The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-31
A Railroad Man on Railroad Regu.
latiOn.


vice-president OF the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad. before the American
Economic Association in Philadelphia
last week, is full Of good hard sense,
which ought to be profitable for reproof
to the horde of sentimentalists who are
so eager for more and more severe Gov
eminent regulation of railroads, and to
tho Interstate Commerce Commission
itself. which. like most other Govern
ment commissions, is steadily trying to
magnify its Office. Mr.. Illness subject
was Legislative Regulation Of Railroad
Rates" He confined himself to the dis
cussion of the enlargement of the powers
of the Interstate Commerce Commission
by giving it the power to make rates and
regulations for the movement of inter-
state traffic. We commend to the ad-
vocates OF a swollen commission and
an actively paternal Government Mr.
Illness condensed statement Of little
recent history and present fact:
The agitation for this additional power began
when the Supreme Court decided the so called
maximum Pate case on May -. 1897 The com
mission at once entered upon q campaign TO secure
the rate making power desired. and persis'entiy
assallei the Supreme Courts decision The Su.
preme Court was eoa,radcted at every point. and
1t wa. vigorously asserted that the power Was no,
a general rate making power. that Congress had
undoubtedly Intended to confer II. and that the
commission had been ripped OF all authority and
opportunity TO carry out the provisions OF the law
have entirely lost sight Of the judicial utterances
OF the Supreme Court, and have accepted as facts
the unjust and unbecomns criticisms circulated
by the Intcrs ate Commerce Commission. Despite
all assertions to the contrary, the definite scheme
deliberately adopted by Congress for correcting
unjust and unreasonable rates has never yet prove
insufficient a great many Of the commissions
orders have been compiled with. All that IL said
as 70 securing lust and reasonable Rates necessarily
relates 10 Just and reasonable tariH rates It Is
an entirely Inherent thing 10 compel a strict Oh
servance OF those rates. The tarin rates may Re
entirely proper and yet serious evils may Arise from
seer, departures from them. This evil OF secret
rate cutting was the most serious evil when the
Interstate Commerce act was passed. and has
remained the most serious ever since. No possible
power Of rate making can prevent secret rate
cutting"
No possible power of rate making can
prevent secret rate cutting. The prop
osition seems self-evident, yet it il prob
able that confusion Of thought, an I'M
conscious assumption Of a necessary
connection between the power to fix
rates and the means to evade them, Ia the
cause of most of whatever sincere sup
port the Interstate Commission receives
in it's campaign for larger powe 3. Mr..
HINES describes plainly what t. COM
mission seeks:
The present proposition Is to give the commits
sion precisely the power which /, sought to exer-
else In the MAXIMUM rate case. and which the su q.
preme Court then said would enable 1t to change
every Interstate rate in the United states In single
proceeding II II chose 10 do 80. This issue should
be squareiy faced. II Is the question whether
Congress shall give the commission the power TO
make rates Just a. generally as 1t may choose TO
exercise the power. when that power 10 one which.
IN the nature Of things canno, be adequately super
vised By the courts. and will leave the commission
the nuA Arbl,er. e1cep, in cases amounting 70
connscati
Mr.. HINES points out that the regula-
ton Of railroads is exclusively a practi-
cal question, no other business being
more inextricably interviewer with the
special and peculiar conditions Of every
phase Of the commercial and industrial
life OF the country" Even assuming that
theoretically the railroad business is a
Governmental function, in practice in the
United States it il a function carried on
by private enterprise and capital. This
being the case. the railroad managers
are bound TO move the business of the
country and must depend upon their
own knowledge of the facts and their own
judgment.
To those who cry for more control over
the railroads, Mr.. HINES replies that the
railroads are already more controlled
than any other institution in tho country. y
A palpable but conveniently forgotten
fact. But, say the friends of still fur
Their control there should be an expert
and impartial tribunal to decide between
the railroad and the shipper. The courts
are already able to relieve the shipper
from unreasonable rates or adjustments
Of rates. And talk about an impartial
and expert tribunal means. in effect,
the granting Of unlimited and practi-
cal final rate-making power to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, a
tribunal not likely to be composed of
experts: much moro likely to be COM
posed OF middle-aged politicians, rarely
practical business men and almost never
practical railroad men," full OF theories
and inclined to readiust the ralroa Is
rather than those theories. ACCORDING
to MIR. HINES, the history of the present
commission bears out these assertions.
II the Government were to APPOINT the
traffic managers of the railroads while
permitting the railroads to be run bv
private capital, says Mr.. HINES such
action would he regarded as ndefensible
yet precisely the same result would be
reached if the commission were given
the power in question, because il could
then, by ts own %ll asGur.c tic position
Of traffic manager Tor every railroad
in the country, to whatever extent il
might choose to occupy that position