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.
We
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Heppner Gazette Times
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