Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1896-03-05
NEW RAILROAD LAW
p,poRTANT DECISION TOUCHING
INTERSTATE COMMISSION.


Washington. March i.-one OF the
most important decisions ever made
by the supreme court Will soon De
handed down. 1t VIII put new life INTO
the interstate commerce act ana
create a great sensation in railway
circles. The power Of the government
TO compel Witnesses to testify or TO
send them TO jail VIII be established by
this decision
The United States supreme court
will announce n decision In favor of
the government in the famous Brown
case from Fittsburg Upon the de-
csion rests the power OF the govern
ment to regulate commerce. Hereto
fore the government has been unable
to compel witnesses to testify. Thus
Its attorneys were unable to secure ev-
idence to enforce the laws regulating
commerce Hereafter any man, no
matter who he 10, can be required to
give evidence, even IL It ncriminates
himself If he refuses, he can be sent
to Jail for contempt Of court. to re-
main untll he changes his mind
\ witness however, giving testimony
against himself is by his own voice alb
solved from guilt and can not be pun
ished. but his evidence can be used
against his associates. This was the
aim of the act Of February IL, 1893,
which was passed especially for the
aid OF the interstate commerce commits
sion. This act Of February IL, Is Who'll
~ sustained and declared cOnetitu-
tional by the forthcoming decision. 1t
was the real point NJ issue.
Without the evidence the govern
ment has been unable to convict, hence
the Interstate commerce act has been
Il dead letter and the committee little
more than a bureau of railway statis-
tics The committee has been able TO
report the mileage OF railways built
each year and the number of passcn-
gers killed. but whether a small and
helpless shipper was getting the same
rates as the strong corporation *
was unable to know and II it did
know 1t was helpless to interfere.
So for all practical purposes the in
terstate commerce act was Vltlatel
ana untitled. It's vital object, 10 pro-
tect the weak shippers and Insure alb
solutely honest. open and fair railroad
rates was impossible Of achievement.
Possibly the most daring dtsobedl.
encc OF this law was the organization
last fan OF the Joint traffic association.
comprising all the railroads between
the east and the west, owning and OBJ
Grating over 10000 miles of railroad.
capitalized at nearly one thousand
million dollars.
The men who organized this giant
poll had the temcrity to say In the
first breath OF their formal agreement
that they had organized to aid in ful-
illling the purposes OF the Interstate
commerce act when, In fact, they
were utterlng one of The most nagrant
Violations of that law ever attempted,
The government. on motion of the in
terstate commerce commission. has
sued in the United States courts OF
New York to dissolve this association,
and Attorney General Harmon has
been waiting six weeks for the Brown
case to be decided that he might know
whether the law was to live or die.
William Il, Morrison, chairman of
the commission. has said in his re-
ports and in a recent communication
to congress that the power Of the gov
eminent to prosecute and the life or
death of the law depended unOn the
present decision. Now that II is 10 he
made in the governments favor the
interstate commerce commission viii
enter upon an era Of activity that has
never before been possible.
chairman Morrison, In giving to con-
gress recently u full story OF the ex.
perionce Of the Interstate commerce
commission for five years, concluded
with these words:
II VIII thus appear that for five
years last past II has been improctic.
able to obtain evidence on which Ia ON
force the penal provisions Of the ect
the statute having received a cunstr,ic.
non which made It impossible Ia Oh
tam evidences of guilt, though a very
Few convictions OF no great importnnra
nave been secured upon testinonv one.
ual ana accidental"