The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-01-24
CUTTING
A CRAVE DANGER
-&-
interstate Commerce Commits
sion DepIores Conditions.
BLAMES SHIPPERS ALSO
SCORES WEALTHY MEN FOR DE-
FIANCE OF THE LAW.
SHIPPERS ALSO
fsnecial to The Herald.)

y Especial TO Inc deiaLO.J
y Washington. Jan 23.-Startling =
y revelations are made in the an
y nual report of the interstate COM
y merce commission made public TO-
= day. The commission admits its
= inability to enforce the act for the
= regulation of commerce.
= The commission scores railway =
= companies for the destruction OF =
= vouchers. the alterations of books
y and other expedients to prevent
4 secret rate cutting from being
y known.
It warns the country of the
y danger of the prevalent practice Of
= railways in the west granting to
y some particular individual re-
4 bate in grain or stock rates which y
y ena bles him to practically control
= the shipments.
3 The report adds that punishment
= of agents of corporations is more
y unsatisfactory than direct =
y money forfeiture from the cOrpor-
= atiCns themselves.
The feature of the report is the al
most sensational statement of the re-
lations existing between the railroads
and a comparatively few heavy ship
pers. Referring to the commissions
ments of packing house products and
of grain products. the report says;
."The facts therein developed are Of
such a character that no thoughtful
person can contemplate them with in
difference. That the leading traffic Of
fciaIs of many of the principal rail-
wav lines. men occupying high posi-
lions and charged with the most i'm
pOrtant duties. should deliberately VlO-
late the statute law CT the land and in
some cases agree with each other to do
so: that it should be thought by them
necessary to destroy vouchers and TO so
manipulate bookkeeping as to Obllter-
ate evidence of the transactions; that
hundreds of thousands Of dollars should
be paid in unlawful rebates to few
great packing houses; that the ousl-
ness of railroad transportation should
to such an extent be conducted in open
disregard of law. must be surprising
and offensive to all right-minded per-
sons. Equally startling at least is the
| fact that the owners of these packing
houses. men whose names are known
| throughout the commercial world,
I should seemingly be eager to augment
/ their gains with the enormous amounts
/ of these rebates which they receive in
plain defiance of a federal statute"
! That there are palliating circum-
| stances under which railway traffic Of
| ficials act. the commission is not I'M
mindful. and the opinion is expressed
that existing laws shouts be so amend
ed that every manager who desires to
! observe them can do so without risk Of
sacrificing their property.
The application of the remedy the
report says, is fraught with dangers to
the public and it should not be applied
unless the public is fully protected. In
view of those great combinations which
have been formed or are now forming
by which railway competition will be
largely eliminated. some method should
be provided by which the government
can exercise control over railway rates
and operations which courts without
number have asserted that it possesses
and which many persons suppose that
it now excerpts. The commission be-
Heves that the whole law should be
revised upon some cOrOner's jury the
ory and some workable basis.
In view of the gross violations of the
act the commission suggests that if il
is not possible to amend this law in
its more essential features, it ought al
least to be possible to deal with those
coercive features of the act which are
intended to prevent practices of this
character.