The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-03
T,,o vic,,s OF the Poo1tnr nn1.

Two Views of the Pooling Bill.
II is understood that the bill permitting
railroads to pool their earnings will re-
ceive a great deal Of attention from con-
gress this winter. All of the leading rail-
road men are not in favor of the bill
though it is quite certain that the great
majority of them are. Among those OPP
posed to il is President Smith, Of the
Louisville and Nashville railroad. In a re-
cent interview he declared that
such legislation as that pro
posed in the pooling bill was
revolutionary and highly dangerous
to the country. In his opinion it would
change the whole character of the govern
ment. Another objection which Mr.. Smith
presented is that il would be impossible for
one commission TO fix rates-"to settle the
innumerable controversies daily arising
between lines, between shippers and be
tween cities"
There is of course, a great deal of force
in what Mr. Smith says, but are the evils
which he predicts as great as those from
which business and the rail-
roads now suffer? Competition
as carried on is ruinous to the rail-
roads and disastrous to nearly all business
interests. 1t is ruinous to the railroads
because rates OF transportation are reduc-
ed below the profit point, and it is disas-
trous to business interests because there
is so much discrimination. In a recent pa
per- Mr. Knapp, of the interstate com
merce commission, said that the power
to compete is the power TO discriminate,
and it is simply out of the question to
have at once the presence of competition
and the absence of discrimination" Dis
elimination means favoring the few at the
expense of the many.
The merchants in various parts of the
country have organized in favor of the
pooling bill. They have had enough of
discrimination. A writer in the Chicago
Tribune, speaking for them, says: Rail
way discrimination as now practiced
makes and unmakes markets. Its effect is
identical with the conditions that would
exist in a case where merchandise had
been imported at an undervaluaton and
thrown on the market in competition with
goods on which full duty had been paid by
an honest importer Private shippers with
special rates and rebates make honest
competition out of the question, and hon
est merchants would like TO see such con-
ditions made impossible"
The business men of the country want
fair rates and stable rates-not rates which
give big shippers an advantage over small
ones nor one city an advantage over an
g he ,a1I
shippers will have to abandon business if
the competition among the railroads is
permitted to continue.
President Depew, of the New York Cen
trail, in an interview, takes issue with
President Smith. Mr., Depew says there
can be no substantial prosperity in this
country until the railways prosper, and he
does not see "how the railways can pros
per if an interminable rate war is to be
waged between them" He says he would
much prefer to do business under uni
form rate fixed by public body than I'M
der a demoralized rate. During the last six
months the railways have been doing bus
mess under a demoralzed rate. While it
is true that owing to the big crops they
show increased gross earnings their net
earnings are not encouraging. From Mr..
Depew's point of view, there is more dan
ger to be apprehended from a continuance
of the present condition of affairs among
the railways than there is from giving to
the interstate commerce commission au-
thority to adjust rates.
The pooling bill presents a big question
"A question in which the whole country is
profoundly interested. Railroad employees
| are as much interested as the business
men, because if the railroads were pros
more men.