The Washington critic., 1889-04-02
the COMMISSIONS POWERS.
A Point Defnitcly Settled at tho
Hearing of Southern Railway Mon.

n GOlnt DtnuttbtY bettitu Nt tnt
Hearing of Southern Railway Men.
~ don't know that you have any juris-
diction in the matter, anyway, so long as
the carrying is all in one State" remarked
Traffic Manager Pope Of the Norfolk and
Western Railroad to Interstate Commits
sioner Bragg.
"You may as welr get that idea out OF
your mind,n said the Commissioner, ''be-
cause It's all wrong. The Interstate Com
merce law provides expressly for Just this.
II reads: And also to the transportation OF
property shipped from any place In the
United States 10 foreign country and car
ried from such place TO q port OF trans
shipment, or shipped from foreign country
to any place In the United States and car
ried TO such place from q port Of entry
either I'm the United States or an adjacent
foreign country.n
The little hearing room up In the Balti-
moro Sun building on i street was filed
this morning with Southern railroad men,
summoned before the Commission to testify
as to thier export rates.. The hearing be-
gan little after ten o'clock, and the wit
nesses were questioned In their turn by
Chairman Cooley and other members Of the
Commission, who were all present, ex,com-
missioner Walkers chair being vacant.
The Southern roads were notified a month
or so ago that hearing to-day would be
for the purpose OF ascertaining whether
through Bhipments OF cotton from interior
points were being made at lower rate for
the railroad transportation to the shipping
port than is charged for hauling from the
same points to.the same ports cotton not
shipped through transatlantic ports.
The idea seems to have taken hold on the
Southern railroad mind, and was first voiced
at the hearing this morning by Colonel
Pope, who flung II plump into the teeth of
the Commission while he was testifying.
This idea is that when cotton Is shipped to n
port inside the same State, SO that II does not
90 outside the boundaries Of that State be-
fore II is shipped, the Interstate Commerce
Commission can have nothing TO say about
IL. They seemed to think that when they
did this the Commission could have no con-
troll over their business, and that they could
do as they pleased as to charges. Commits
sioner Bragg called the witness down
| sharply when he suggested this idea.
The other witnesses examined at the
morning session were Thomas II. Carter OF
| the Southern Railway aud Steamship As
ISOLATION; Sol. Haas, traffic manager OF the
Atlantic Coast Line; Charles Schiff, prcsi
| dent Of the Queen and Crescent Route
| George A. Whitehead Of the Central Rail-
way and Bankruptcy Company OF
| Georgia; Charles II. Cromwell of the
Western Railway of Alabama; Joseph
| NJ. Brown of the Western Atlantic Rail
way; f. r. Dorsen, general freight agent
| Of the Georgia Railway; Edward Fitzgerald
traffic manager Of the Eastern Tennessee
Virginia and Georgia Railway; s. l.. Dill
Of the Atlantic and North Carolina Rail
way; II. s. De Pew, traffic manager OF thu
| Mobile and Ohio Railway, and u. b. More,
| OF the Illinois Central Railway.
At o'clock Commissioner Cooley ad
| journed the hearing till 2 o'clock, when tn,
hearing Of representatives of other railroad
| was continued