The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-14
The LAW IS DEFECTIVE
Charges Urged by the Inter- State
Commerce Commission,
IT CANNOT BE ENFORCED
Some of the Provisions Are Imperfect,
Uncertain and Ambiguous-It
Defeats the Purpose of
the Act.

washington. Jan. I5.-The annual re-
port Of the Interstate commerce commits
sion was given out to-day. In it the COM
mission says:
In previous reports to congress attention
has been called to the vital respects in
which the act has proved defective and
Inadequate. Some of its provisions were
Early seen to be imperfect while others
were so uncertain ambiguous to
give rise to protracted litigation, resulting
finally in authoritative construction by
the supreme court of the United States.
The commission has taken much pains to
explain the various questions that have
thus been decided and the effect of these
adjudcations in defeating the purposes of
the act. To state that the law in its pres
ent condition cannot he enforced is only
to repeat what has already been said.
Until further and important legislation is
enacted the best efforts at regulation
must be feeble and disappointing. In our
last annual report we not only set forth in
general terms the necessity for amending
the law, but formulated and proposed the
specific amendments which appear to us
positively essential. With the renewal of
these recommendations the duty of the
commission in this regard remains I'M
discharged.
Meanwhile the situation has become in
toerable, both from the standpoint of the
public and the carriers. Tariffs are dis
regarded, determinations constantly oc-
cur, the price at which transportation can
he obtained is calculating and uncertain.
Railroad managers are distrustful Of each
other, and shippers all the while in doubt
rs to the rates secured by their competi-
tors The volume of traffic is so unusual
as frequently to exceed the capacity of
equipment, yet the contest for tonnage
seems never relaxed. Enormous sums are
spent in purchasing business and secret
rates accorded far below the standard of
published charges. The general public
gets little benefit from these reductions,
for concessions are mainly confined to the
heavier shippers. All this augments the
advantages of large capital and tends to
the injury and often to the ruin of smaller
dealers. These are not only matters of
the gravest consequence to the business
welfare of the country, but they concern
in no less degree the higher interest of
public morality.
1t is perfectly clear that observance
of tariff rates is entirely within the
power of the railway managers and
that it would be vastly to the advan-
tage of the railways as a whole. 1t
would, however, be difficult and often
ruinous for one railway to maintain
concessions, and it is also to be ad-
mitted that justified or not the results
are substantially as claimed by the car
riers. A large part of the railroad bust
ness is now transacted upon illegal
rates and in certain quarters charging
the published rate is the exception. The
results are determinations between III
diyiduals and gross preferences be-
tween localities, which most always ia
vor the strong and Cypress the weak
Probably nothing to-day does SO much
to force out the smaller operator and
build up those trusts and monopolies
against which law and public opinion
alike bear in vain, as determinations in
freight rates. A further result is that
railroad business is carried on largely
in conceded violation of law. This con-
dition the present law is powerless to
control. The criminal remedies have
been applied and some convictions have
been had, but no substantial effect has
been produced and no satisfying results
can be obtained from that course. The
fact may be morally certain, but the
name, the fate, the amount, cannot be
shown with the particularly and GER
tafnty required by criminal law. If un-
restricted competition produces discrim-
ination, one obvious way to prevent
such discriminate is to restrict COM
petition. Whether existing conditions
would be improved by legaliZing rail-
way contracts would depend upon the
extent to which the agreements We're
made and actually enforced by the car
riers. So far as the commission can
obtain information that is at present
no other great nation which endeayors
to enforce competition between it's rail-
roads, although in many cases that
method has been tried and abandoned.
But just as no other great nation to-