Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/429

 The main reason for objection to the special session on the part of the Republican politicians was the fear that the Democrats would make use of the occasion to secure political capital. Their anticipations proved to be entirely correct. Resolutions were offered requesting the governor to add to his call all sorts of subjects, some of them quite absurd and all of them artful. Among them was one permitting trolley roads to carry freight, and another fixing a maximum of two cents a mile as a charge for the transportation of passengers.

The Republicans did not dare to vote against any of these resolutions for the reason that, if they had done so, it would have been proclaimed that the party was opposed to the policy. They were, therefore, all passed and sent to me to be managed. A joint committee of the senate and house came over to the executive department to ascertain the result and received this answer:

“When the wagon is full of corn it is better to unload into the crib before taking on any more. Come to me with suggestions as to further legislation during the special session, after there has been a disposition made of those now before the legislature. For the present it does not appear to me to be wise to add to them, even though important matters may have been omitted.”

The chairman of the committee reported that he had “one of the quaintest documents that ever originated in a coordinate branch of the government.” They all understood the situation perfectly and when he read it there was a shout. That wagon load of corn traveled all over the state in editorial and cartoon, and there was no further trouble. Under no possible circumstances would I have favored either trolley freight or the fixing arbitrarily of a two-cents-a-mile fare. Nothing illustrates more forcibly the heedlessness and thoughtlessness of the masses than giving to trolley companies the right to carry freight as was done a short time thereafter. The railroads bought their rights of Rh