The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-01-24
| THE INTERSTAlT
| COMMERCE REPORT
Annual Statement Made Public
on Yesterday.
INTERESTING FACTS RELATED Il
Commissions Past Recommendations tOr
Legislation Are Received, but Motif
Ing New is Ad.
vocated.
Annual Statement Made Public
INTERESTING FACTS RELATED
m, Associated Press. j


WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. 2s.-Itic
report OF the Interstate Commerce COM
mission was made public to-day. 1t IS q
volumunous document and contains faces
OF interest.
| The twenty-first section OF the acS -
regulate commerce imposes the spseilie
obligation Of recommending to the Soh-
gress such additional legislation as the
| Commission may deem necessary. IN
/ the annual report of last year the toll
lowing was said: With reference to f"r-
Their legislation the Commission has nj
! tie to suggest and nothing new to propose.
The subject has been fully discussed IN
| previous reports to the Congress- aii,'
recommendations both general and spee1-f
| fic have been repeatedly made Inc red
! sons for urging these amendments nave
| been carefully explained, and repetltioh u
the argument at this time can haroiy ps
expected These statements Apply Win
| added force to the present si'uatiot. IL
| repeating the views thus eSpressS liis
| Commission believes that it's duty In re-
spcct of recommendations is most sultaoiy
| performed.
! I
Referring to recent Investigations made
| into the movement of packins-house pro-
| ducts and the movement OF gram anu
! grain products, the Commission says thae
| the facts therein developed are of such a
| character that no thoughtful person eau
| contemplate them with Indifference That
the leading traffic officials of many OF the
| principal railway lines, men occupying
high positions and charged with the most
| important duties, should deliberately Eio-
| late the statute of law of the land, anu
| in some cases agree will. each other 10
| do so; that it should De thought by them
/ necessary to destroy vouchers ana 10 50
manipulate bookkeepinGs as to oblterate
| evidence of the transactions; that nun
/ tre0s OF thousands of dollars should
! be paid in unlawful rebates to Few
| great packing houses; that the business
OF railroad transportation, the most I'M
| .portant but one in the country to-day.
| paying the highest salaries and holding
| out to young men the greatest induce
| ments, should to such an extent be con-
Quoted n open disregard of law, must
| be surprising and offensive to all right
| minded persons. Equally startling at
least is the fact that the owners of these
| packing houses, men whose names are
| known throughout the commercial world.
| should seemingly be eager to augment
| their gains with the enormous amounts OF
| these rebates which they receive in plain
| difiance OF q Federal statute. These facts
| carry their own comment. and nothing sai1
by us can add to their significance.
The Commission repeats what it has
| said in former reports that q law should
be enacted to furnish such deprecatory
| methods
AGENT NOT RESPONSIBLE.
While it was undoubtedly the intent of
/ the tenth section of the act to impose a
| penalty upon the corporation itself, under
its peculiar phraseology, it has, however,
| been judicially determined that the cor
| poration is not liable. The agent alone
can be punished. Now. the object of rate
| cutting is to get business and make money
| and the corporation, if anyone, profits
by the illegal act. 1t is the real offender
and ought certainly to pay tho penalty
as well as it's officer.
The act requires carriers to publish
interstate rates and adhere to such pub-
| lished tariffs. But the tenth section, as
construed by the courts, does not punish
| otherwise than by a possibly nominal fine,
| a departure from the published tariff, un-
less there is actual discrimination be-
| tween shippers To convict for paying
a rebate it is necessary to show not mere
ly that the railway company paid a re
bate to q particular shipper, but it must
also be shown that it did not pay the
same rebate to some other shipper with
respect to the same kind of traffic NOV
ing at the same time under similar con-
ditions. As a practical matter this is
almost always impossible.
ANTITRUST Law.
1t is not the business of this commits
sion to enforce the antitrust act and
we express no opinion as to the legality
OF the means adopted by associations.
We simply call attention to the fact that
the decisions of the United States SUI
creme Court in the trans-NIissouri and
Joint Traffic Association cases have pro-
duced no practical effect upon the rail-
way operations of, the country: Such
| associations IN fact exist now as they
did before those decisions. and with the
same general effect In justice to all
4 parties. we ought probably to add that
it is difficult to see how our interstate
Z railways could be operated with due re-
] gard to the interested the shipper and
the railway without concerted action OF
the kind afforded through these, assoc
Citations.
COURT DECISIONS
The only court decisions rendered dur
ing the year upon orders issued by the
commission were in four long and short
haul cases-twe in. the United States
Supreme Court, one in the Fifth Circuit
Court OF Appeals. and one in the Cir
:. cult Court Northern District of Ala
banla. In three of these cases the suits
! to enforce rulings made by the commits
! sion were begun prior toe the decision OF
i the Supreme Court tn the. Alabama Mid
i land case, which. as fully explained in
! former annual reports. was to the effect
1 that the commission had improperly con-
4 strued the long and shorL-haul section
4 of the law. These three cases there
i fore as decided by the commission. were
i open to the objection found by the SD
preme Court III TIC Alabama Midland
case. ard upon that general ground the
courts refused to direct enforcementiof
4 the orders OF the commission in these
proceedings.
OPERATING STATISTICS
The report includes comprehensive
4 abstract OF the thirteenth annual report
i on the statistics of railways in the