The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-21
MIR. HINES'S CRITICISM
OF THE INTE1srArI COMMERCE
 CoMlrfseIoN SoUE wyEKs AGO.
Supposed to be the Cause for the In- dictment of the |. C N. R. H. by . Federal Grand Jury
 L. G N. as Cats Paw.

There is an impression among rai,rosd men that the Interstate Commerce Com mission Is attempting to use the L. and nuts out of the fire. No one believes fhe indictment win amount to anything fur tner than to produce some testinony that may be valuable in finding true Journal
 Mir. Walker D. Illness pungent criti. .cisn of the Interstate Commerce Com mission is popularly thought to have Louisville and Nashville Railroad for ai- merce law.
 On February 2,v Vice President Hines other things. that the supineness of the commission was largely responsible for the hasrant violation of the law. He accused the commission of utter faiI- said. among other things:
 The commission endeavors. as 1t has done for years, to excite support for it's demand for more power by describing the new Investigations at Chicago and Kansas City to disclose conditions which it has known for years. delaying the publication Of It's report 90 as to give the result of these hearings.
 "The indisputable fact must be. kept before the public that the prevalence of rate-cutting Is an unanswerable srgu- ment against giving the commission more powe;. because it Is due princt- to perform its manifest duty.
 "The paramount purpose of the law was to secure publicity and the mainte- nance of tarif rates. It Is the express and enforce the law. It has the widest possible power of investigation. including the right to call for the production Of all books. documents and papers, and 1t n ronIfra fHo TfQfrtrt Aftnrnaua of a United States to prosecute all vfolators. These powers have been upheld by the courts. The commission, however, has not only failed to devote its time and violations of the law, but 1t has by it's supineness acQuiesced in and encouraged them, and has done all in it's power to break down the force of the act and claiming that the courts have made It's enforcement impossible. Whereas, not a single decision has impaired the com missions power to prevent rate-cutting.
 AS an illustration of its methods, 1t states in It's last annual report that the courts have held that to convict for pay ing a rebate It Is necessary to show not merely that the railroad company paid a rebate to a particular shipper. but 1t must also be shown that 1t did not pay the same rebate to some other shipper, which as a practical matter Is almost impossi- ble. This statement is not true: The very
 
 the mere Nfact of paying rebate from tariff rate Is in itself an offense. regard less of what was paid to some one else, and the act makes this offense punish able by fine which may be as much as $500 for each instance where the tarim rate has been departed from.
 The commission seems to have made investigation upon the subject. not to en- force the act, but simply to advertise it's contention that the act Is not enforceable. Moreover. no part of the new power now asked by the commission would have the remotest tendency to prevent this rate cutting. and this report shows that this is now the evil to be contended with.
 'I make no attempt to excuse the rail- roads for violating the law. but insist that the comuissions attitude is- mex cusable. Offended because the courts overruIed its erroneous assumptions of power in other directions. 1t has been sulking for years. trying to create false irnpressions that the act is worthless and seeking to use the rate-cutting which It could and ought to have prevented as basis for dena anding radical power. which could in no way tend to correct II"
 The attack caused big sensation. The Interstate Commerce Commission inme- diately made plans for a thorough inves- tisation. Mfr. Marchand, the attorney for the commission. came to Kentucky. The result was the indictment made publioll yesterday.