Omaha daily bee., 1884-02-01
CRAP ny CAPPERS.

same channel. While Cnauncey NJ. De-
pew, the able and eloquent general at
torney Of the New York Central railway,
ia making fervent appeals to congress- in
favor of a railroad commission and
| against railway regulation by law, the
political manager Of the Union Pacific is
flooding Nebraska with sample copies of
the Omaha Republican containing a
"crafty" plea FOR the railroad commits
sioner system as the true remedy for all
the existing abuses to which the people
Of this section are now subjected. The
arguments advanced, however, by the
railroad organ are by no means original.
They were carefully prepared in Jay
Gould's literary bureau many months
ago, and given to the public as an anti
monopoly document. These bogus anti
monopoly pamphlets were mailed to every
paper in the United States, and it has
served the purpose Of the %monopolies adj
mirably. Hundreds of editors who have
not studied the railroad question
in all its bearings were decoyed
into endorsing the commissioner system,
and even such leading journals as the
New York Times failed to ~realize that
they are playing directly into the hands
of the corporate monopolies. The SUBJ
sidized railroad organs have largely
availed themselves of the cunning and
plausible pabulum to confuse the minds
of men. This was the case with the
Omaha Republican, which has been
playing the disreputable role of a rail-
road capper in an anti-monopoly garb.
~Presuming upon the ignorance and
gullibity of Nebraska the Republican,
in support of it's plea for the commits
sioner system, quotes extensively from
the pamphlet of the crafty Craft, whose
pamphlet on estate Railroad Commits
%sioners" W as published by the New York
Railroad Gazette. They might as well
quote from Mr.. Fink, or from Mr..
Winning, or some other railroad pool COM
missioner. The only point they can
make in favor of the commissioner sys-
tenn is that it has been adopted in many
| states.
That factdoesnot necessarily carry with
it the proof that thepeople of those states
have legislated wisely or intelligently.
We know how the commissioner system
was forced on some states, notably the
state of Iowa, as a substitute for ~restric-
tive legislation, and we know also that
people in those states who clamored for
bread received a stone. Tho Iowa COM
mission is a gigantic fraud. 1t has re-
lieved nobody, and it can relieve nobody,
unless the railroads are magnanimous
enough to refund what they have ex-
torted from some patron for the sake of
giving semblance to the usefulness and
effectiveness of the commission. These
instances of corporate generosity are very
rare, however. In most cases of discrim.
nation and extortion the commissioners
simply tell the aggrieved party hat they
are helpless, or worse, they whitewash
the robbery by pretending that railroads
must discriminate, or by pleading
that charges are lower now than
they were in the days of ox-teams. The
very latest commission created in this
country is that of New York. There the
governor did not have the entire I'D.
pointing power. But for all that the
commission, as could have been predict.
cd, is q farce and a sham. In proof OF
this we quote the following from the
New York World Of q recent date:
"Mr. Chauncey M. Depew now favor.
the appointment of a general railroad
commission by congress. Since his ex.
perience with a railroad commission in
this state Mr.. Depew seems to have re.
ceived new light in relation osuch bodies.
Only n short time ago he could discover
no virtue in them. Contact with n
has evidently deprived them OF their ter
rors. Our state commission has made a
very long and elaborate report. But has
any suggestion it has made, with one OK.
ception, been needed by the great rail.
road corporations2 Has a single attempt
been made to enforce the commissions
recommendations Has Justice been
done III a single accident by the com.
missioners any more than it used to be
done by the %coroners2 Has a single rail.
road official been arrested for manslauph.
ter through tho commissions e~ffortsl We
pause for a reply"
1t matters not what proof TIKI Ben
may cite in support of its position against
the commissioner system, Mr.. Kimball
and his editors will still persist in assert.
ing that the opponents of their cunning
device to forestall restrictive legislation
are all d~emagogues, who have no knowl.
edge of railway management, and have no
proof that the commissioners do not re-.
dress oil the abuses from which the
patrons of the railroads suffer. When
the last legislature proposed to reducethe
passenger rate to three cents a mile, Mr..
Kimball and tho railroad lobby had the
bills pigeon-holed by their tools in com,
mittee, on the plea that the proper way
to meet this question was through a rail.
way commission, but when a bill c~reatino
o commission with specific instructions e
reduce the passenger rate to three cents
and cut down freioht RATA. tvanE