The times., 1898-02-13
The Regulation of Railways

| The Times publishes today a paper
written by Walker d. Hines on the sub
! ject of the regulation of railroads. and
calls attention to an interesting contro-
versy now in progress between we'll
known railway men on the wisdom of
authorizing the Interstate Commerce
/ Commission to fix the rates for the
/ transportation of passengers and
! freight over the several railroad lines
! that are engaged in interstate COM
! merce.
Men like Chauncey NJ. Depew and NJ.
e. Ingalls, maintain that rate-fixing au-
thority should be given to the commits
sion, because this power has been ex-
ercised with good results by the Board
of Trade of England, while other dis
tinguished railroad men, such as Milton
III. Smith, insist that the Board of
Trade of England has no authority to
fix railroad rates, and that, even If it
has. no such power should be given 10
our Interstate Commerce Commission.
Mr.. Illness paper clearly disproSes
the contention that the British Board
of Trade possesses, rate-f fixing power
and also proves that il would be unwise
to confer upon our commission that
power.
The Interstate Commerce Commission
is at once detective and prosecutor
1t is the business of this highly respect
able body TO spy upon the interstate
commerce railroads of the country and
try them upon its own charges for vio-
lations of the law. 1t is a sort Of rail-
road superintendent detector of viO-
lations of the law, which it tries before
itself; and, under the legislation il is
asking from Congress, il would become
a court in all matters arising under the
interstate commerce act, with all the
powers necessary to enforce its orders.
and would be at the same time legis-
lature for the purpose of fixing the
rates of carriers.
That the commission could perform
the duty of fixing rates intelligently no
well-informed person can believe. The
commiss ion, in one of it's first opinions,
asserted its inability to do so, and GER
tain facts enforce this truth.
In 1871 the general assembly OF iiii-
nois passed law under which the
supreme court of the State declared
that what was a reasonable rate for the
transportation of passengers and
freight over a railroad was mere mat
ter of opinion based upon vast variety
of complicated facts which few persons
could understand if the public possessed
them. but which only the railroads
have and which they cannot be COM
PEELED to surrender.
This decision ended all attempts t.
fix absolute railroad rates in Illinois,
and compelled the ingenious legislators
of that State to resort TO the e:pedient
Of shifting the burden of proof from the
shoulders of the complainant citizen to
those of the defendant railroad. 7 he
right of the railroads of Illinois to
fix their own rates was conceded, but
the complainant was allowed 10 ques-
tior the reasonableness of those rates
b. a prima f;.cie case made for him by
the railroad commission of the Com
monwealth. An attempt has been made
in the Cullom bill to initiate the l@Sisia-
ton of Illinois. but the attempt is
failure. and, instead of giving the In
terstate Commerce Commission the
right to go into court and question the
reasonableness of rates established by
the railroads, il gives to the commits
sion. not one member Of which has had
any railroad experience or practical
knowledge of railroad affairs, the right
TO establish rates absolutely, and then
makes of the commission, some Of the
members Of which have had experience
at the bar, a court authorized TO deter
mine the wisdom of it's own action,
upon a subject of which, if 1t is
not profoundly ignorant, it is not in
any sense well Informed or adequately
intelligent.