Omaha daily bee., 1894-08-02
LAwLEss RAnRoAo MANAoEMENr.

Ia w bENd hhffghbAD A1hhuEHt1sNAs
That the interstate commerce law is being
1agrantly. presstently and systematically
violated everybody understands. One Of
the purposes f,r which the act was framed
was to put a stop to the making Of secret
rates by the payment Of rebates 1t has
failed to accomplish this. and almost from
the day It went into effect the ingenuity Of
railway man gers has been exerted in find
ing ways to evade II. But while Il is
matter OF general knowledge that this is
the case the public can form no estimate
of the extent to which discrimination in
the form Of rebates is carried, Some idea
of 1t. however, may be obtained from what
has been disclosed by Investigations into the
affairs of the Atchison Topeka q Santa Fe
company since that company went into the
hands of receivers. 1t is said that the
sums paid to favored shippers in the form
Of rebates in the last two or three years
aggregate not less than S700O,000 In other
words this one corporation has used this
large sum of money in giving the large ship
pers who do business with II an advantage
over the small shippers In distinct disregard
and defiance of the law Of the United States,
intended to secure equality to all shippers.
II It has cost this single company the
enormous sum of S700O000 In paying re-
bates during a period of two or three years,
what must be the aggregate for all the rail
road corporations which, since the inter
state commerce act went into effect, have
been violating 1t in this particular? 1t is
not an exaggeration to say that hundreds
of millions have been paid back to shippers,
who in this piypn unfair adj
vantage by the railroads since the enact
ment of the interstate commerce act The
practice has been almost runous to many
of the corporations, while at the same time
thousands of business failures have been
directly due to the discrimination in the
matter of rates. which puts business men
not able to command the favor of railway
managers at a very great disadvantage.
Railway managers pretend to desire an
open schedule of rates and strict adherence
to It, as required by the law, but as mat
ter of fact no sooner is the schedule made
than they go to cheating each other on it
and incidentally violating the express pro-
hibitions of the law. Yet, Notwithstanding
their persistent lawlessness, the railroad
managers invoke the protection of the
courts under an Interpretation Of the inter-
state commerce law which was never con-
templated when it was enacted.
The exposure in the Atchison case, a part
of which is that the gross earnings of the
company were largely overstated. is said to
have aroused suspicion in financial quar-
ters that some other companies have been
and are doing the same thing, and it is pos
sble overhauing of other companies may
result. So far as the general business public
is concerned and indeed everybody who is in
terested in having the railroads comply with
the law, the facts brought out by the Atchi
son exposure suggests that either further
legislation is necessary to put a stop to the
discrimination involved in the rebate system
or there should be a reconstruction Of the
interstate commerce commission, which seems
to be absolutely Indifferent to the
enforcement of the law. 1t cannot be ad-
mitted that the commission is wholly ignor-
ant of the fact that the law is being per-
sstently violated. unless upon the assump-
tion that it makes no effort to ascertain
whether or not the corporations are comply
ing with the law. 1t must certainly be as
we'll informed in the matter as the public,
and this should lead it to take steps to
hunt down violations and bring those
guilty of them to punishment AS matters
now are the law is practically worthless
and the existence of the commission to carry
out its provisions and protect the people
from abuse is mockery. 1t is intended by
the railroads that permission to pool
would correct this evil, but it ought to be
possible to correct 1t without such a conces-
sion. Pooling might prove to be advantage
Gus both to the public and to the corpora
tions, but 1t cannot be admitted that it is
Indispensable to the regulation Of the cor
porations under the law. If the government
cannot enforce the interstate commerce law
it had better be repealed but 1t can be en-
forced and will be when men are found
who are disposed to faithfully perform the
duties which the act imposes on them.