Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-01-04

The Tendency Toward Consolida-
ton and Combination Crow
ing Greater.
Washington. Jan The fourteenth
annual report of the interstate com
anerce commission was sent to cong
to-day. Attention is called BY the COM
mission to the necessity for further leg
lisation amending the act to regulate
commerce, the reasons for urging those
Iame ndments having been carefully ex-
lplained in previous reports. knowledge
LOT the present conditions and tenden-
cies they say, Increases rather than
lessena the necessity for legislative ac-'
ition upon lines already Indicated and
lin such other directions as will furnish
Ian adequate and workable statute for
l.regulation of commerce among the sew
lsays, that the railroad inanag gers gen
orally have made no attempt to con-
form heir practices toltte spirit of the
/ law. They may keep within its letter.
succeeding in avoiding thru techlicali-
tsties. They Claim they are virtually
Iconlpellsd to counteract its aim and
Ievaae its observance Thus it happens
that some Of the most important and
useful incidents of the railway service
fare maintained by methods when are.
i believed to be inharmunious with, if not
lin actual Violation OF the federal stat
ute. This IS more tnan a question of
pooling contracts between rival car
riers 1t is a,question Of such agree
.nents as relate TO Classification OF ter.
ninal8 charges and the ike concerning
which uniform and certain stability are
.Eof manifest benefit and convenience 10
the public.
Under conditions now existing il is
inevitable that frequent discri.nina-
tions should occur and endless acts of
injustice be committed. Theoretically
! it is possible for each road to observe
i DC paIblisisvtl schedules in every par.
1 stIcular, but This in many cases must be
,hdone, IL done at all, only a t the loss of
4 needed traffic. unless all rival roads
a ssith equal strictness and honesty con-
i form IN u IKE tusls-- r,s.s-
4 lished rates. The idea of public regula-
tion implies certain Standards OF corr
rect conduct to which all carriers shall
4 conform
The policy now pursued can not and
will not prevent the outcome of vicious
discrimination and what s most unfor-
ltunatA of all. those determinations fa-
VOL. the few and place the many at a
Il disadvantage. are always unjust and
often destructive.
4 Relative to railway combinations the
sireport s'as g:
"Onesof the striking features of recent
times in the Industrial world has been
4 the tendency to combine for the purpose
3Isof limiting or eliminating competition.
A In no branch of industry, probably, is
4 the inducement to form combinations of
slsthis sort greater. nor the advantages to
l.be hoped for from them when formed
lmore certain. than in railway opera
4 tons
First. No competition is so destruc-
ltive as that between railways. In most
A kinds of business competition stops
A with the bankruptcy. of one or more of
a the competitors, but here the weak,
Z roundabout, bankrupt line can often in
q fiict as serious damage as could a pros
Iperous rival.
Second. The nature of the business
renders posi- bic large profits from such
: combinations without attracting Undue
attention. Trans portation is analogous
to tax imposed in varying degree up-
4 on almost all commodities With inn
Iportant exceptions moderate advances
in rates, ii equally distributed, would
mot be especially noticed by the public
as a whole. But every such advance
adds to the net revenues of the railway
4 and very slight increase in all rates
y Ii 1t should be permanently maintained
would enhance enormously the value OF
railway securities.
Third. No kind of property lends
itself so readily to the permanent for.
nation of such combinations as rail
road, property. He VINO combines all
the factories in the United States of
certain kind may lose in a short tim,
: the benefit of that monopoly by tn.
4 |erection of other factories of the. sam.
kind. but a monopoly created by thu
combination of all the railways nov
! sconuolling any considerable area Of tn,
United States is reasonably certain I,
continue for years to come.
Fourth. In addition to these induce
mente the statutes of the land operat
), to produce the same result. Many year
!, ago the railway managers found /
necessary, in what they believed to b
!. .Ilegitimate seif-protection, to form
: pooling contracts They still believ
: that the right to make and enforce sucl
contracts is a proper ard essential one
), but the interstate commerce act rem
= ders the formation of these contract
I not only Illegal. but criminal. That ac
: also provides that carriers shall pub
! lsh their rates and adhere to- them
lbut the anti-truet act. as Interpreted b.
the courts, renders any agreement Wit
Preference to the making or maintaining
d of Interstate rates a crime. If the car
@ riers are to make public their rates an
8 Ito charge all shippers the same rate
; they must, as a practical matter, agre
! to some extent with respect to tines
o rates When railway managers believ
Z that the law forbids in one act wha
q they deem necessary to the observanc
OF another the obvious tendency of tn
reinforcement of such a law is to lead I
the discovery If possible of some wa
,c in which 1t can be avoided. So if ther
b. can be no agreement in the operatio
a lof Independent railways 1t seems iney
y litable that there will be unity or agree
t. ment In their ownership.