Omaha daily bee., 1889-01-10
JUDGE COOLEY DEPENDS THE Law

JUDGE COOLEY DEFENDS THE LAW
The address OF Judge Cooley, chair
man of the Interstate COM
mission, at the dinner of the Boston
merchants association, contained some
statements which the public and the
railroad managers will do well to re-
feet upon. The judge stated the i'm
portant fact that the period in which
Che railroads were most benefited by
the interstate commerce law was that
in which the law was best observed and
least complained Of. This was not a
very extended period, but it was suf-
ficient to demonstrate the fact that the
law was not inimical to the interests of
the railroads, and that had they con-
formed faithfully to its requirements
all the time, instead of resorting to all
sorts OF devices to defeat its intent,
there is every reason to believe hat
most Of the difficulties in the railroad
situation, and the consequent loss in
the past year to stockholders Of fully
forty million dollars, would have been
avoided.
But as Judge Cooley said, the equal
and just purpose of the law, hat the
railroad business of the country shall
be done openly and with full publicity,
is defeated by contrivances hat are
clearly opposed to the intent of the law,
if not to its terms. What these con-
trivances are the investlfiations
made by the commission at Chicago in
part disclosed. One of them is the COM
bination between the scalper and the
INSCRIPTIONS passenger agent, which
the chairman of the commission charac-
terized not too strongly as a crying evil.
There is a prospect that this will be
broken up. The general managers of
western roads in session at Chicago are
reported to be very nearly unanimous
in favor of abating the commission evil,
and it is expected hat they will at least
agree to establish a merely nominal
rate for commissions, beyond which
agents will under no circumstances be
permitted to go. II this is done and
faithfully adhered to, one very
great source OF difficulty between the
railroads will be removed. All de-
ponds, however, upon the good faith of
the managers, and experience does not
warrant unquestioning confidence that
this will be kept. However, the dispo-
sition that is being shown to emove
this evil should be earnestly encour-
aged.
But this is not the only evil that
needs to be eradicated from railroad
practices in order to place them on a
sound and strai ghtforward business
basis, and as was said by Mr.. Charles
Francis Adams, all the evils would not
be remedied if the interstate
act were repealed at once. The panacea
for all the ills of the railroad situation
would not be found in abandoning the
law. AS Judge Cooley remarked, there
is something else needs refor ming be-
sides law, and honest railroad mana |
gers should find out what it is and re-
form it thoroughly and permanently.
Judge Cooley has not the least SYM
pathy with the complaints of the rail-
roads regarding the interstate com
merce law, which relate chiefly to the
long and short ~haul~clause and the pro-
vision against pooling. In his opinion
the former embodies a principle of right
in itself, while he regards the argu-
for pooling as radically unsound
and vicious. The address of Judge
Cooley is a valuable contribution to the
discussion of a vital and most important
question, and it will serve to strengthen
public confidence in the law of which
he is the chief exponent.
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