Wichita eagle., 1889-04-13
THE EFFECTS OF THE INTERSTATE
LAW.

To accurately gauge the influence Of
the interstate commerce law on railroad
property is matter of no little difficult
ty, SAYS Bradstreet's. The situation OF
the railroads themselves, physical and
financial, is complex one. Particularly
in the west, over building and insane
competition made 1t impossible to say
whether the complaints of the railroad
men in regard to the first operation of
the law were well founded or not. The
movement which took form last Deem
Der for regulation of competition and
the maintenance of rates involved a con-
fession that the roads, both east and
west, had been Systematically violating
! the law Indeed, the cardinal principle
| involved in the interstate agreement of
| the western roads and the amendments
! then embodied in the Trunk Line asso-
| cations constitution, was the recOgnl-
| ton of the law and the enlisting of the
railroads themselves in the work of en-
forcing it. Since that date there has
undoubtedly been change in the atti-
tude of the railroads towards the law
and the commission. But the effects of
this have been obscured by number of
the complex circumstances which sur
round the whole railroad situation.
The increase of earnings has as a
whole been marked, but this is partly
due to the mild nature of the past win
ter, to the better maintenance of rates,
and to the fact that comparison was
made with period, as the first quarter
of 1888 undoubtedly was, when these ad
verse conditions were eXerted to the ut
most. On the other hand, the opening
portion of the current year has been dis
tinguished by features peculiar to Itself,
which have measurably checked the
progress of the favorable circumstan-
ces above referred to. Leg
islative interference with railroad
rates has been more active and persls-
tent, traffic has been on a smaller scale,
and the stoppage of railroad construction
has affected the progress of the extreme
west and the earnings of the railroads.
To disentangie from this labyrinth of
conflicting conditions the real influence
of so complex a measure as the inter-
state law is manifestly an impoSslblllty.
1t can only be calculated by time, and
by considerable period of time at that.
The testimony of railroad officials them
selves may go for a great deal, and the
general terror of such opinions Is no
longer hostile to the law. In fact, SO
far as the law and its recent amend
ments go to abolish the deeply rooted
abuses which have grown up with
the rapid expansion of the railroad
system, it meets with their approval.
Rebates, favoriteism, false billing and
methods generally do
not necessarily commend themselves to
the men who operate railroads; in fact,
their uniform excuse is that they are |
forced to employ them by the action of
their competitors. AT the same it is |
that custom has demoralized
a large section Of the public which pat
ronize railroads. The large shipper ex-
poets to obtain the usual concessions, !
and each community counts on gaining |
some some advantage i'll rates over its |
The strict enforcement of |
the interstate law involves an educa
tional process for both the railroads and |
their patrons. This may be slow, but in
the end it will De beneficial in meterial
point of view to the roads.