The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-21
WILL MAKE IT PERMANENT.
..s,nssIssIPPI CONGRESS HAS
so DECIDED.

:. Louts Exposition
:" of Nicaragua Canal Bills VIII
Yroed-COmmission Prouty
.ssed Freight Rates and the
-, of the Government to Legis-
win Regard to Them in the
-.orests OF the People.
Tex. April 20.-The transmits
NJ. numerical Congress adjourned
sls''f' f..rnoon to meet next year at Grip
Ia creek, Col.
P ~ fnnortant business to-day was the
ton Of A plan for the organization of
.,,,rress on a permanent basis; the
- -.o,snt of the St. Louis exposition
AVA commitment of a committee to
mt The Congress in the hearing on
,sa St. Louis fair bill in committee next
o..,rdaz and the adoption Of resolu-
calling for the immediate passage of
If the Nicaragua canal bills now
Ia5io, before the National Congress.
p1Ia,arsrate Commerce Commissioner c.
pro,ity of Washington, spoke in part
as follows;
r,s resolution indorsing the st. Louis
r,..o.itioD was then taken up aud ex-Gov.
9,@n,is spoke He said in part:
,Tbe overs adowing problem for the
,ui,s5 States. presented in various
as,.ss and under various names, is the
enlistment. 50 to speak, OF the relat ons
t.T,v.rn wealth and commonwealth; now
~, llt anon the one hand, some limit 70 the
sr.ad ot riches and TO protect, upon the
e,bor hand. the due rights of property.
I'm tba solution of this problem no CUES
.,o ts more important than that of rail-
~. ,r7 -portatiou for this question IN
I.rlis. Others Few people understand
tts enormous consequence in every point
nj view. OF the freight rate. Since Jan.
,ba el.t of transporting corn from the
y~st territory directly west of the Mlssls-
s.r-i river has fuctuated about three cents
mn bu-hed Three cents bushel on the
,..'o4. of corn means in this territory from
N 10 80 ceuts per acre, and this upon
W eenr. basis amounts 10 difference IN
t,,1,,. of from SO to SIS an acre. What is
tr,,a III corn is true of every other agrl-
an. ..al product in the United States, AMI
ey-n more true of many other products.
oOr even greater consequence is the
trsiqht rste 10 the individual business
man. Take che milling industry. Tesu-
many before the commission shows that
-r5n1 10 cents a barrel is regarded as
rTOflI ana tfldl iDbCl llOAtl IL . ACNtttNh
an wen less profit. Her are two mills
gi7rr- the cost Of producing flour is ex-
act,v The same, but the freight rate IN
ora case for some reason is made two or
three cents per 100 pounds lower than II
the other. one mill runs at protlt; the
other makes nothing. The same is true
~ a erea- ar or less extent in every de
mrrment OF business.
| The most prominent political and So
dai question of to-day is the trust PROB
ably no one factor is so potential in the
upbuiding and the perpetuatng OF these
ere3t combinations of capital which sue
'sa5 in defving law and public opinion as
discrimination in freight rates. Indeed
II NAV be doubted if any trust in the
necessities of life need be greatly feared
if absolute equality in the freight rate
could be secured.
"The freight rate ordains where cities
shall be built and communities MAIN
tanned This may be illustrated by the
case Of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com
pany. which came before the commission
some years ago.
The freight rate goes still further. 1t
determines not only who shall do business
and where business shall be done, but
the lines upon which our social develop
ment snail proceed.
The uniform tendency of the present
condition of rates is TO build up the city
at the expense of the country, for the rea-
son that the rate, the rebate, the conces-
sion of every sort, is always In FAVOR OF
the city where competition is sharp ana
against the country where competition Is
less and with the result that industries
Of all kinds are beng forced out of the
country and out of the smaller towns
and into the great centers of activity.
This is not for the national good. The
small Individual should enjoy exactly the
same privileges with the great shipper,
and the small community ordinarily the
Same as the great community.
Right TO Regulate Rates.
"Manifastly transportation by railway
is thing of such transcendent import
ance TO the public at large that it should
be subject to public regulation. But what
warrant is there for this? AS member
Of Senate committee recently said:
Why should a commission fix the price
|of ailway transportation more than the
price Of wool or of live stock?'
Transportation by railway, whether IL
be called a service or a commodity, is in
its nature quasi public. The railways are
in measure a public servant. If this
were not so IT never could have been con-
structed and could not be operated. When
The legislature confers upon the railway
these extraordinary powers, giving 1t the
right 10 appropriate TO its use the prop
erty of private individuals against their
VIII II may determine the conditions under
which It's railroad, when constructed,
snail he operated 1t may fix the rates of
ARE, say that those rates shall be the
same 10 all individuals, and that they shall
oe reasonably adjusted between all com
munities
This may be done upon the further
ground that when any service comes to
De rendered under such circumstances as
10 De- IN a manner a public service, the
punhc may, in self protection, regulate its
exercise. There is no city or town of con-
soeiaoe size in the United States which
1'eS not determine its cab fares and the
ldtes Of It's street railways. In some
states there are commissions to determine
cle price Of electric light and gas. The
supreme Court of the United States has