The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-07

To be sure it denounces penalties but he cannot
recover the penalty until he has proved his case.
He cannot prove his case except by forcing his
way into the recesses of the accounts of the
railroad companies in distant cities. He cannot
urge his case without the risk of being further
Disseminated against
There s another point in which the shipper is
weak in this contest He cannot get the public
ear He cannot concentrate public opinion upon
his Individual grievance. He may talk about it:
he may possibly get some local newspaper TO
mention 1t: he may even excite some interest IN
his favor in the community where he lives but
his voice is unheard by the great mass of the
people of this country. He cannot reach the
public ear and be cannot concentrate the mighty
power of wide public sentiment against the
wrong The Reagan bill leaves him just as help
less as he is now 1t leaves the battle to be
fought out between the individual shipper. with
all the limitations. with all the elements of weak
ness that invest and surround his case, and the
great power of the corporations.
*-~* | repeat what / have said, that the
Reagan bill does not help such man at all To
be sure it denounces penalty. the common
law now denounces damages; to he sure it says
that the vexatious practices to which the rail
roads would resort to crush the man who enters
into this contest with them are illegal. but the
common law says that Yet these things
practlced. Right here, Mr.. President. is the
strength of the commission plan.
Now, how does the commission plan
furnish the help to the individual in his contest
with the railroad company which | have under
taken TO show is the important thing after all2
In the first place, all the details of railroad man.
agement are to be open to the commission.
Every closet every dark place i'll which secrets
as to rebates and Determinations of all sorts
locked up, shall be open to it. The light of day
shall be turned upon every one of their transac-
tons without any expense or trouble to the
shipper he may not need to move in the matter
at all. The original Investigations required of
the commission by the bill may disclose it all
He may not even need to make complaint;
but when he files q complaint. then. without
expense, without leaving his own office, or
abandoning for a day the transaction of his own
business, the powerful influence of the govern
ment represented by these railroad commission
ers. is brought to bear. and a scrutiny thorough
and searching is instituted into all the books and
papers of the railroad company He is not
qured to 60 and look up the facts he is not
required to bring suit in the dark; but the rail
way commission makes the investigation for him
and puts into his hands every fact that it will be
necessary for him to prove in his suit against
the company. The Reagan bill gives him no
such help.
should have said that assume an intelligent
and an honest commission. The salaries pro-
vided in the Senate bill sufficient to
the ablest and most reputable men i'll the cOun
try. believe that no executive will venture to
trif1e with public sentiment by the appointment
of any other than men of frst-cass ability and
character upon the commission Given such
commission, and their first work is to open the
ordinations ~ rebates in favor of the Standard
Oil Company. Were the smaller corporations
and oil producers, who were seeking to have
equal rates able discover and expose the facts2
No. it took the power of the State of New York
welded through Legislative commission to
bring out those facts. We start. then, with
commission composed Of nine intelligent, repu-
table, disinterested men-one living in each of
the nine judicial circuits of the United States
This commission, as / have suggested. sc
cures prompt thorough, and inexpensive inves-
tigation of every grievance. The merchant has
only to formulate his complaint. / said form
ulate.' 1t may be without FORM so 1T conveys
to the commission information as to the particu-
lar in which he claims the railroad company has
violated the law. Having filed his complaint. he
sits in his own Office. he pursues his own bust
ness the government has taken up his case. The
United States has thrown itself into the scale in
behalf of the citizen in this contest. By its own
agency at it's own expense, it pursues the in
quiry: and when it is closed, if it is found that
on particular day the railroad companies were
giving one shipper, under the same conditions
and circumstances, an advantage over another it
places in the hands of the man Disseminated
against all the facts that enable him to maintain
his case.
That would indeed be the end of the proceed
ing. Does anyone suppose that, after the facts
have been brought out, any shipper would need
to bring into court any solvent railway company
il the country to compel the payment of his
damages! They would settle without the serv-
ice of a summons
Yet the Reagan bill, landed here as the popu-
lar bill, does not in any of these particulars that
have mentioned help the shipper at all In
high sounding words it denounces penalties, but
it says to the shipper, Fight out the fight your
self
Then, again. the commission has the power to
get the public ear as the individual shipper has
not 1t has the power to concentrate public SEN
timent upon any practice of the railroad compa-
ny that is thought to be unjust. Take the
humblest man in any Of our towns; he cannot
make himself heard beyond the village he lives
in. He has no influence; the railroad managers
would laugh at him; he is but a pigmy in this
contest, and is contending with giants. But
when this great commission. representing the
authority of the United States, composed of
able, intelligent men, men of wide reputation of
calm Judgment. and without prejudice, looks
into the grievance of this humble citizen, and
says to the railroad companies and to the coun-
try, you have practiced an oppression upon
that man." the whole country hears the case,
and public opinion is concentrated in its con-
demnation.
Do you suppose in that case the railroad com
pany would resort to vexatious retaliatory meas
ures upon the man who had made his complaint
to the commission9 Do You suppose that they
would venture to say to such shipper
when he asked for cars, I'VE have no cars2" Do
you suppose they would venture to resort to any
of these small vexatous tricks2 Not at all; for
here stands this great commission. which may
require them at any moment to answer why they
did not furnish that man with cars, and where
their cars were. They cannot hide these facts
from the commission The shipper cannot tell
whether their in use or not but the rail
road commission can ascertain for him. 1t is
not possible. it is not to be thought of for one
moment, that any railroad company in this coun-
try would ever venture upon any Of these small
prosecutions against shipper who had com
planned against them. They would rather show
special care and alacrity in meeting his wishes
So it is that under the commission plan the
shippers investigation is made for him, the facts
are ascertained, and if he is compelled to seek
legal redress his case is prepared for him by the
government Not only SO, but he is likely to
have his grievance corrected without resort to
litigation by reason of the power of public sen
timent ard the force of the mandate of the COM
mission, though no execution lies behind it.
Our legislation goes directly to the point at
which We find the present imperfection in the
law
But it must not be thought that the