Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-15
senator Cullom's View

within the next three years. Ii was never
intended, says the senator. ito bind theraii'
roads any more stringently than they wers
bound or ought to have been bound by the
common law. What they were doing that
WAS complained of was really against the
common law--such as fayorins one snapper
above another, making outrageous discrim'
nations against certain places, charging
more in proportion to the short haul than
the long haul, and the like. Any sufferer
by any of these proceedings could have
brought suit and righted himself by COM
mon law-that is, he could have done 1t IN
theory and the contemplation OF law. but
rs Il matter Of fact sensible men never trleo
it.
"The fight of the man with a railroad
was such an obviously one sided thing tnat
the man wouldn't enter into it, and accord
ingly it was decided that the government
should assume the duty. But it was very
carefully provided that the government, as
quasi agent of the aggrieved party, should
have no greater powers than the aggrieved
would have had at common law.
The Interstate Commerce Law.
"AIy attention was first called to the sub
iect when l was speaker of the Illinois
house of representatives. 1t fell to my lot
to appoint the committee which laid the
foundation for our law on that subject.
We provided for Il railroad commission. Ii
did good work so far as its powers extend
ed, and the law is still in force. But by the
tine | became governor it was made ap
parent that state authority could Go but
little. They met us at every turn with the
claim that they were doing interstate bust
ness.
when l came here, Mr.. Reagan was al.
ready at work in the house, but in the sen
ate / had the great advantage, or disad
vantage, of finding perfectly fallow ground.
Very few had thought about it at all, and
the senate asa body cared nothing about it.
So l had it all my own way for awhile
When the matter got into conference, my
bill was practically adopted instead OF that
of Mr.. Reagan. except, in one clause.
never did a harder summers work in my
life than that in which lyisited the various
cities and collected the facts, and, while it
docs not become me to compliment myself
yet in one respect / did surprise myself.
The railroad men were even better satisfied
with the report or more complimentary in
speaking of it than those adverse TO them.
while the latter were satisfied.
Now, as to the final effects of the law, it
is succeeding AS well as any new law on
comparatively new subject, but in pecul.
lar condition OF affairs,.as | said before,
time is needed, and from the makeup of the
congress committees which have that mat
ter in charge you may rest assured that
time will be allowed and Il very great deal
of il. Indeed it is probable that the rail.
roads will have about all the time to show
what they can do that the most unreason-
able of them could ask. The one colossal
problem now confronting us is that of the
Unien Pacific railroad, which, Of course,
cannot pay what it owes the government
and is not worth anything like half OF what
it cost TO build ii. But that is u subject to
be studied very carefully before an opinion
is given"
Prospects of Adjournment.
It. goes without saying that the senator
does not take a hopeful view of present leg
islative tendencies There about as much
human nature in one man, though he be Il
senator, as in another. and it is not surpris-
ing, therefore, to observe that all the Repub-
licans are very positive the senate debate on
the tariff will be long and the bill very
much altered before it is passed, while the
Democrats, with few exceptions, are equal
~ confident that the debate will be surpris-
ingly short and the bill changed in but a
few particulars.
As the promise now is that the senate
finance committee will have the bill well
under way, so far as they areconcerned, by
the time this meets the readers eye, it will
soon be plain whether the takers of the
senate are going to forbear for once in or
der to hasten a settlement of the prevailing
uncertainty. No prediction is hazarded, it
being one of the traditions of Washington
journalism that predictions about the ac-
ton of the senate are nearly always wrong.
II is fashion in the Press club of Wash
ington to make up pool early in the long
sess ion, at 25 cents u head, on tho length of
time the session will continue. The dates
for this year range all the way from July
- to Sept. 10. When the Fifty-first con-
gress got fairly under way and the CORE
spondents named their date for it to adj
jouIn, the very latest one was Aug IS, and
the man who named it was an object OF
ridicule, most Of the others making July
dates. In fact, that congress sat well into
October. So all we say is, that white man
is mighty orsartin," especially in congress.