The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1883-02-15
MAXIMUM RATES AND A COMMISSION 70
FIX RATE0.


that we note that many Of the prominent
men Of the State, as also leading newspapers,
are acknowledging that Sedgwick county
possesses, in the person OF Senator Sluss, a
man Of no ordinary force and attachments.
Despite his reticence and backwardness, his
apparent cynicism and stiffness, that the
man Is more and better than his seeming !;
10, per force Of his environments, being seen
and understood by men who rend and esti-
mate their fellow men. But it il with no
pride that we who know him best, and ap-
preciate him most, call attention to bis atti-
tude touching the Kelly bill and railway
legislation. His speech, admonishing his
honorable colleagues as to the duties and re-
probabilities of the legislator, was worthy
the man and the occasion; was, in fact, lofty
in conception, and called for emulation, but
his subsequent remarks advocating his
amendment would be taken by the general
reader as "tafy," pulled for the delectation
Of that class of people who never look be-
yond their own selfish interests. Experience
as Senator Siuss well knows, is Of more val
ne as guide, TO the law making power, and
for the rule Of people. than the opinions OF
even a genius however gifted, or q logician
however wonderful his endowment.
Whether swell enough" or not, it is to be
expected that the demagogue. that the sell
fish and the narrow. will fall in with the
frenzy OF the hour, whatever it may be !;
but, honest law makers can never afford TO
1y into the face OF experience, however
plausible toe promise of new and untried
theories or rules OF practice. Now the leg
islature is called upon TO pass law TO cor
rect the abuses OF railway management.
However much this call may have been aug
mrnted by the 'howler,' but for the fact OF
confessed abuses such call would probably
never have disturbed the representatives OF
the solid people Of the state. The legisls-
lures of mary other States have been called
on to do the same thing, and many have been
the processes relied upon for reaching the
desired end. Nearly every one oi these ef-
forts have fsiled-notoriously failed-failed
from u thousand CAUSES too numerous 10
mention here. Maximum rates have failed
in several States, notably in Iowa, because
such rates enriched some and robbed others
In q more pronounced way than even the
most corrupt railway management. The 30
called granger laws" which virtually put
the management of railway lines into the
hands Of irresponsible officers, or at least
took il from the hands of the owners, failed
because it ruined and bankrupteo the roads,
and lett the carrier system crippled and in
sufficient. But one system has as yet, so far
as State legislation is concerned, been adopt
ed which has cured abuses and which has
not worked harm either for the people, for
the State or for the owners Of the railways,
and that is the commissioner system. And
the universal verdict 10 that where such
commissioners are the least trammeled the
more satisfactory the results, the less the ex-
pense, the less the litigation and the more
efficient the railway service. The very bill
introduced by Kelly is the satisfactory law
OF State, where all other kinds OF legisla-
ton, nearly, have been tried and failed.
Senator Sluss must know that there cannot
be found q man in,the State House ut Topeka,
who can draft a law fixing maximum rates,
which will not Cypress individuals. which
will not Cypress localities, and which VIII
not work adyantageously to some lines, or
portions Of lines, and destructive TO others.
There is not even manager, freight agent
or railway expert to be found in the State,
or in the whole country, who can draw up a
schedule Of rates that will work justly or
advantageously on even half Of the existing
roads in this new State. Even the hauling
Of ton Of freight from Wichita to Topeka
varies in cost with different years, and diff
ferent seasons, which we have not room to
explain, but which Senator Sluss under
stands, as it depends on price of labor,
price of iron, price OF fuel, the tariff on iron
and many other things. This is the thing
that the House proposes to do-sn impossi-
bility. In this direction, but not in this de-
gree, does Mr.. Sluss' amendment tend, and
because OF which We are opposed to il.
No, give us an uptrammeied, honest COM
mission, with power to expose discrimin-
alton and unjust charges. and We venture
that so far as shippers, ireighters and farm
ers are concerned, very little will be heard
in the future OF wrong doing upon the part
of railway arrangements.