The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-12-10
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
Judge Reagan, of Texas, Explains His
Bill.

WAsH1NGTONCITY Dec. 10.-Judge Reagan,
of Texas, will probably be chairman of the
house commerce committee His views as to
interstate commerce are therefore of special
interest. "My intention, " sad Judge Reagan,
''is TO reintroduce the bill of last session.
That bill proposes to abridge the monopoly
powers Of railroad corporations, but not to
regulate specific rates .of transportation and
fares. Its provisions are few and simple In
the first place, 1t proposes to prohibit dis
ordinations in freight rates and charges.
As a corollary to this it proposes to prohibit
rebates and drawbacks 1t proposes to pro
hibit the pooling of freights by competing
roads, and to prevent the charging of more
for q car load of freight for a shorter than a
longer distance on the haul. 1t provides
that freight rates and charges shall be
reasonable, and it requires that the transpor-
tation companies shall post up at their sew
eTsal depOts a list Of their freight rates and
charges which shall not he changed with
ont five days previous notice. These are the
substantiative provisions of the bill. Many
persons who have sought legislation to con-
troll the transportation companies have desired
that csngress should fix legislative rates
This, it was believed, could not be sue
cessfully done without injury to the rail-
roads themselves, and perhaps TO the people
A certain amount Of ilexibility in the
management of railroads is regarded as
indispensable In examining into the cause
| of the failure of state legislation it was
| found that the acts of the legislatures could
not be enforced, because the parties to the
suits could not be compelled to testify
and the courts had not the powers of a
court of equity to compel discovery
In the remedial part of the bill it is provided
that any citizen aggrieved may have his
remedy by civil suit, and in order to prevent
the wearing out of poor litigants it is provided
that where a litigant RECEIVERS judgement
| for a violation of this act the judgment
shall not be for less than $500. Then,
because many persons whose business is
! injured by the Determinations are afraid to
litigatc OF testify, it is provided that for any
violation of this act a quitam action may be
brought by the United States district attorney
| of the district in which the injury occurs
that is, a civil suit to be brought by public
officer, and in case Of conviction of the trans
portation companies for violation of the
provisions of the new law the penalty is not
to be less than 81 600 Provision is made
for a criminal action in which
the persons convicted may be fined not less
than $1,000 To enforce the provisions of
the law iii civil cases it is provided that the
parties may be required to testify in rela-
ton to them, with the provision that the
evidence so given will not be used
against them in criminal prosecutions. 1t is
also provided that in civil suits under this
act the courts trying them shall have equit-
able as well as legal powers and may compel
the production of books and contracts. These
two provisions are necessary because of the
difficulty of proving violations of sIch laws "