Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-04-01

OF all the blunders and illusions of thu
obsolete Granger legislation. For Con
gress to enact such law would therefor,
BE- an impeachment of its understanding
and since this bill is founded upon mis-
conceptions, it would necessarily have tt
be repealed in a short time, after having
done much harm and no good.
Bat even if the Reagan bill is rejected
il does not follow that wise measure vii
be substituted for it. The resolution
ad opted by the committee really begs tn
whole question in assuming that SONS
measure relating to interstate comnerc'
ought to be reported. No such necessity
has been demonstrated. On the contrary
all the trustworthy evidence a1duced goes tt
show that until Congress is prepared to dea
with the question from the standpoint O
complete enlightenment, the part of wis
dom is to let it alone. The recent recon-
mendation of Charles Francis Adams for &
Federal Commission, vested with the
necessary power to hear charges and arbi
trate disputes, is in fact the only thoroughly
practical suggestion which has been made
and if that Commission were constituted
| in accordance with his idea, being com
posed of lawyer, statisticians and rail.
road man, there can be no doubt that i!
would produce more satisfactory results
than have proceeded from all the railroad
legislation attempted during the past
twenty years. The proposal to pass the
Reagan bill, or anything like the Reagan
bill, is indeed movement in the nature of
retrogression. It is a distinct step back
ward toward the confused and unintelli.
gent legislation of the Granger period, and
it would be mere folly to expect any better
outcome for it than that legislation had.
1t might have been thought that the
monotonous succession OF failures which
has marked all the attempts at the regula,
ton of transportation, would by this time
have convinced Congress and the country
that some other mode of treatment would
have to be found. 1t might have been
thought also that the success which has at.
tended the adoption of the Commission
system in England would have turned the
attention of our representatives. that way.
But it appears that after all these exper'
imente, after all these failures, after all
tins gratuitous instruction from abroad. a
few stupid but doggedly obstinate men
like Reagan of Texas are able to force
their crude notions upon committees al
least, to the extent of inducing them tc
favor renewal of the old absurdities
1t is to be hoped that the committee die
not realize fully what it was committing
itself to when it adopted this resolution
and that the House will refuse to plunge
into new series of experiments all o
which have been discredited in advance By
the experience of the States, and of for
eign Governments. OF all the Anticipated
notions which cling about the Reagan bill
however, the notion that free competition
is the great panacea for all ills, is perhaps
that which has been most emphatically
exploded by actual occurrences. For two
years past war of rates has been raging
among the Eastern railroads. In other
words, competition has again and again
broken through all arrangements, and Sc,
the rival roads to cutting" in the
widest manner. But the only outcome Of
this kind of war has been injury to the
roads, loss to the stockholders, and incon.
venience to the public. 1t has no. settled
anything. 1t has, on the contrary, tended
to unsettle everything. 1t has led to the
squandering of great deal of capital, and
the ruin OF many people, but it has not
brought the transportation problem any
nearer solution.
Yet the Reagan bill theory ia that this
kind of competition ought to be made per-
marent by legislation, and that the rail,
roads should be carefully prevented from
uniting. The old bugbear OF monopoly, or
consolidation, has, however, lost all its ter.
rors under close inspection. It is the nat
ural arrangement toward which all railroad
wars tend. and though in theory it has
frightened the public both here and in En-.
gland, in practice it has always proved a
wonderful improvement upon the condition
it takes the place Of. In England it has
proceeded so far that two-thirds OF all the
railroads in the United Kingdom are now
operated by five corporations. And the
most significant fact about this change is
that since this consolidation nearly all the
complaints against railroad management
have been directed to the small independent
lines, and not against the great companies.
The latter have given better and cheaper
service than ever before since their consel.
idatioo, and that is the best possible
proof of the beneicencs Of the change.
/ The same results are to be ex.
pected from the same amalgamations
in this country. The termination Of
the perpetually recurring wars of rates by
the consolidation Of rival lines must lead
to cheaper and better service, because the
companies will not then be wasting their
resources in suicidal contests with one
another. The Reagan bill, however, and
all such legislation, aims at paralyz;ng the
natural evolution of transportation, and
forcing the business into a maintenance Of
/ those Tuinous conditions which at present
are only endurable because it is evident
that they mark transition period, and
that their vsly violencs must hasten the
changes to which they inevitably tend
II Congress could be made to realize thi.
truth it would content itself with appoint
ing Commission, whose chief function
should be watchful observation, and il