The Railroad Freight Fight That Nearly Forced a Special Session
Farmers and reformers pushed the Anderson railroad bill to a Senate showdown, while Gov. McGraw threatened to keep lawmakers in Olympia until freight rates came down.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
OLYMPIA, March 3. [Special.]—The friends of the Anderson railroad bill proposed to hasten action on the measure in the Senate. Senator McCroskey said this evening that he would introduce in the Senate tomorrow a resolution calling on the committee on railroads to report the bill at once. There will be no criticism of the committee in the resolution, but simply a statement that the bill is overdue and that it is desired to bring it before the Senate for consideration. This decision was reached tonight by Senator McCroskey, after a meeting of the railroad committee at which no agreement was reached relative to the measure. Those who were laboring for the passage of the bill were led to believe that the committee would decide tonight to report the bill, and its failure to do so has caused the suggestion of the resolution method of getting the bill out of the hands of the committee.
The members of the committee who were present at the meeting were Van Houten, Claypool, Smith and Shaw. Vande Vanter was out of the city. Of those in attendance, Van Houten favored amending the bill so as to make the reduction 15 instead of 25 per cent, and Smith was willing to report the bill favorably without the amendment. If the resolution recalling the bill should be adopted an effort will be made by its opponents to amend it so as to make the reduction not more than 20 per cent, but the leading supporters of the bill do not believe that it will be thus amended.
Anderson of Whitman, the father of the bill, said that the maximum sum that might be charged per ton under the bill, $4.31, is 44 per cent higher than the average charge for like hauls throughout the country, and that the rate would be none too low if it should be reduced to $4 per ton. He said that the farmers of Eastern Washington demanded the enactment of the bill just as it stands.
Gov. McGraw takes a deep interest in the fate of the bill. For some time it has been his purpose to call an extra session of the legislature for the enactment of a railroad freight measure should the Anderson bill fail to pass at the regular session. He said this evening that he looked upon that bill as an entirely reasonable measure and such as the legislature ought to pass. He further stated that he would certainly call the members of the legislature together again in case the bill was not passed this session.
The Senate has indefinitely postponed the Morrison bill to regulate the operation of railroads. This bill, which passed the House by a strong majority, contained regulations for the running of trains in cities and towns, and provisions relative to damages resulting from negligent operations of trains.
“He said that the farmers of Eastern Washington demanded the enactment of the bill just as it stands.”
Then, as now, freight rates were a fight over who gets to move goods and who pays for it. The Anderson bill pitted Eastern Washington farmers against railroad interests and forced a governor to threaten a special session—a preview of modern battles over corporate power and rural economies.
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