St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-09
They Not Only Curb Compe-
q tition, But Put an End
b to It.
He Says the Interstate Act
i Has a Good Purpose in
d View.
SeaIpepS' Combinations With
Passenger Agents Are a
Crying Evil.

of unusual significance. Among the IN
vited guests were: Hon. T. Cooley, OF
Washington, chairman of the Interstate
commerce commission; Prof. Richard
f. Ely, of Johns Hopkins university
Francis B. Thurber, Gov. Ames. Presl-
dent Capen, of Tufts college,; Gen.
Francis A. Walker, Josiah I'll. Benton.
Jr., and Gen. n. P. Banks. After the
dinner Combination and Competition"
and allied subjects were announced as
the topics for discussion. and while
upon his feet Judge Cooley, of the i'll
terstate commission, substantially said:
81 believe am expected to say some
thing on the subject of combinations
and concentrations of interests.
With special reference to the
business of the transportation OF
persons and property by railroad. | do
not understand that the question OF the
repeal of the interstate commerce act is
to be discussed at this time, and ii it
were | do not know that | should care
to speak upon it. | may say, however,
that the act has good purpose in view.
1t was intended to correct enormous
abuses previously existing; but they
CAN NOT BE CORRECTED
without cutting off some sources OF I'M
proper income. The urgent call for a
modification of the act which comes
from railroad circles has sprung up re-
Gently. There were indeed some OBJ
jections made to it Immediately after its
passage as well as before, but when it
was given effect it was found, quite to
the surprise of some who had prophesied
disaster to the railroads from it, that
the disasters did not follow. l desire
to call special attention to this
fact: That the period during which
the law operated most to the
benefit of the railroads was precisely
that during which its PROVISIONS were
best observed. | think that to be an
undeniable fact; and. if it is fact. 1t is
deserving of more attention than up to
this time it has received from the man
ayers of railroads. 1t was also the
period during which the law was COM
planned of least. There are very yjgor-
Gus complaints now. They relate mainly
to the clause of the act which fOrbids the
greater charge on the shorter haul on
the same line in the same direction
where the circumstances and conditions
are similar, and that which makes pool
ing unlawful The first mentioned
clause embodies principle right in
itself. In large sections Of the country
the roads have come into conformity
with it and not suffered loss from doing
so. In others it was not practicable to
do so, at least Immediately. But the
DIFFICULTIES WILL DIMINISH
as the managers come to better under
standing among themselves. The law
intends that the railroad business of the
country shall be done openly and with
full publicity. This equal andju pur-
pose of the law is defeated by contriv
ances that are clearly opposed 10 the in-
tent of the law, il not to its terms. Now,
when parties are thus busy in contriving
methods for rendering the law of no eff
feet. and their evaSionS of its purpose
are seen to have a direct tendency to
diminish the corporate revenues, they
are hardly the parties to put themselves
upon the stand to prove that the law is
iniuring their roads. l must insist that
the argument now made for pooling is
radically unsound and vicious, because
it rests upon an assumption that viola
tion of law by one is justification for
violation by another. The senti-
ment in railroad circles on this
subject is not only opposed
to sound public morality, but
it necessarily tends to the perpetuation
of the very evils under which the roads
are now Suffering. For a very large
proportion of railroad controversies vol
vntary pooling cannot possibly be
remedy, for the very obvious reason that
they concern matters which have to be
settled before there can be any pooling.
They concern the suhstructure, so to
speak. Pooling with a legal sanction
would have all the elements of weak
ness that attended the old pooling, eX-
cept one. When the pool as it used to
be formed broke up, there was no en-
forcing such obligations as had been in
Cured while it existed: there was no
compelling payment of balances. With
a legalized pooling there might be
power to do this. The difference be-
tween
TRUST AND A POOL
is almost as great as that between
despot on the throne and the player who
mimics him on the stage. Pools are
things to be feared. They antagonize
leading and most valuable principle of
industrial life in their attempt net to
curb competition merely, but to put an
end to it. All these things go to show
that something needs reforming besides
the law. 1t is poor refOrmatOry work
that the law can do in any line of buSi-
ness unless the moral forces in the same
business come to its support. l have
spoken of the want of refOrmatory
power in the law. One who investigates
railroad disorders will be surprised to
find how many of them. though plainly
opposed to the spirit of the law, may
still be practiced legally. Rate cutting
in passenger service is very largely done
A.. of tint-n nfc, inb lay
pressly eXempts from its provisions,
and coupon tickets are so manipulated
by one company as to
CUT THE RATES OF ANOTHER
without the other being a participant
otherwise than it suffers from fraud
practiced upon it. A crying evil in rail-
road service is the combination between
the scalperS and the INSCRIPTIONS gen
epal passenger agent. This will be
broken up just as soon as there are ap-
pHed in railroad matters the maXimS of
business prudence which are expected
to control in other interests. If the
combination is the same person Of the
two characters of railroad manager, in
whatever official position, and of specu-
IatOr in railroad stocks, could be rem
dered impossible, we might hope to see
the time when the question, Which is
right and wrong in railroad matters"
would be heard good deal oftener than
it is now, and the question, What can
be done in evasion of the law without
encountering its penalties?' good deal
more infrequently." Gov. Ames and
theirs also spoke. Gov. Ames said
he thought combination and competition
were both self-sustaining. Prof. Ely
held that certain functions were event
ually sure to come under government
control, leaving a large field in other
directions for private enterprise.
Charged With Fraud and Forgery.
SIOUX CITY, To-, Jan. S.-Frank Low
eff and Thomas f, Howard left here