The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-11
SOME QUEER YAGARIES
JOSEPH NIMMO REPLIES TO Carroll
ID. WRIGHT's O~UTGIyINGs.
He Thinks Railway PooIin. Not So
cfalfsm, hut Government Hegula-
ton of Wages Certainly Is.

In a paper recently read before the Amer
lean Economic Association by Carroll ID.
Wright. chief of the Department OF Labor
and superintendent Of the Eleventh Census,
on the transportation question. that official
made some statements as to the socialistic
tendencies of the railroad pooling bill and
other matters relating to railroad trans
portation which in some quarters are re-
garded as decidedly sensational. Among
those who ~criticise Colonel Wright most
severely is Joseph Nimmo, jr., whose study
of the railroad problem for more than forty
years qualities him to speak with authority
on the subject. Mr.. Nimmo said to-day:
l am astonished that a nan of Colonel
Wright's experience should SO express HIM
self upon a subject which he has never in
vestigated and which he does not under
stand. Socialism,. Why pooling, so-called.
or, more properly speaking, the apportion-
ment of competitive traffic, is the very
antithesis of socialism. 1t is both o~stensibiy
and actually an attempt by the railroads at
self-government. 1t repels the very idea of
State interference. 1t is strictly analogous
to trades unionism. The trades union is a
method of collective bargaining for its con-
stituency. Instead of acting separately and
cutting each others threats i'm the strug-
gle of competition, laborers associate them
selves together in a union and thus pro-
tect themselves against themselves. This
is just and commendable. In a word, they
regulate competition among themselves
through association. The time came when
the iaborer saw, as the whole world now
sees, that competition instead of being the
life Of trade may as truly be the death of
trade. The forces of the age have become
so intense that competitors destroy each
other unless competition is regulated
70 trades unions. Well, that Is just what
the lessons of experience have forced the
led to the destruction of railroad properties,
to many unjust Determinations and to COM
mercial disorder. Independent ra~te-making
set the of this country in con-
fusion; That is indisputable history.
,n y the interstate commerce act is based
ments among railroad companies as to
rates. Furthermore, that act provides that
without due notice. In a word, necessity
made a law, and the lawmaker acknowf-
has been proved by the stern lessons of ex-
perlence to be the .soundest and most be-
panies and the commercial classes also
realized, as the result of a long and rough
ments ns enn,nodt ha It eom'peesi,tisee rat, rate agrss
step is taken, and that is to agree as to
the share Of the competitive traffic which
each sail secure. In the absence OF such
agreements rate-cutting continued in Its
many, and abominable forms and the old
mercial disorder constantly broke forth.
Thus the lawmaker has been forced to
law of self-control developed by exper-
ience and that is what is enormously
So self-control expresses itself first. in
the rate agreement and second in the
agreements as to the share of the traffic
prevents the weak companies from being
crowded to the wall. 1t also prevents the
than the small shippers, and it prevents
unjust Determinations and that disorder
iably produces. Experience also proves that
It does not prevent the gradual fall of
commercial competition, Which ,Ilue aiWaV os
n e the railroads down, for the tendency
during the last thirty years.
TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE.
All this is self government taught by the
lessons of experience, and. as l said, it is
the very anthesis of State control or State
socialism. This is not theory nor the de-
duction of theory. 1t has rebuked all sorts
OF a priori reasoning. 1t is simply the
dearly bought teachings of experience. The
men in public life who have been forced
to these conclusions as to the conduct of
transportation have come to it by cen
formity to Mr.. Gladstone's rule of sub
hitting themselves to the lessons of ex-
perience; The Hon. John H. Reagan, of
in Congress and a Senator of the Tinted
states, vigorously opposed agreements as
10 the apportonment OF traIfic.. He was
the author of the anti-pooling clause. But
after he became a railroad commissioner
of the State of Texas he discovered his
mistake and, honest man that he is. con-
fessed it. Many other men in public life
have gone through the same experiences.
carefully observed the practical workings
of pooling for ten years before. as an
of1cer OF the government, | Endorsed 1T.
onel Wright should have expressed himself
SO freely upon the subject. / have known
him for many years and / know perfectly
4 we'll thar ha bnC rn,rnrM . A.
great transportation question: of this coun-
try and that he has never contributed
an luea 10 It's solution. l say this with
regret for my personal rela lions with him
have always been pleasant.
bill lis demanded at the inst : = eia Of t lhs
shippers and the railroads of the country"
Meal, that, think, Is a pretty good com
resents the two sides-the transporter and
the general public. The principal boa rds of
favored the principle involved In It. Then
Colonel Wright says: Its passage is be-
ing aided by a powerful lobby. Now. I
| ever for that assertion, and l don't believe
anything could be gained in Congress- in
| who have promoted the passage of this bill
in the House of Representatives., where it
passed by q majority of Iifty-sIx, and the
men who favor it in the Senate, and L
don't believe that honester or truer men
walk the face of Gods footstool. Colonel
Wright's words cast a refiec.io on upon those
| gentlemen which l believe to be unjust.
Nevertheless, he declares that the bill rend-
| ing in the Senate is state socialism pure
and simple." That 7 emphatically declare
to be nonsense pure and simple | know
the gentlemen In Congress who have dis
cussed this bill and their predecessors who
have considered similar. bills during the
last fftsen years. know they have
studied the subject laboriousiy and consjd-
cred it conscientiously and with a sincere
desire to do their duty. During these years
] have aided some of them officially and
unoficially in their investisa tions. I feel
confident that IL Colonel Wright'S asser-
ton that the pending bill is State social
ism pure and simple were brought to their
attention their reply to him would be: "If
that is Sc we are a very stupid lot of men,
or you are talking nonsense
ABSURDITII1S EXPOSED.
Then Colonel Wright says: 1.-The kill pro-
vides for a great trust, with the govern
ment of the United States as the trustee"
This is not only untrue, but 1t IS ridiculous.
The bill provides for sustaining railroad
individualsm on the basis of self-restraint
against practices which are immoral and