Omaha daily bee., 1898-03-26
RAILROAD REGULATION,
OF the work of the Interstate
Commerce COmmissiOn.

/
Commerce Com missiOn.
Prof. Henry c. Adams in the Atlantic.
One is scarcely at liberty to say. without
the consent OF the supreme court. what the
Intention of congress was In creating the
Interstate Commerce commission. Accepting
however, the language OF the act as the only
basis OF Interpretation, IL seems clear that
the ability OF the commission to perform its
duties was made dependent upcu the co.
operation OF the courts. Had Ii been pos
sible foe the courts to have accepted the spirit
of the act, and to have rendered their as
sistance heartily and without reserve, ther,
Is reason to believe that tue petnicious
discrimination in railway service and the un-
just charges for transportation would now
have been in large measure thing OF the
past. As 1t is, the most significant chapter
in the history Of the commission pertains tc
It's persistent endeavoTs to work out some
modus vivendi without disturbing the dignity
OF the judiciary
The merchaat, the manufacturer and the
farmer, working under conditions Of iudus-
trial liberty, do not seem to require any Pc
cular supervision on the part Of the state, for
competition is adequate to insure Celative
justice as between custom, as well as tue
sale Of goods at a fair price. But In the
railway industry, competition does not work
so beneficent result. ca the coCtrary, such
is its nature that 1t imposes upon railway
managers the necessity or disregarding equity
out considering their fairness, whether judged
from the point Of view Of cost or of social
results. Were this not true there would be
no railway problem.
But what, 1t will be asked, is there pecu-
liar about the business of tcausportatioti
which renders 1t superior to the satisfactory
control OF competition? The railway
industry is an extensive, and not an intensive,
industry. 1t conforms to the law Of "increas-
ing returns rathec than to the law of "cou-
slant" or Of diminishing returns. This
being the case. ability to perform unit OF
service cheaply depends more upon the guam
tity OF business transacted than upon atten-
tlon to mi0ute details Another way of say.
ing the same thing is that the expenses in
cident to the operations OF a railway do not
increase in proportion to the increase in the
volume Of traffic. AS an industrial fact, this
does not pertain to the business Of the manu-
facturer. the merchant or the farmer, but is
peculiar to the business OF transportation
and 1t is adequate. when properly understood.
to explain why all advanced peoples. without
regard to the form OF government they may
have adopted or the social theories they may
entertain, Gave surrounded the administrator
of railways with peculiar legal restrictions.
The necessity OF some sort OF government
control lies in the nature OF the business
itself.
1t lies in the theory OF modern society that
men should succeed or fail according to
their abilities. AS matter of fact, a rail-
wa.' manager has 1t within his power }
through the manipulation of rates, to make
or to destroy; to determine which persons
in the community and which communities in
the state shall attain commercial success,
and which shall struggle in vain for its at
tainment. Suppose. for example,
that one cattle dealer in Chicago Is selected
by a pool Of railways to control the ship
ment of meats from Chicago to the seaboard,
and that in order to secure him this control,
he receives rate of 10 per cent less than
the rates charged other dealers; it is evident
that the favored shipper will quickly destroy
the business Of other shippers by bidding
more for cattle than they can afford to bid.
Admitting that the discrimination is not ap-
proved by common law, what remedy has
the small shipper which is sufficiently speedy
in its action to rescue the business which he
observes to be slipping from him? He has
no remedy; and for this reason is it essential
tha: Determinations Of the sort referred to
should be made a statutory misdemeanor, and
that some special method of procedure more
rapid In Its operations than an ordinary
court, should be established to cause the raj
ways to desist from their wrong g-doings.