St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-08
SIZING UP THE SITUATION.
Commissioners Cooley and MOrri-
son Visit Chicago to Learn Some
thing of Existing Troubles.

Commissioners Cooley ana MOfri-
son Visit Chicago to Learn Some
thing of Existing Troubles.
CHICAGO, Dee. t.-Chairman Thomas
NJ. Cooley, Col. W. r. Morrison and
SECRETARY Linney, of the interstate
commerce commission, are at the
Palmer house. They are here to invest
igate the railroad troubles of the South
west and the Northwest, and will prob
ably be taking evidence in this city for
four or five days.
We are here TO learn something of the
derangementamon the railroads. said
Mr.. Cooley, land just now | do not care
to indicate, except in a general way,
what we are going to do" I'VE are
here" said Colonel Morrison. ''tO make
inquiries about number OF things con-
corning the railroads. Chicago is such
a great railway center and so many
things of Importance are done here.
that there is no better place in the
country to ascertain those facts which
the commission must frequently know
in coming to conclusions. When we
have been here before we have usually
tried to have case under the interstate
law as an explanation for our presence
in the city, but at those times we have
always inquired about other matters
which we wished to know. This time
there are a number of points which our
inquiry will cover, though, to be sure,
there is nothing to be said about
them. We had heard of your troubles
among the railroads, and it was SO
much easier to find out what the matter
was here than thousand miles away"
Regarding the report that Col. Nor
risOn had thought of retiring from the
commission. he said he had had since
he was member Of it several offers to
go into other business where could
make more money than his salary as
commissioner, but that he was an old
man and did not care as much for
money as he used to. He was very we'll
SATISFIED WITH HIS POSITION
and was disposed to do the best work in
1t that he was capable of doing, and that
he had no plans for the future. He did
not wish to say anything as to whether
he was a candidate for the Democratic
nomination for senator. Judgs Cooley
was asked to give some general express
sion of his views regarding the cutting
of rates. Said he: ''In all cutting of
rates, the party beginning it
makes charges or inSinuatiOnS
against its competitors. The
public is either told that the rate was
too high. and then the competitor is
charged with intentional eXtortion, or
the competitor is charged with under
handed or dishonorable conduct, which
renders the cut necessary in order to
teach a lesson or force proper terms for
future relations. In such cases there
are ulterIor objects in view which the
cutting is expected to accomplish, but
meantime the public is being misled as to
what are just rates and, perhaps, what
is even more damaging to carriers, it Is
being practically told by the parties
participating, that the members of their
class are not deserving of .he confidence
commonly extended to each other by
business men, but may be expected to
deal unfairly whenever anything can
apparently be gained by doing so. If
the cases are not common, they are
certainly not unknown in which the
agents of one railroad company make
active efforts to
POISON THE MINDS
of the public against another, insinu-
ating against it wrongs and illegalitieS
which exist only in the imagination, or,
perhaps, the invention of the party max
ing the charges and thus embarrassing
the business of the other in which it
can be done. with impunity. In other
employments, competition and separate
action are facts as prominent before the
public eye as cooperation and apparent
Joint interest are i'll this, and the
public does not charge the parties
following them with joint responsibility.
but when business methods are aban-