Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1898-05-21

| plete breakdown that has ever been seen
| In any business. There Is less faith to-day
between railway managers with reference
| to their agreements to maintain tariffs
| than was probably ever known on earth in
| any other business. Men managing large
| corporations who would trust their OPP
| ponent with their pocketbook with untold
| thousands in 1t, will hardly trust his agree
| ment for the maintenance of tariffs while
| they are In the room together. Good faith
seems to have departed from the railway
| world, so far as traffic agreements are con-
cerned
zone of the chief difficulties with the law
| as 1t stands to-day is that the punishment
for private contracts and rebates is en-
| tirely out of proportion to the offense. The
| Imprisonment cause was put In as an
amendment to the Interstate commerce
| law, and / believe the commission and
everyone who has watched its workings
| will agree with me that II has been fall
ure; more than failure, that 1t has caused
perhaps more Generalization than any
thing else. The public has not believed In
! it; 1t has been impossible to secure convic-
| tion; II has prevented the railway Of
| ficial who desired to be honest from COM
planning of his competitor whom he thought
| was dishonest. In fact, II has been what
every law is that is not supported by pub
| lie sentiment-a failure What, In fact, Is
| the manner of conducting business to-day7
| The railway official who desires to be hon.
est and law-abding sees traffic leave his
| line and finds the freight that he was car
| rying hauled to the warehouse of his rival,
| the earnings of his line decreasing and
complaints from the management of loss of
| earnings, and in the distance he sees loom
| Ing up the loss of his position. At the same
time the shipper who desires to obey the
| law sees some rival selling merchandise to
| his customers at prices he cannot meet,
| and he knows very we'll that he is securing
| concessions from some railway to enable
| him to do this. The railway agent and tho
| shipper who wish to obey the law sit down
together and look II over. What relief Is
there for them? They can complain of
| their rivals possibly convict them under
| the Interstate commerce law and send
them to the penitentiary, but such action
would bring down upon them the con-
demnation of the public. and would ruin
| their business; for, as stated before, tho
public does not believe In this severe fea-
| ture of the law and will not support any
one who enforces 1t. The result is. these
men In despair are driven to do just what
their opponents are doing-they become
| lawbreakers themselves. have drawn no
fancy picture; it is what is occurring every
| day around you. Boards of trade, COM
mercial bodies and conventions have re-
| peatediy reported on 1t, and all have come
| to the same conclusion; and yet, for some
| inexplicable reason. congress has failed to
act
There are two changes that should he
made in this present legislation which
would aid in creating better condition of
| affairs than exists to-day First. the tenth
section. or Imprisonment clause, should be
| stricken out and new law should be en-
acted imposing fine OF, say, 5000 upon
| the offending corporation: make each and
| every contract or bill OF lading separate
| offense. Leave out the shipper altogether;
| you want his testimony. II he cheats by
underbilling or false invoices, he should be
| punished, but his attempt to secure lower
| rate than his rival should not be indictable.
| as you then prevent getting testimony
| which you need. With this amendment put
| into law every railway official will be in
| terested in prosecuting his rival for any
| violation of the law.
| To-day you cannot get any help that
way, because no one is going to try to send
his competitor to prison. Public senti-
ment would not support II, and over 1t all
is the fear that he himself may have COM
| mitted transgressions which, In turn, Will
be discovered and prosecuted, and punish
| ment inflicted upon himself. But If 1t was a
| case of fine against the corporation, there
| would be no hesitation In these corpora
tions using the entire power which they
have to convict wrongdoing. You may
think that some would pay these fines and
go on, but 1 assure you that few fines
Of $1,000 would work wonders in reforming
railway corporations in their management.
Above all, you will have public opinion be-
hind you, and It will be easy to enforce this
law. You can get all the testimony you
want; no one can refuse to produce his
books. You will at least give those railway
officials and those shippers who sincerely
desire to be law-abiding citizens a fair
chance to defend themselves
Second, the law should be amended SO
that railway corporations can contract
with each other for the maintenance of
rates or the division of business, and in
case of failure of either party to keep his
contract allow the other to sue in the
courts and recover damages. This In part,
is what is called pooling, but 1t is more than
this. 1t legaliZes contracts between rail-
way corporations. 1t may be a contract
for maintenance OF rates with no division
of business To-day, II two railway cor
porations contract that they will maintain
the same rate between Baltimore and New
York 1t is a conspiracy, contrary to public
policy, and cannot be enforced In the
courts. This is an old law which Is not
adapted to modern business methods. 1t
grew up to protect the pubic in old times,
but 10 Is no longer necessary, and should be
changed to legislation. The right to pool,
as you all know, provides that two or more
railway corporations can agree to divide
the business between competing points on
certain proportions, and the line that car
ries more than its share shall pay certain
sum as damages for it's failure to keep
its contract. The objection to allowing this
has been that excessive rates might be
charged To protect the public in this mat
ter enact into law that upon the complaint
OF any citizen such rates shall be subject to
review by the interstate commerce commits
sion, and in case they shall find that they
are excessive they shall at once be re-
uuccu 10 the OASIS HAeu Dy Une
commerce commission, or else the agree
ment shall be ended
''All of us who have any interest In our
country, who desire Its prosperity, are In
terested in the solution OF this great ques-
tion. 1t Is not time for the demagogue to
howl about corporations. 1t is not time
to talk about the wrongdo!ngs of railway
managers. There are always some, In any
business, who will not do right, and there
always will be. but the great mass of rail-
! way managers to-day, l assure you. are
: as honestly seeking solution of this ques-
tion as are you or any member of the leg
. islative body. l believe voice the belief of
! , a very large majority of them that the two
! provisions have mentioned are necessary
, and will lead to the settlement of this ques-
tlon. II this body Will join and heartily in
. dorse this course and work for II, its ac-
: complishment can be attained. We have
: unwttingly In this country applied to rail-
= way laws that II was never intended should
, be applied to transportation companies OF
: | this nature We have gone back and taken