Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1898-06-01

for public taxes. over three thousand
millions of dollars that have been invest
ed in railways have earned no dividend |
for years. This is not water as some |
populist orator will say, but good, honest !
money. These securities are held all !
through the land and their failure to
pay any return has brought disgrace up
on us abroad and suffering and want in
many family and community at home.
zone of the chief difficulties with the
law as it stands today is that the pun
ishment for private contracts and rebates
is entirely out of proportion to the offense.
The imprisonment clause was put in as
an amendment to the interstate com
merce law, and ! believe the commission
and everyone who has watched its work
ings will agree with me that it has been
a failure more than a failure, that 1t
has caused perhaps more Decentralization
than anything else. The public has not
believed in it; It has been impossible to
secure conviction; 1t has prevented the
railway official who desired TO be honest
from complaining of his competitor whom
he thought was dishonest In fact, 1t has
been what every law is that is not sup
ported by public sentimental failure
What, in fact, is the manner of conduct
ing business today? The railway official
who desires to be honest and law-abiding
sees traffic leave his line and finds the
freight that he was carrying 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 looming up
the loss of his position. At the same
time, the shipper who desires to obey
the law sees some rival selling merchan-
disc to his customers at prices he cannot
meet, and he knows very well that he Is
securing concessions from some railway
to enable him to do this. The railway
RftF4NH
the law sit down together and look 1t
over, What relief Is there for them?
They can complain of their rivals, posi-
bly, convict them under the interstate
commerce law and send them to the pen
itentiary, but such action would bring
down upon them the condemnation of the
public and would ruin their business; for,
as / stated before the public does not be-
lieve in this severe feature of the law.
and will not support anyone who entorces
it. The result is. these men, in despair,
are driven to do just what their opponents
are doing-they become lawbreakers
themselves. l have drawn no fancy pie
ture; 1t is what is occurring every day
around you.
rs it wise, is 1T broad craftsmanship.
to leave a business as large as that OF
the railways-one in which one-fifth, at
least, of our population is engaged, one
which affects the comfort and happiness
.
leave it outside of the law? 1t is said
that the most expensive occupation to
the community IL that of the burglar, lie
has to spend so much time and destroy
so much to get so little Is 1t worth while
to force the great railway interests of
the country into the same position?
who opposes this Legislation? First,
certain people who desire the government
to own and operate the railways. Sec
ond, others who wish that the interstate
railway commission should make all
rates. Third and lastly certain railway
all Legislation and who object to any con-
troll, and believe that they should be left
e"''ft'Y zone 4
"All us who haveNany interest in our
country, who desire its prosperity, are in
| terested in tine solution of this great
| question. 1t is not time for the dema-
| gogue to howl about corporations 1t Is
not a time to talk about the wrongdoings
| 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 railway managers to-day. l
assure you. are as honestly seeking So
| luton of this question as are you or any
member of the legislative body. l be-
| lieve l voice the belief of a very large
majority of them that the two provis-
| ions have mentioned are necessary and
will lead to the settlement of this ques-
| ton. If this body will join and heartily
| indorse this course and work for it, its
| accomplishment can be attained. We
| have unwittingly in this country applied
| to railway laws that 1t was never in
| tended should be applied to transporta-
| ton companies of this nature. We have
| gone back and taken decisions that were
wise a hundred years ago, when civliza-
| ton was in its infancy and when the
/ napdpl certain nrOtpctiOD and
| have endeavored to apply these same
| principles to the great transportation in
| terests of modern times. The courts, I'M
| fortunately, have followed in that line.
| Every business man, every statesman,
| knows that it is a mistake, that we have
| here an immense interest such as the
world has never seen, and the principles
| which should govern it must be worked
| out in harmony with the age and the
needs of this country. There should he no
| friction between the interstate commerce
| commission and the railways; there
| should be none between the state COM
missions and the railways There has
been too much of a feeling with these
bodies that the railways were against
| them In the contest with railways in
| the courts, the commissioners have drift
| ed away somewhat from the ground
| they ought to stand on; that is they
should be the friends of the railways in
| stead of their enemies. and should aid
| in securing the proper legislation, and the
railways. in turn, should give their sup
port to make such legislation effective
believe it can be done in no better way
| than by the true method l have pointed
out First. the change of the criminal
section; second, authority to contract and
| divide business. Either one of them
would be of great advantage, but we
ought to have both. There also should
be such legislation as will give more
force to the recommendations and orders
of the interstate commerce commission
ers. Instead of trying to break down the
commission the railway officials should
| try to build it up, should make the COM
mission its aid and use 1t a bulwarl5
| o. .trnr,r.tla in cnnmrnss nd II, the ~