Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-01-29
The Railway Racket.
Commissioner Cooley Relieves
His Mind About 1t.
A RAKING FOR THE PRESIDENTS,

Who Act, He Says. Like Pack of SCHOOL,
boys"-A Remark for Some Manager
to Ponder Over-The Railways Given a
Plain Warning-That Agreement About
Comprehensive Territory Covered and
the Probable Arbitrator.
CHICAGO, Jan. 29.-Messrs Cooley and
Morrison, of the interstate commerce COM
mission, arrived here yesterday en- route to
st. Paul whore they go to investigate charges
against the roads of the northwest made by
the Minnesota railroad commissioners.
Judge Cooley said to reported who had a
brief interview with him:
After we have concluded our St Paul
business we will return to Chicago 1t is
very probable that we will have something to
do in connection with the agreement passed
by the railroad preSidents-that is, if they
ever come to an agreement The presidents
act like pack of school boys There is an
absolute need for definite and final legislation,
and they know it. Such constant chickering's
and mutual suspicion are present to so large
an extent III no other class of business men
with which am acquainted They ought to
get down to business and settle their difficult
ties at once. The question of maintaining rates
resolves itself into question of maintaining
the law The presidents know this and any
doubt by them as to whether they will pass
and. live up to AN agreement is simply a
doubt as to whether they will obey the law.
Take the case of the socaIed rate war be-
tween st Louis and New York city A
leading official of one of the roads involved
in the rate cutting, wrote of it as as an I'M
fortunate controversy The most noticeable
feature of this historical statement is the as
sumption of the writer that because of an
unfortunate controversy he suddenly found
himself in circumstances where he was at
liberty to discard all thought of what the
law required Of him. and all regard for the
rights of connecting lines or of ticket BUYERS
in order that he might take an eff
fective part in the contention He
therefore proceeded to make rates
which were not notified TO
the commission or TO the public in any
regular way, TO issue tickets for other car
rlers at rates not asssnted to by them and to
sell tickets to parties who might, for aught
he knew, find them rejected before their jour
ney, begun IN reliance upon them, was com
pleted. 1T was impossible we were told to
do otherwise The writer would have ex-
pressed the exact meaning more accurately
had he said it was impossible to plunge into
the fray in the manner customary in such
cases, and at the same time observe the re-
quirements of the law and the rights of
ticket-purchasers and of connecting lines
Therefore law and right were put
aside until the fray was over.
As matter of fact, none of the parties to
this war gave any notice to the commission
of any one of these changes, nor did it ha We
from any one of them the least information
on the subject until, in consequence of reports
OF what was going on, call was made
for it.
Now the presidents know such actions a.
these must be stopped. There is no question
to the commission as to how this shall be
done. 1t simply must stop The presidents
are now at work upon the means to he used,
and we may have something to act upon
when we return from St Paul