The Railroad Rate Bill Dies in the Senate—and the Palouse Wants Answers

The Helm freight-rate bill, which had passed the House by an almost unanimous vote of 51 to 8, was defeated in the state Senate by a vote of 21 to 13. The measure would have compelled railroads at junction points to lay connecting tracks so grain, merchandise and other freight could be carried without transfer or breaking bulk; reduced passenger fares within the state from 4 cents to 3 cents per mile; and required companies to haul by the shortest routes from interior points to the coast—or at least prevented them from charging more than the shortest-route rate per ton per mile even when they chose another route. The Palouse News estimated that Palouse City alone would have saved not less than $25,000 a year. It called the defeat 'a sad blow to the many who have barely hung on under the conditions, hoping to receive that just treatment which is fair between railroad corporations and the people.' The Spokane Spokesman said public sentiment in Spokane, with the exception of two or three men, was unanimous for the bill; Senators Ide and Van Houten voted against it, and the defeat robbed farmers of just prosperity and indirectly struck at the prosperity of the city. Senator Crow, who had led the fight, changed his vote to the winning side so that he might move reconsideration; his constituents in the Palouse country, the paper said, did not understand parliamentary law and were furious.