Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1902-01-30
Interstate Commerce
Annual Report Of the Interstate
Commerce Commissioa q
the Congress.
PREVIOUS DECLARATIONS Are RENEWED
The Feature Of the Report 10 the
Ai.~ss se.sasIs.aI sssseaess OF
the Relations Existing Between
the Railroads and . cespars-
uvesy Few mtg >hipv<rs-

Washington. Jan s3--The annual
report of the interstate commerce
commission, which was transmitted
to congress. Thursday. renews, the
declaration made in previous reports
that in is- present condition the act
to regulate commerce can not be en-
forced As to remedial legislation.
the commission renewS the statement
made in its previous annual report.
that it has little 60 suggest and
nothing new to propose"
The feature % the report : the al-.ozs
serlsathoral statssent oE the rxiaions ex-
sting between the railroads AMI com
parastvsty few heavy shippers Refer
ring % th< commissions recent tnvesti<a-
tons into the amount oe packing house
prvsiurts az& % grain aza grain prod
bets. th- rrport saySs
The facts therein developed are Of such
a Character that no thou<htfal person can
contemplate them With Indifference That
tn- leading traffic osfctGls Of many % tee
principal railway lines. men occupying
hissh 1a-iriors and charged with the most
bate the statute law % tn. lanA and In
sor-e eases agree with each other 70 do
80 that IL should be thought BY them nee
essary TO destroy vouchers arsi 20 50
manipulate bookkscptn< as to ooIiterate
evt.enes ot the Transactions. that hun
cresfs Of thousands oe dollars should bss
paid N unlawful rebates TO a few great
F-csfrg houses. that the business et rail-
road transpsrtatio1 should 10 such an ex-
-. -.
law. must Be surprising 4ad extensive to
al rixnS-r-iaast persons Equally start
lrg. at least Is the fact that III. oxu-
ers % these packing houses. nen whose
names ars known throughout the COM
ulsrCtAi World. should seemingly b. eager
. aE<1nen. their gain with the enormous
amounts % these rebates which they re-
csive IN plain ts9ance of a federal stat
ute
That there ara salILasfzg circumstances
unst~r which railway trafttc eetciaIs act
t1e commission - not unuirtfll Ans rn-
cplntun - Expressed thar existiux avs
snoul1 be amenss--d that railwRV man
ayers VITO t<str~ % observe them
caz Do 50 without risk of s.aerihcias
their prup~rty-
The aDpIcarson of u. rpra~.sy. he r~-
Port sagS - f-xzxh- with daax~rs % tn.
punirc- and x s1aui1 not be lppftsss 1nless
the pgode - fziiy vrasscts.L In vie~ q
thos> great cor1bllRrions wGtch have
been formed a11 zre nov t1rrzinx. ey
wn1cn railway comp@riEi,sn. wntch zrs5u
the present rheory % this LAM % greatly
rates aast faeilfri-s. vii o< i.rx-fy eiIns-
mated. sorz- mst1nc snauId es 2ruwrfe.f
~ Natcn ths guxsrrETnk cEa exercise. In
Fact t1ar control over railway rates arst
op-rzrfaus whfch eoszrrs wfrh1ur uzurosr
h-&r- Asserted t1aE 4 possesses. aasf scAch
r,a1y p~rsous suppose that Il nov sx-rrs
he eouasniSstan Behaves taar the vhole
Law shGuht o- REVISED G2an some correct
tneory and <auze workable easix.
In vi~~ ac the xruss vtalattaus sc tse
Act the commission suggests that Il Il
more essential features IL SushS at least
% BE- possible TO deal vita thsl.ss eu~rrfv4
features % the act whzch are lntens~.. 70
7rsve1t rrassse-s % rhts character
penalties Ssn not ee imposed upon coz
rcr7rtons violating the act xzs. rrar only
their Agents ea7 Be ,unlsnsst- the con,rzas-
sion says
Wow. the ossecr Of rate e1ssttux 1, q,
get business and make rsoney, and the
corporsttor~ x anyone. prodts BY the n
legal act ts = the real o-end~r. arsf
cuxhr e~rr1inly 20 pay the penalty as wei
as IT'S Scscs-. II every Illegal act or that
Character subjected the carter 70 a suh-
scarrial forfeiture. so that the money re-
suit Of the transaction was ukeiy 20 h-
the ether way. the inducerenr 10 commit
shed
Taking Up the dir.eulry Of securing -,p-
=
poet says
To eo1vtcs for paying a rebate n 4,
necessary 70 show. not merely that the
railway cornpany paid a rebate 20 a uar-
ticular shipper. but il must also ee shsra
that Il ei9 not Pay tAr same rebate to
some other shipper with respect to n.
sane kind Of trsfnc rzovtnx AZ the sane
time under similar conditional ms :
almost always impossible Departure
from ne published rate - the thing
which can be shown AMI the thfz< wnSrs
a. - ~. ea.4
Een1
II . urged that the tverriesh s~cssoa
shcud Do ar<nste,3 50 as to oue, "a.
books et the earrt<rs 70 the Inspection %
prevent the misuse ct information So os
rainesa II Is also urged that II the pow
ers Of the commission are noe 70 be gen
eraLly enlarged some method should -
devised ~ which such orders as III es1
BE time
gztion Of the hans.lirr Of packing house
produe.A the commission says
-Souesir-s rebates were paid. some
tines the published rate was r~ssr~-,I
irssras. nsa s % rses ss.sos.s Sss sa sas P5 s The
rsouy Is that Packing house prusss1rrs a.
hahfruaIiy carried from paf1rx % orf~f1
20 the seaoasrt a, ratss below tne p1b-
ltseee c1rfH q ave % ten e<zes PER hun
dred pounds.
Thea. discussing the evil effects Of this
state ec aSairs. the report says -,Th@
commission required the carrierx 20 ~
s-atements showing ths nanher 81 r,rx
shipped and tho rates actually charged
When thezs are received the xruss
amount % the rebates can be t-sernired.
AZ present Il can only be said 70 reach
hundreds Of thousands OF dollars Ehfle
the general public rrceahfy receives sor-r~
benefit from the lower rates. In the rnafr
these SUMS swell the profits Of the pack
ers- These great concsrrs number only
about i've Or SIX and nrtie distinction in
the rates arpears to have been made BE-
tween them The effect Is 70 give them
an enormous advantage over smaller com
pertrors located a. crher points Already
these eorpsttrcrs have mostly ceased 10
ranr Hlusrrati1n % the manner In which
secret rate concessions are tending 10
build up great trusts and r.onapciisx at
the expsase cf The small tndepersienr oo-
The additional statement is made that
al OF the rras1c officials whO admitted
thar these secret low rates were being
that in the published tariffs the rates ex-
low
The commission found. also. in tnvezti-
gatfng complaints made BY western mill
ers. hat the carriers east Of Chicago
made no serious pretenSe OF maintaining
the export rates on wheat and that the
on a rate from Chicago 81 cents below
the published tart1- resulting in q DIS
elimination Of from - 20 cents against
tOur- The open wheat tartH from Kansas
City 70 Chiez 90 has been Il cents and the
actual rate as low a. 1--WE cents
Taking up the practice. prevalent IN the
west. Of allowing some particular tnif-
vtltual a concession which enables him TO
handle practically all the grain trans
ported upon q particular railway. the re-
port says
While the Investigations az the corr
mission have not fully covered this as
pect Of the case as YET. Il 5 a matter Of
common information. and we know from
repeated complaints received that some
ore firm or sorne one Individual purchase
substantially al the grain which Is han
died by n given Hrs Of railway. and the
claim Is made. and the Inference Is al
most 4 necessary one. that this drm or
Individual rnu<r receive concessions
which enable II OF him To un6erhid other
buyers IN the same market These dt6sr-
enr lines. In an effort TO obtain n share
Of this business and TO divide IL uo
zruecg ctHerent competing routes. deem u
necessary to drive cut Of business the
snail huyeS and to crerars rrrcuxh q