Omaha daily bee., 1894-01-24

one OF inc most disastrous IN lJs eHeCJS
on all railroad property without general
benefit anywhere. . George NJ. Pullman
gives 1t as his opinion that that law has
been a great detrimant to the railroads,
while President Cable OF the Rock Island
characterizes it nas, ''altogether harm
full" President Blackstone of the Alton
Is more conservative In favoring the re-
peal OF the ~antirpooling clause, but at
the same time fav5ring such statutes
as may be necessary to enforce all
common law obligations and %restric-
tlons. On the other hand Vice Pres
ident Ripley OF the milwaukee,
goes to an opposite extreme in ascribing
the bankruptcy OF the roads to an in
creasing cost of labor and decreasing
rates for traffic helped on by 'ill-iramed
legislation" and when he demands that
railroads be permitted to conduct their
business as other enterprises are, that is
under the direction Of those who own
them, he seems to be no further adj
vauced in mis- ideas Of the responsible
ties of railroads to the public than were
their managers before the enactment of
the granger legislation.
But while harping upon the So
called evil effects OF hostile railway
legislation and demanding laws legal
izing pooling and traffic agreements,
as If these would restore the prosperity
of former years, these railroad men
have forgotten that pooling contracts
never were enforceable ut law and hat
the statutory provisions prohibiting dis
elimination are supposed to be merely
declaratory of old common law prin-
ciples as applied to new condi-
tions. Another important point to be
remembered is hat the anti-pooling
clause of the interstate law never
was vigorously obeyed and that it
has for months been openly detied.
Chairman Midgley quite incidentally
gives the whole thing away when he
says: 1.-THE interstate commerce law is
a burden to the railroad interests of the
country. 1t interferes with the man
agement of large interests. Men who
know comparatively little about the
operation of large railroads sit in judg-
ment over the actions OF those who are
familiar Herewith and who must pro-
tect the interests they represent. Its
provisions are evaded in the interests of
sound business methods. 1t is bound to
be So" How can men who confess to
have paid no attention to the laws as
cribe to the operation of those laws the
baneful effects of their own mismanage-
ment? 1t would be equally absurd to
charge the receivership of the Union
Pacific upon the Nebraska maximum
freight rate law, which has not been per-
mitted to go into even nominal effect.
Aside from the figures presented by
the Tribune, which go to prove that the
railway profits for the year ending June
30, 1893, were considerably larger than
during the year just preceding, and that
the railroads as a whole are really doing
much better than their managers would
have us believe, it is easy to find causes
for the extensive railway bankruptcies
without looking far beyond the railroad
managers themselves. Some of them
admit the influence of overcapitaliza-
ton and ~extravagant construction out
lays, but they fight very shy of giving
the slightest %intimation of downright
fraud aud wholesale robbery of the
stockholders ando bondholders at the
hands Of inside rings and Wall street
spectators. ''Hostile legislation Is a
handy scapegoat for the sins of railway
manipulators.