THE SCRANTON TftlBUNE-i. WEDNESDAY MOE&tKG, DECEMBER 16. 1896. Lively Times May Be Expected in riichigah ' Governor-elect Pingree Tells of His Plans for Radical Reforms in State Legislation and Whets His Snickersnee for the Corporations. From the Chicago Tlmes-Horuld. Detroit, Dec 10. Governor-elect Pin Kree hua Bald It. Michigan la tu be battered this winter with the bullets of reform, while the whole country looks on at the battle. The famous mayor-Rovernor has outlined his plan of action and the coming tight between him and his legislature will contribute the moat Intensely Interesting chapter in the history of commonwealth govern ment In the United States. Mr. JMngree . will go to Lansing primed with several far-reaching and radical measures that will profoundly stir the people of the state and attract the attention and Invite the study of the nation. He has In meditation many reforms calculated to draw pub lic Interest to the snapping point of ti'iislty. Ho proposes to apply corro sive remedies to conditions long stand ing and to ;ut an entirely new face on inuny important matters that have been accepted as permanent In the past. W ILL BE A HARD FIGHT. In a word, the new governor will at tempt to overturn completely much In the business. Industrial and agricultur al life of the state, and to do this without delay. It will be a hard fight, but Huzen 8. Filigree Is a ha id tighter. To a correppondent of the Times-Herald Mayor I'lugree outlined his plans today. "Yes, sir," said he, "I'm going to see to it that the people of Michi gan get a 2-ccnt railroad fare. That will be one number of my programme, If yon choose to call It by that title. I've said in my speeches that I stood for 2-ccnt fares on the railroads, and what I said I meant. "You know, don't you, that the peo ple that have plenty of money can ride one-third cheaper In this state than those that are poor? If a man has 120 to spare he can buy a 1,000-mile book and ride for 2 cents a mile. But if he Is poor the railroads make him pay !) cents. Nice state of affairs. Isn't It? Fine thing for the railroads, too, you know. "Did you ever stop to figure how much ready cash this mileage system gives a railroad? Supposing the Michi gan Central has 10.000 mileage books out. The people pay $200,000 for them, don't they? Well, supposing they are on an average half used up, that leaves tlOO.ooo that the railroads keep ahead of their patrons. They manage to keep ahead of the game right along. TWO-CENT FARES. "They say they couldn't make a liv ing on a 2-cent fare basis. I claim It would be the best thing that could happen to them. Let them get their prices down to where the people can alTord to ride and thev won't be slow to get on the cars. They act scared when I mention 2-cent fares, and say: 'Why, we'll have to have a receiver. "We can't get along on a 2-cent fare.' Now, thut's all bosh. How do they know they can't? Thv never tried it. I tell you the people want to ride, but they can't afford to pay one-third mure than their rich neighbors, so they stay at home. "Now, one of the best arguments I have seen in favor of a 2-cent fare road in Michigan is right to the point. It was a road that sold a G00-mlle book for H0. That's the Flint and Fere Mar quette road. Why, I was never so as tonished In my life as the day I struck Saginuw and didn't have quite money enough for a 120 book. The agent told me he would sell me a fiOO-mile book. I thought he was fooling me at first, but he passed It out and 1 paid for it. "Now, If roads that sell transporta tion for 2 cents a mile have to have re ceivers, why doesn't the Flint and Pere Marquette get one? And why doesn't the Grand Trunk? They've been sell ing tickets for any distance in the state for 2 cents for several years now, and the Englishmen that own the road haven't asked for a receiver. It must be this receiver business is an Ameri can dodge a regular sharp Yankee trick. A POINT. "And, do you know, the very day I bought that &J0-n)lle book they sold me a sleeping car berth a lower for $1; clear from Saginaw Into Detroit, too. Why, I was so astonished to see a rail road corporation with so sensible ideas I couldn't sleep! I remarked to the porter that a fellow could afford to take a whole section at that price, and he took the breath away from me by Buying that would not be necessary, he would not let down th upper. I might take the lower and pay for It, and if any one came along wanting the upper he would Just say it was taken, and In the morning I could pay for It. If no one wanted it I shouldn't have to pay. "That's the nearest thing to a cor poration with a soul that I have ever come across. I asked If the president of the Flint and Pere Marquette was not a Massachusetts man. You know down there you can buy a 500-mile tick et and a whole family may ride on It. The agent told me I was right, the president did live down east. "I tell you this simply goes to show that a railroad can do business profit ably without fleecing the public. The Flint and Pere Marquette railroad Isn't every big system, you know, and I guess If the 2 cents a mile with a GOO-mlle book doesn't compel It to hire a re ceiver and go bankrupt the Michigan Central and some of the other roads could do it. Two .cents a mile these days, when all sortsof farm produce and labor are so cheap, Is worth as much to the railroads as 4 cents was twenty years ago. THE UPPER PENINSULA, "Of course, you know the upper pen insula la a little differently situated than the lower, and the 2-cent Idea would have to be made Into a 3-cent fare up there. They charge 4 cents there now. One of our legislators had a bill last session to reduce the rates to 3 cents, but the railroad lobbyists got it on the side track, and It is there yet. I'm going to shove It off this win ter If I can. You see, the country is pretty sparsely settled un there, and they can't carry people so cheap as they can down here." LOWER FREIGHT RATES. ' The 2-cent fare Idea Is only the first plan that Mr. Plngree hopes to get into the form of law this winter. He also expects to tackle the freight trans portation matter. The governor wants lower freight rates and no discrimina tion. "It Is largely for the interest of the farmers that I want to secure a law regulating freight rates," said the mayor-governor In discussing this phase of his programme. "High freight rate are an Injustice to them. Every extra cent it costs to get the produce to market Is so much Out of their pock ets. Competition would do the work If we had enough competition in rail roading, but we haven't. "When only one road runs through a given territory Its freight charges are fixed at the point where they think they can bleed the people most without the people kicking over the traces. The very wheat and potatoes that are shipped over'such a road have to com pete In open market with wheat and potatoes shipped over some railroad that, through competition In transpor tation, could charge only half as much for carrying them. . "Just let me Illustrate what I mean about these freight discriminations and show how they work. At Gladwin, this state, this very year, it cost a farmer MO a car to ship his wheat to uetroii. It was the only line there was and there was on escaping its greed. If it had said $50 the farmers would hav4 had to pay It. But $40 was enough. That road had a straight line to ue trolt, no change of roads, and It charged the enormous price of $40 a car. But the Flint and Pere Marquette road got an extension to within ten miles of Gladwin, and now what do you think It costs to ship a car of wheat to Detroit? You would scarcely believe that It is only 317. but It is true. "Now, do you suppose for a minute that the employes of the Michigan Central were getting any more when the road was drawing wheat for $40 a car than they are now with the transportation at $17? Don't you think so for a minute. "In this connection I want to get a law applying some of the principles of the Inter-state commerce act of the federal government. There are simi lar discriminations between people and cities In the state that there are along roads runnier Into different states and there ought to be similar remedies. The Inter-state commerce commission can't touch our state roads, but the legislature can, and I want the legis lature to do this very thing this winter. VWhen there are two cities equally distant from Detroit, there Is no reason why transportation of freight should not cost the same on either road. But If one city has railroad competition and the other has not; then you will see a discrimination against the peo ple and the city with only one road to release their products." TO TAX RAILROAD PROPERTY. The third topic the governor took up related to the taxation of railroad property and corporation property In general. It Is not third In Importance with him. neither has It taken a back seat In his advocacy of different re forms. He spoke at some length un the subject, as follows: "Do you know of any legitimate rea son why the poor laboring man should pay city, county and state taxes on his cottage and lot, while the big railroad corporations pay no city taxes and get off almost Bcot free from state taxes? When I was down east a while ago they looked at me in blank amazement when I told them that our railroads never paid any city taxes. There ought to be a law to compel them to pay the same rate of taxes on their assessed valuation as any man pays on the val uation of his property, say the furmer or the laboring man. "You know, the railroads of Michi gan do pay a specific tax from 2 to 3 per cent., according to amount per mile, on gross earnings. That money goes into our primary school fund, al though I don't suppose half the people know what becomes of It. PEOPLE IN FAVOR OF IT. "I expect the railroads will squirm like a worm that has been stepped on when a bill calling upon them to do their share toward maintaining gov ernment comes up, but the people want It. They have paid taxes for the cor porations long enough. Why, we give franchises to the roads and let them cut across our country roads and our streets, and everyone has to get out of the way or get killed. What do we get in return? Not a cent. "They tell us It is for the public good. Maybe it is, but It's pretty much a private snap, too. We have been hearing about equal rights to all and special privileges to none for a long time. I think we shall try to put It into practical use at Lansing and see If we can't squeeze a little money out of the railroads to support the govern ment. "And It Isn't railroads alone that need attending to. There are other big corporations that are sucking their ex istence out of the people without giving anything to tne government In return. Do you know we exempt telegraph and telephone companies from taxation Just the same as we do churches? Too bad about these fellows that own stock In those corporations. They don't en Joy life, you know, because they are afraid of receivers and such things. 1 guess if we taxed them the same as we do other people they would appre ciate what the government does and be more willing to pay for it. AS TO STOCK WATERING. "I want to see some measure that will clip the wings of the trusts and monopolies in this state. One such measure should be a law prohibiting stock watering and over-capitalization and such schemes for enriching stock and bondholders. Stock watering is wrong, and it will never end In this state till we have a law forbidding It. I shall do my best to make Vanderbllt pay as much taxes as plain people pay or I shall make trouble. CONSOLIDATION OF ROADS. "This consolidation business Is a bad thing when the railroads take it up. They have gone and done it In the street railway business In Detroit, right squarely in the face of the constitution of the state of Michigan, too. When you have consolidation there are al ways lower wages and higher rates of transportation. The effect on mer chants is seen in the lessened ability of discharged men to buy goods. The farmers feel It, too, and the railroads suffer also. If they wee not so hard headed they could see it. But they try to get even through excessive rates. Combinations of this kind contemplate the least amount of work, the least pay for labor and the greatest possible charges. "There Is not he slightest difference between the Detroit street railways and the Michigan Central and Lake Shore reads, except In degree. Mr. Vanderbllt owns the bulk of stock In both of these railroads, against the ex press provision of the constitution of the state. If these roads were In com petition, as they should be, there would be the greatest number of men em ployed, wages would increase and fares and freight rates would come tumbling down. Unfortunately, railroads are op erated to aid speculation and overcap italization. The money gained by ex cess stock manipulation and mortgag ing goes Into banking businesses and transportation becomes a side issue with most of them. THE FARMER. "State governments have created possibilities that these shrewd corpor ations have seized. By neglect on the part of the state these burdens are thrown on the producing class, espec ially the farmer. I have alwavs watched the farmer and guided my bus iness according to his success. I think farming is the most depressed business In the country. We manufacturers cannot expect to sell our goods till the farmer sees better times. "When I realize that all wealth comes from labor it Is plain why there Is no business in the country. The grent army of people are consumers. All wealth comes from the laboring man. The schemer who sells watered stock doesn't produce anything. We have people In this city who have made mil lions In three or four years, but the sweat came from other people's brows. It Is evident when 60,000 laboring men In Chicago and 20,000 In this city are out of employment why I can't sell my products. . j "I'm a trifle off my 4U but I'll get back to it all right. What I' desire as beneficial to all, the railroads Included, Is to carry out the provisions of the state constitution and. obtain the com petition that Instrument calls for. It Is a law that would be of benefit to the railroads as well as other people and prevent the wreck toward which bad management la surely leading them, for monopoly ends In wreck sooner or later. "There must be a strict enforcement of laws and constitutions made tor the general welfare. There must be no op pression of any class or corporation. All must be subject to the same bur dens. The word class should never be used. In the great human family there should be no favorites. Even the semblance or shadow of oppression must cease to exist." TO REFORM THE PRIMARY. One of the most important measures that Governor Plngree will father in' the legislature will be a primary elec tion or caucus law that has been for some time a hobby with him. "Yes, sir," said the governor-elect, "you may say that I am going for that law. There ought to be a change. There's too much trouble, crookedness and expense connected with the pres ent system. We can't have a conven tion but the smoke of jobbery rises right away. It costs us here In Detroit several thousand dollars for every con vention, and each party has to have one lefore each election, you know. "There Is not much to my plan, but here you have It: I want all candi dates, for whatever party voted for, chosen on the same day and at the same time. Any man wanting to run for alderman should have his name put on the ticket as a Republican and the Democrats as Democrats, just as we do In elections now. The regular elec tion commission should take care of the work. The voter would take his ballot. Just as he does now under out Australian system, and mark It for those he wished to vote for. He could, of course, vote for only one candidate for each office, and If he marked two names he would lose his vote entirely. CANDIDATES BEAR THE COST. "All there Is to It. is that the go-as-you-please caucus would be done away with. Every party would nominate Its candidates on the same day and every man would have an equal show if he wanted to run for office. The cost of the caucus or nominating election might be borne by a fee charged upon each candidate to pay printing ex penses and so forth. "Don't vou see that we should not need any packed conventions? Every man would be his own delegate and there would be no chance to carry a convention by buying up a few votes for a small price. It would simply b?,: determined which man of a party was the man wanted to run for the office. ' I tell you It's a sure cure for $ good deal of the caucus Jobbery that bothers us and that makes our present system so odious to good people. "In connection with that, there's an other matter that ought to be attend ed to by the legislature, and that Is this matter of coercing Voters by meth ods Ihut are not just right. You know these big quasNpublic corporations, and some that are not quasi-public, but Just as big and powerful, often take advantage of a laboring man's depend ence upon them by gently suggesting to him for whom he shall vote. Such tacit force is unbecoming an Amerlcnn institution and a law to stop It should be passed at once." VOTE ON FRANCHISES. Municipal legislation affecting De troit is looked for at the coming ses sion of the legislature. Much of it will be purely of local importance, and a majority of people are as much inter ested In It as is the mayor. But one thing he does advocate and will try to get a measure thereon through the legislature, and that refers to the passing of the people themselves on valuable franchises given to corpora tions such as street railway companies or llenting concerns. "It should be fixed," said Mr. Pln gree, "so that the people would have a chance to pass their opinion after their representatives, the aldermen get through with their work. There Is a good deal of Jobbery among the latter in such matters, and often an objec tionable clause that would do the peo ple millions of dollars' worth of harm goes through greased by the applica tion of a few hundreds In sliver. Give the people opportunity to kill any such legislation. "Yes, it Is the referendum applied In a special case, but, then, that is noth ing new. Here a year or two ago we voted whether we should have free text books or not. It's on a similar princi ple. It's plain what I mean without any further explanation. FEDERALISM IN CITY RULE. "Yes, I am In favor of the federal system of city government, making the mayor the direct head of all affairs, with the commissions, like the public works and lighting board, directly re sponsible to him. As it is, our munic ipal business is disjointed, because a half dozen disconnected commissions have charge of them. But under the federal system, the heads of all would meet weekly, or at stated Intervals, for conference, and all parts-of the municipal service would have a connec tion that would be beneficial to it. There would be a definite responsi bility to the mayor, and he In turn would shoulder the load of responsi bility to the people." The fourth class of legislation that the new reform governor will attempt will be rather negative In character. It refers to many statutes on the books of the state that are practically dead, or worse than dead, repealed by the will of the people, though not by law, and standing dally as violated laws, a reproach to the community. "I want to get rid of some of those old laws." said the governor-elect, "for they don't do any good, filling .up vol ume after volume of statute books, forceless and forgotten. There are too many of them lumbering up the stat utes, and I want to see to It that some of them are repealed and taken off the books. I can't specify, but everybody knows that the statute booty are full of them. It will be simply a cleanlng up process. That's all." HOW THE LEGISLATURE STANDS. Mr. Plngree's election to the chair of the governorship was a distinct expres sion of the people's will. His plurality was some 83,000 votes, and this is taken as an indorsement of his reform meth ods by the people of the state. He is not allied with corporate concerns, but Is peculiarly Independent of them. He owes not an lota to the corporations or trusts of the state for his election, for they opposed him with all their pow er. If anything, he will enter office op posed to their Interests and favorable to legislation that will trim their edges. The great farming element and la boring men. all of whom cast their votes for his election, are united In ex pecting great things that will redound to their industrial Interests from Mich igan's coming governor. "There'll be great times in Lansing this winter," Is a common expression in street corner talk, and the "you bet" that Invariably follows in renly. Indicates that there Is wonderful unanimity of opinion as to the legislative din that Is to be raised. And Governor Plngree Is not going to disappoint any one. When he Is asked for his programme to be fol lowed In the legislature he refers his questioners to his speeches made dur ing the campaign. No one expects that the governor Is going to have his own way In matters of legislation. There Is not a particle of doubt, that the opposition will be the strongest that a governor ever encoun tered in trying to bring about legisla tive reforms. Out of the thirty-two members of the upper house it Is cer tain that half are opposed to what Is distinctly known and recognised as the Plngree machine. The mayor's greatest political enemt In state politics is Senator William G. i Thompson, of Detroit, who was re elected after one of the most strenuous rights of the state campaign. Without doubt he will try to clip the governor's wings, although he says he will support any Plnsree measures) that command his good sense. Arrayed with Mr. Thompson are some blue bloods and a coterie of old-timers in the senate, who will without doubt be united In oppos ing many Plngree reforms. However, the mayor will have some fighting material in the upper house. From Detroit there will go to that body Senator C. W. Moore, who has served In the lower house, and who has served as comptroller of the eity of Detroit. He will be the exponent of Plngree Ideas, and there will gather at once around him a considerable element in sympathy with the reform ideas of the new governor. CONDITIONS OF THE HOUSE. In the house, which is looked upon as more nearly reflecting the feeling of tne people at large, there will be no small opposition to Plneree reforms. Nothing more Is expected of the old- time members, who are in sympathy with the McMillan machine, than that they will make all possible trouble for the new governor. It is Impossible to reflect at all closely the opinions of the lower house before Its organisation or to determine with an accuracy the Pln gree elements. This situation, with the senate al most certain to be anti-Plngree and the lower house uncertain, is just what Is sure to make a lively session, for It means opposition, and the more oppo sition the mayor-governor has the harder and often the more effectively he tights. Some of his municipal fights were made against the biggest odds and out of them came his greatest vic tories. HOPE OF THE PINGREEITES. If the governor cannot liuve his way In legislative matters he will leave no room for doubt In the minds of the people that the legislature and not him self Is to blame. And right In that point lies a birr post of reliance for the Plngree adherents. They say that even though the legislature be strongly opposed, to Mr. Plngree personally and politically, its members will not dare to rlv Into the face of the people In openly fighting some of the reforms that he has so assiduously preached, In and out of season. They argue that no representative wiH want to go to his constituents and face their anger after a vote adverse to their Interests, given just because the measure in Is sue was the product of Mr. Pingree's reform propaganda. Perhaps this view Is correct. At any rate there is no doubt that the per sonal hatred of Mr. Plngree In the leg islature will make some Interesting sit uations certain, while the pro-Pingree members will see to It that he has good fighting lines for his reform attacks on the corporations. The mayor will scarcely acknowledge that he has any legislative "pro gramme." This is the way he prefers to state it: "I have some Ideas that I want to see made into law, but I have no programme." The Plngree programme, in brief, as can be seen from the foregoing. In cludes proposed legislation of five sorts: Taxing corporate property as other property is taxed, exercising the right of the state to fix maximum rates of fare and freight, amendments to cau cus laws looking to the abolition of the convention system, giving Michi gan cities the right to purchase and own street railway tracks, and the ref erendum in cities for the final adoption of important franchises. What the people of the state, who are primarily responsible for the big Plngree majority, will look for will be laws controlling more effectively the giant corporations, especially the rail roads. The farmers are pretty unan imous In thinking the railroads Impose upon them, and there are thousands besides the farmers who want lower fares, and these the mayor-governor stands for almost before anything else. NMV STORY OF MR. BEECHER. How the Preacher Won the Harm . Regard of Two Irish Girls. From the New York Tribune: Here Is a new story of Henry Ward Beecher, which illustrates better than many well-known anecdotes of the great preacher his ready sympathy, cheery good humor and love for un usual incidents. About ten years ago i. young Irish woman named Bridget Dowd, employ ed as a servant in one of the families In the Heights district, sent to the old country for her cousin, who wanted to try her fortune In the New World. The cousin came accordingly, landed In New York, and came over to Brook lyn to And the address she had receiv ed. She reached the Heights, finding her way by asking strangers, but when she had arrived there she could not find the street In which her cousin liv ed. The longer she wandered about the streets the more hoDelessly In volved she became. Finally, In despair, the determination to ring the door be.l of the nearest house, and ask. She did so, and the door was opened by a noble-looking old man, with a magnllieent physique and wavy white hair. She asked him the address, but instead of answering her he asked In a kindly way what she wanted. En couraged by his manner, the young Immigrant told him her troubles, and explained why she wanted the ad dress. "Well," said he, "you Just wait till T get my hat, and I'll go along and show you the way." In a moment he reappeared, and the strange couple started off together. As they walked, he asked her all about herself, and her life and troubles In the old country, and she told him ev erything. They chatted together like eld friends, and the young woman, de lighted as she was with her new friend, could not understand the reason of the puzzled glances that met them from every one whom they passed. At last they stopped before a hand some house, and the old man said: "You stand here at the gate, while I ring the bell." He then went down to the basement door, when the sen-ant girl appeared at the door, and asked: "Pets Bridget Dowd live here?" "Yes, sir," said the servant; "she's the upstairs girl." "Well," said the visitor, chuckling to himself, "will you kindly tell her that Mr. Beecher would like to see her?" The girl carried the message upstairs, but on the way she met some of the members of the family, to whom she told the astonishing thing that had oc curred. "What!" said one of the ladles. "Mr. Beecher at the basement door? How dreadful! Why didn't you ask him to the front door? Go right down, you foolish girl, and apologize to him, and ask him to come to the other door." But Mr. Beecher firmly refused , to budge from the basement door. . He wanted to see Bridget Dowd, and' in a few minutes that young woman, much flustered at the honor that was being done her, came to the door. "Are you Miss Dowd?" asked Mr. Beecher. "Yes, sir." "Well," said he, beckoning to the young woman at the gate, who now came forward, and was revealed for the first time to her amazed cousin, "do you recognize this young woman?" But there was no answer. The two girls flew Into each other's arms, show ering Irish greetings upon each other, and Mr. Beecher, his face wreathed In smiles, turned away. They recovered themselves enough to run after him, and try to thank him, but he would listen to nothing. He bade them good by In his kindly way, and though he probably never saw them again, they were two earnest young Catholics who never considered It a sin, after having been to mass, to go to Plymouth church, and hear a Protestant sermon whenever they could get away from their household duties. A GIFT OF BRAIN The Yule Tide comes attended by pleasant exchange of gift husband surprises wife and "vice versa parents gratify the cherished wishes of children, and the little ones and big ones all combine to make mother and father happy with some pleasant remembrance. Many puzzle and say What Shall It Be? May We Offer a Suggestion ? YES? Well, then, the battle cry of today in this peaceful land of ours is PROGRESS progress material, progress mental. HOW TO ATTAIN IT Is the next question. HA! There we can help you. 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