Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-06
A National Railroad Commission.

I6dl VI lLldS ludAl dAASAAS AAOhA
nations against different localities of the
country in the transportation of freight.
He does not approve of the Reagan inter
State commerce bill, now pending in the
Senate, because he thinks that Int asure
would result in gripping the railroads
and impairing their usefulness. lie is
in favor, however, OF the government
exerting a general supervision over rail-
roads. but insists that such supervision
shonld be intelligent and impartial.
The plan which he suggests for such
a Commission is briefly stated as follows;
He proposes three Commissioners TO form
bureau of the Department of the Int
rior, to be appointed by the President,
hold office for five years, and receive a
salary of $4,000 a year each. This
board is to be invested with the super
vision Of that portion of the business of
railroads passing from one State to an
other; "but such super vision shall be
limited to questions Of commerce be
tween the States and the methods of
operating their roads by railroads as at
fecting said commerce" 1t shall in
vestigate all complaints of discrimina-
ton and other abuses on the part of the
roads when Endorsed by an incorporated
board of trade OF chamber of commerce,
or State, or city government; 1t shall
conduct the inquiry in the place where
the complaint originated, and shall have
power to inspect the books and papers Of
railroad companies. If the complaints
are found to be reasonable and well
founded, a special report on them shall
be forwarded to the party or parties
making them, and, whenever it shall ap-
pear that a railroad has violated or
failed to perform its duties, or that any
change is needed in the manner in which
interstate commerce is carried on, the
board is to send its report thereon to all
parties concerned and include such re-
port in its annual report to the Interior
Department.
This is Mr.. Adams plan in brief, and
it is intended mainly as a means of fur
nishing to Congress reliable information
regarding grievances complained of by
the public against the railroads, so that,
as he expresses it, Congress may be
| enabled 'to understand the disease be-
fore it attempts to prescribe the remedy"
1t will be seen also that Mr.. Adams does
not propose an arbitrary Commission.
He thinks it should be only of an ad-
visory nature, and that it should simply
recommend to Congress such legislation
as it may deem proper for the regulation
of interstate commerce. He would
have the board patiently study the
cause before it attempts to deal with the
effects" Its chief duty at first would
be, not to draft rules for the
government of railroads, but to investi-
gate, experiment and master the whole
subject and gradually propose regula-
tons, until complete system, founded
on the mutual interests of the public
and the railroads, shall have been estab-
lished. The composition of the board,
he thinks, is of the utmost Importance.
Here, after all, says Mr.. Adams, sis
the essential point. A Railroad Commits
sion in itself amounts to nothing at all
it all depends on the men who are in the
Commission. They must not only be
honest and wholly above suspicion, if
they are going to accomplish anything,
but they must understand their bust
ness. They must know perfectly well
both what they want and how they mean
to go to work to get it. !"
Notwithstanding the apparent fairness
of Mr.. Adams views, however, we must
confess that we regard with a great deal
of suspicion any legislation at all by
Congress looking to the control and
management of the railroads of the coun-
try. Those roads are creatures of the
States, and as far as they are amenable
to the State laws, come legiti-
mately under the supervision of
the respective States through whose
territory they pass. A State Commits
sion, founded on Mr.. Adams ideas,
would be all right and proper; for it
would be a mediator between the roads
on one side and the people on the other,
and would thus effectually correct all
true grievances complained of by the
public, while it would also give the
roads fair chance. If all the States,
therefore, were to provide for such Com
missions, then there would be no neces-
sity of any interference whatever by
Congress, since all matters in which
the people of two or more States were
interested could be settled by confer
ences between the respective Commits
sions of those States.
This plan would, we believe, prove
equally as effective and be much less
Objectionable than that of Mr.. Adams,
inasmuch as it would be fraught with
much less danger to the integrity of the
republic The tendency of the party
which is at present dominant in the
country has always been towards cen
tralization, and every step in the slight.
est degree in that direction cannot be
too strongly reprobated. If Congress
will confine itself to legitimate regula-
ton of interstate commerce, such as
looking after the improvement of those
national highways of trade, the rivers
and harbors of the country, it will have
as much on its hands as it can profitably
attend to, without attempting 10 inter
fere with railroads, chartered by, and
the property of, citizens Of the various
States.
The tressurers of nearly fifty cotton