangement regarding the time to be occupied in debating the bill mr air bland dem mo said he desired tp raise the question ot of consideration but the speaker announced that it was too late mr bland said that an art i important bill like this should be de bated at length and he objected to the offer of another hour on a side all efforts to effect an agreement as to time failed and mr hepburn was thereupon recognized for an hour he ile yielded to mr sherman rep N Y who explained that the bill was very similar to the one passed by the house during the last congress the changes were mainly restrictive upon corporations the bill required the carriers subject to the interstate commerce act to provide each agent authorized zed to sell tickets with a certificate and made it unlawful tor for an officer or such carrier to supply tickets to any but authorized agents it made violations of ot these provisions a misdemeanor and provided for tho the redemption of unused or partially used tickets and also provided penalties for toiling or altering alter lug tickets mr sherman said this legislation had been repeatedly recommended by the interstate commerce commission that it lt had the support of 0 newspapers and com merical bodies and that over petitions in its favor had been presented to the house during the present I 1 congress the business communities had come to look upon the ticket brokerage business as illegal the amount of fraud practiced it known would startle anyone unfamiliar with the facts mr brundige Brundl ge dem idem ark arka offered as an amendment a proviso to the effect that the act should not apply to tickets that are issued by any railroad or other common carrier for the purpose of being transferred in explaining his arien dment mr Brun brundige digo declared that the real purpose of the bill was to prevent certain railroads from placing tickets in the hands of sc alpers for the purpose of being trans transferred ferre d the provision relating to forgery was unnecessary every state had statutes against the issue of forged instruments mr air hepburn in advocacy of the bill said there were but two sources of opposition to the pending measure the ticket sc alpers who made money out of the business and certain railroads who succeeded through sc alpers in violating the interstate commerce law he ile said that there were railroads who did 95 per cent of their business through sc alpers and he appealed to tho the friends of the bill not to allow the amendment to prevail mr mann rep said there were some weak roads which would not be able to compete with their strong rivals except through the agency of the ticket brokers for same ame years he lie said there had been a movement for the passage of a law to legalize pooling of freight rates this was a bill to an thorlie the railroads to pool their passenger business this legislation ho he said was in the interest of the largest and st strongest rODgest railroads mr air bland dem mo tie said he favored the brundige Brundl ge amendment but was opposed to the bill as a whole it the amendment prevailed he thought the friends of the bill would lose interest in it the purpose of the bill was to legalize pooling of pV passenger traffic and to take away from the states as as far as pos elble jurisdiction over this subject the bill bl I 1 I 1 was opposed by little littie dem den mo bodine dem mo bartlett dem ga and gillett rep mass the latter said that all the courts decisions thus far had been in the direction of the unconstitutionality of the proposed law ho ile salti sc alpers could not do business if the railroads did not supply them with tickets mr corliss hep rep mich said that the bill would not prevent discrimination it would simply transfer the j right to discriminate from the sc alpers to the authorized agents he ile gave no tice of an amendment he be would offer to make any authorized agent of any railroad equally liable with an UM unauthorized au zed agent for selling tickets below published rates I 1 mr updegraff rep la ia made a warm speech in opposition to the bill he could not he said allow so monstrous a proposition as the bill contained to pass without a word it ought to be entitled a bill to suppress competition in passenger traffic he ile had loved the republican party and had rejoiced in its achievements it had done much to elevate mankind and was now riding high on the tide title of popularity this bill would mark the beginning of its decadence its passage would impair in the minds of 0 the masses the honesty and integrity of his party mr air martin hep rep and mr connell rep ill opposed the bill in a vigorous manner mr hepburn in charge of the bill replied to its critics it was not designed to stifle competition on a rising vote the brundige Brundl ge a amendment was defeated 70 88 the vote was then taken by ayes and noes tho the amendment was defeated the vote then recurred on mr cor linss amendment it was also defeated 5 60 af mr r Adamso sn dem ga mr air gaines dem tenn and mr todd fus mich opposed the bill the latter made a vigorous onslaught upon the railroads after which the bill was placed upon its passage the bill was passed the announcement of the result being received with applause |