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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1926)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCT. 21, 1926. PAGE THREE COUNTY JUDGES-AND COMMISSIONERS OPPOSE TRUCK AND STAGE OPERATORS' BILL AND FAVOR LEGISLATIVE MEASURE The Oregon State Association of County Judges and Commissioners be lieves the initiative bill sponsored by the Oregon Motor Stage association, entitled "Bus and Truck Operating License Bill," should be defeated, and the referred Motor Bus and Truck Bill should be passed. Their reasons (re given as follows: Why are the bus and truck operat ors proposing this measure to - tax themselves? They ask the voters' support to the. bill so that "the trucks and stages will pay more money." Ihe legsilature of 1925 paused a bill Imposing a charge upon busses and trucks under which "the trucks and stages will pay more money." The truck and bus people of Oregon end Washington, who now admit they should pay more money, invoked the referendum on this Legislative bill, and it will appear on the ballot at the November election as numbers "324, Yes" and "325, No." The real purpose of this Motor Stage Associa te n bill is to defeat the Legislative bill. Our reasons for this conclusion are. 1. .Bus and truck operators have from the beginning fought any In crease In percent charges: The bus and truck operators vigor ously opposed every proposal of the legislature to impose any additional charges upon their operations on the highways of Oregon. Defeated in this they invoked the referendum and have succeeded in holding up the Leg islative bill, at least until November, 1926. For one year and a half they have escaped the payment of fees and charges admittedly just and reason able. 2. This bill of the Motor Stage As sociation grants a preference to the large Interstate transportation com panies : Under this bill, the company which operates in Oregon and one other state would pay two-thirds of the fee paid by the company operating exclu sively in Oregon, and a company op crating in Oregon and two other states, would pay only one-half of the amount required to be paid by a com peting Oregon operator. For exam ple, a Washington company operating between Vanvouver, Washington, and Ashland, Oregon, would travel 330 miles of Oregon highways and would pay only two-thirds of the fee paid by the Oregon company operating be tween Portland and Ashland. If the Washington company extended its op erations occasionally over the line in tc California, it would then pay only cne-half the amount paid by the Ore gon company. Yet the Washington company would travel more miles over Oregon highways than the Oregon company. Manifestly, the people should not permit this discrimination in favor of the large interstate com pany. J. This bill if adopted will be un constitutional as to interstate motor transportation companies: The bus and truck business is rap idly becoming monopolized by the large interstate transportation com panies.' Under the Federal Constitu tion no state can impose a charge up on an interstate transportation com pany for the mere right to enter the state. The state can, however, im pose a charge on them for the use of state highways if this charge is based upon and bears a direct and reason able relation to the actual extent of that use. The Supreme Court of the United States has so held in a num ber of recent cases. This is the prin cipal reason why the Legislative Act fixes its charges upon the basis of the mileage actually traveled within the state. On the other hand, the Motor Stage Association bill imposes the same charge on an interstate company operating over one mile of highway within the state of Oregon that is imposed upon another company which may operate across the entire state. It is obvious that this fee cannot be justified as a charge for the use of the highways. The Federal courts would promptly hold it to be an arbi trary charge upon interstate com merce and declare the act unconstitu tional. This would immediately ex empt all interstate companies from all charges. 4. Thla bill applies to private u well aa common carriers, and Is on that account unconstitutional: The Motor Stage Association bill applies to "each transportation com pany as defined in Chapter 325 Laws of 1925" and the latter act involves "every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating or managing any motor vehicle, motor truck, motor bus, etc,, used in the business of transportation of persons or property or as a common carrier for compensation over any public highway in this state, etc." This definition includes private carriers who are not engaged in the business of transporting for the public gen erally; and by so including them the bus and truck people have presented and now ask you to vote for a bill the principle of which has been declared invalid by the Oregon Supreme Court in an opinion written by Mr, Justice Burnett July 13, 1926, in the case of Purple Truck Garage Co. vs. The Pub lic Service Commission of Oregon, from which we quote: "Another effective reason (for not enforcing Chapter 10, Laws of Special Session of 1921) is found in the opinion of the United States Supreme Court rendered June 7, 1926, In the case of Frost v. Railroad Commission of Cali fornia, where that court declared unconstitutional an act couched in almost the identical terms of that in question, on the ground that in effect it compelled a pri vate carrier to assume against hia will the duties and burdens of a common carrier." These decisions leave no doubt that the Public Service Commission can not, under the constitution, regulate private carriers. The commission can not, therefore, collect a foe from a private carrier to pay the expense of enforcing regulations to which such private carriers are not subject. The Motor Stage Association bill is, there fore, unconstitutional as applied to private carriers. Since the bill con tains no saving clause, the entire bill will be declared unconstitutional if it is held to be invalid in any mater ial part. In that event, no bus or truck operators will be required to pay any fee under this bill. The same decision of the Oregon Supreme Court points out in the fol lowing language that this objection does not obtain as to the Legislative Bill (which is Chapter 380 of the Laws of 1925), on which the referen dum has been invoked by the bus and truck operators: "The legislative assembly of this state seems to have recogniz ed that doctrine in chapter 880 of the laws of 1925, wherein it takes "up the whole subject of motor transportation over public high ways and confines its operations substantially to motor carriers, which term the enactment defines thus: "'Motor Carrier' means every corporation and person, their les sees, trustees, receivers, appoint ed by any court whatsoever, own ing, controlling, operating or man aging any motor vehicle used in the business of motor transporta tion of and for the general pub lic and not operating exclusively within the limits of an incorpor ated city or town." By section 2 of the act it is provided: 'All motor carriers, as the term motor carrier is defined in this act, are hereby declared to be common carriers. The statute then proceeds to regulate Buch common carriers and does not profess to affect private carriers." , 5. This Motor Stage bill don not Itself impose any charge; it merely authorizes the Public Service Com mission, in its discretion, to Impose charges: This bill provides: "Section 1. The Public Service Commission of Oregon is hereby authorized and empowerd to require the payment of an annual license fee by each transporta tion company as defined in Chap ten 825, General Laws of Ore gon.etc." Unlike the Legislative Bill (No. 324 Yes on the Ballot), which directly imposes charges upon the bus and truck operators, this Motor Stage bill simply authorizes and empowers the Public Service Commission of Oregon to make a charge. The bill itself makes no charge, and you the people of the state make no charge if you pass it; you merely authorize the Pub lic Service Commission of Oregon to make a charge. 6. Even if this bill ahould become effective and if the fees it prescribes should be exacted, It will not, as It purports to do, require trucks and busses to pay much more money: The Oregon Motor Stage Associa tion opens its argument with the statement that under its bill "The Trucks and Stages will pay more money" and closes with the appeal "Vote Yes on this Bill it provides more money for Highways." The vot ers really want to know whether un der this bill, if it is valid, "the trucks and stages will pay more money." It will, no doubt, require some of the trucks and busses, particularly the smaller operators, to pay more money than they now pay. It will require others, and particularly some of the lerge interstate companies, to pay less money than they now pay. For illustration we will take an example which may be verified from state rec ords: Under the existing law the Blue Line Stage operates two stages with a seating capacity of 18 passengers each, from Pendleton, Oregon, to Walla Walla, Washington, and pays in license fees, seat fee, and Public Service Commission fee a total of $368.00 per annum. Under this Mo tor Stage Bill it would pay $458.66 per annum. The same operator runs bus3es from Walla Walla, Washing ton, to Lewiston, Idaho. If it were to consolidate the two runs and op erate from Pendleton, through Walla Walla, to Lewiston, Idaho, its total annual payment under this proposed Motor Stage Bill would be $344.00 or $14.00 per annum less than it now pays under existing laws. For this same operation, based on mileage made in Oregon in 1925, this same motor company would pay to the state of Oregon for the use of its highways in the operation of the$ two busses $1181.20 irrespective of whether it stopped its operation at the state line or at Walla Walla or at Lewiston, because the charge is based solely upon the mileage traveled up on Oregon highways. The justness (f this charge is apparent from the fact that these "two busses" ran 82, 274 miles over Oregon highways in 1925 and collected a gross revenue of $22,271.08 on the Oregon mileage op Oregon Leads Nation In Judging Dairying Oregon may now claim the cham pion student dairy cattle judge and butter judge in the United States, as a result of the high record made by the agricultural college teams at the national dairy show at Detroit. Wilfred B. Cooper of Klamath Falls won the highest individual honors as a student dairy cattle judge for all breeds. He is also a member of the team that won third place in milk judging. Dale Winn of Junction City, a mem ber of both teams, won highest hon ors in butter judging. Aage Grib skov, also of Junction City, placed third in butter judging, in which the college team Bcored first. The cattle judging team coached by Dr. I. R. Jones placed third in aver age for all breeds in competition with 27 teams, and won first in Guernseys. The products judging team, coached by V. D. Chappell, associate professor of dairy husbandry, placed sixth in Keneral competition which included milk, butter, cheese, and ice cream judging. The O. A. C. dairy club raised the money partly to finance the trip. Sale of ice cream bars on the campus and at the state fair is the chief source of funds. The students who made the trip are Wilfred Cooper, Klamath Falls; Dale Winn and Aage Gribskov, Junc tion City, and Frank Loughary, Mon mouth. Lewis Brandt, Silverton, and Eaton Ahlstrom, Lakeview, were al ternates. Professor Chappell was in charge of the party. WEAK COLONIES COSTLY. Weak colonies are examined in the fall of the year by the successful bee keepers in Oregon to determine the csuse of the weakness, says the ex periment station. He is careful not to start robbing by leaving combs of honey exposed. If the bees are weak from disease he destroys them at this time of year. If they are queen less or the queen apparently failing oi inferior they are united with other colonies. This is done by placing the weak colony on a strong colony with only the thickness of a newspaper be tween. The inferior queen is killed before the colonies are united. Weak colonies are not worth wintering. It is better to give the bees and honey to another colony, provided they are not diseased. 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Heppner, Oregon QUALITY AT LOW COST Ifeii mm illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllW sll 1 -From Us to You- I Ripening years their mellowness have bestowed On divers works of God here, below; But where more bountifully, may I hear, Than Merry Christmas Happy New Year Once more the Yuletide season nears, and our thoughts turn to friends friends whose friendship emulates the teachings of Him who died on Galilee's cross. What more fitting tribute to this friendship could one give than a beautiful card, em blematic of the bright spirit of the occasion. Bright, because Christmas is a festive holiday, commemorating the birth of Christ. You will want to remember all your friends this Christ mastide; so why not make sure of it now by choosing from our complete line of beautiful Greeti glare samples enough to fill your needs Our samples include more than 50 different numbers of hand-decorated cards, from which you may choose any number from 1 0 cards up. Cards will be delivered before the holiday season in plenty of time for mailing, with name imprinted on each card. You will be surprised how reasonably these beautiful cards are priced. Heppner Gazette Times lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllli iiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiHiiii