Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-12-09
Congressman Cooper Introduces
Bill to Strengthen Hands of
Interstate Commission
AUTHORITY TO FIX CHARGES
Under Present Law the Commission
Has No Power to Regulate Freight
Rates Even Temporarily-Risht of
Appeal to the Courts Will Be Main
tanned.

Washington, Dec. 9.-Representative
Cooper, of Wisconsin, has taken long
step forward in the direction OF
| strengthening the hands of the inter-
state commerce commission so that Il
may be possible to regulate the rates
of railroads in the interest of the pub
| lie.
| In bill introduced in the house Mr..
| Cooper proposes to give the commits
sion authority to fix rates, at least
temporarily. until overruled by the
courts. The necessity of such re-
form in the administration or the m
terstate commerce law became appar-
ent In less than year after that de-
sirable measure was put on the statute
books. This defect in the original law
has proven absolutely fatal to any real
regulation OF real railroad rates.
For years and years the commission
itself and a number of congressional
committees have reported that the IN
passed failed entirely to give the COM
mission power to enforce reasonable
rates. 1t could only declare the rates
to be unreasonable and 1t could en-
force this ruling only after years or
tedious litigation. during which the
original business conditions generally
disappeared and an entirely different
commercial situation was developed.
Congress has been deaf to all these
appeals and there is no immediate
prospect of change.
Representative Coopsr's bill serves.
however. to call attention once more to
the extraordinary spectacle OF great
government commission manned
with high priced officials and supplied
with several rooms full Of clerks, but
without the slightest statutory power
to make Its decisions felt. In some of
its penal sections the Interstate COM
merce law is a decided check upon the
railroads, but the commission never
yet amounted TO anything. and 1t will
not be OF any benefit to the people un-
law Is reversed entirely.
\ ne uAuculty is one ROT 1OreSeen Dy
Senator Cullom. the author of the in
terstate commerce law. but ii was as
covered almost at once. and congress
has been suspiciously negligent about
providing a remedy Under the exist
ing law the interstate commerce COM
mission can declare any particular
rate, either for freight or passenger.
to be unreasonable, but 1t can not fix
a reasonable rate. Great difficulty nes
in the fact that after a rate has oeen
declared unreasonable by the commits
sion the railroads have the right or app
peal to the courts Pending a decision
OF that appeal the original rate stands.
In practice this limitation on the
power OF the commission absolutely
destroyed all its power For instance,
the commission may declare tina, 20
cents per hundred pounds on some
commodity is unreasonable. The raii-
roads appeal to the courts, and after
perhaps two or three years the courts
sustain the commission and decide the
rate was unreasonable. Thereupon the
railroads make new schedule, reduc-
ing the rates perhaps a quarter OF
cent per hundred pounds. This makes
an entirely new issue, on which new
appeal to the courts can be made.