Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1898-10-31

NEW YORK, oct. 31.-Chauncey M.
Depew having made study Of the de-
cision of the supreme court ON traffic
associations gives his opinion ON the
subject III part as follows:
"The object of the Joint Traffic asso-
citation was, first, to assist the inter-
state commerce act; second, to prevent
secret rate cutting; third, to prevent
the favoritism to great cities and to
great shippers which are gradually wip-
ing out intermediate towns and the
small business men.
"It is absolutely necessary for the
railroads OF the country to know the
movement of traffic and traffic condi-
tions as to freight which is to be moved
at the different reservoirs where it is
concentrated. 1t is also necessary that
they know whether and why this
freight is securing an outlet, if for ex-
poIt through the Gulf Of Mexico or by
the Canadian route or by the Atlantic
seaboard.
sit will be necessary, therefore, that
some association should exist as a sta
tistical bureau for the purpose of gath
ering this information and presenting
it in frequent reports to the lines which
are members. All that the railways ask
is that under some form of voluntary
agreement or pooling law they may
be permitted to arrange among them
selves SO that there shall be Uniform
rates to everybody who ships over the
various lines for the same service.
1.-THE great error Of the people who
framed the interstate commerce act is
in supposing that in preventing the rail.
roads from agreeing upon rates and
having pool they were getting lower
rates for the purpose and preventing
Determinations Their legislation pro-
ceeded upon the thought that there ia
but one line, for instance, between New
York and Chicago, whereas there are
eight lines Now, it is possible for a
combination of capital to take the weak
line and ship it's product over that line
upon an agreement much below the
current rates. The weak line may be
in the hands of a receiver and have no
obligations TO pay either upon its stock
or its bondS-in other words upon the
invested capital which built it. The
other lines cannot afford to go into
bankruptcy by following this rate, and
so they let the weaker line have this
traffic, and they conduct their own
traffic upon regular and reasonable
rates.
'The effect of this is very soon evil
dent. The rates which these big ship
pers get over this bankrupt line enable
them to make their product so much
cheaper than the people who are situ-
ated upon the other lines, or who send
to market from other places than the
terminus of the bankrupt line that they
drive them out of business. Then the
anti trust, anti corporation, antl-com-
bination people by their own device
have created combination and trust.
This process has been going on ever
since the Interstate commerce act and
the anti-pooling provisions were en-
forced.
1.-The railroads ask for no pooling law
except on these conditions:
First, that the pooling contract shall
not be made until it has been approved
by the interstate commerce commission,
and, second, that if the rates prove op-
pressive or unjust in the traffic which
is subject to the pool the interstate COM
merce commission shall have the right
to step in and right the wrong, if there
is any, or abrogate the pool"