Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-04-07

ton which may be guilty of illegal prac
Itices, or the methods of which make
lit menace to the public welfare.
Some substantial good will be done in
the Immediate future, and as the de-
Ipartment gets fairly to work under the
law an ever larger vista for good work
will be opened along the lines indicat-
ed The enactment of this law is one
of the most significant contributions
which has been made in our time to-
ward the proper solution of the prob
lem of the relations of the people Of
the great corporations and corporate
combinations
Freight Rate Discrimination.
But much though this is. it is only a
| part of what has been done in the eff
fort to ascertain and correct improper
| trust or monopolistic practices. Some
eighteen months ago the indutrial COM
mission, an able and non-partisan body.
reported to congress the result of their
Investigation of trusts and industrial
combinations. One of the most impor-
tant of their conclusions was that dis
examinations in freight rates and facil-
tiles were granted favored shippers by
| LIE tdlilOduS anu lIdJ lESSG ulSCIluilHd-
tons clearly tended toward the control
of production and prices in many fields
of business by large combinations.
That this conclusion was justifiable
was shown by the disclosures in the
Investigation of railroad methods pur-
sued in the fall and winter of 1901
1902. 1t was then shown that certain
trunk lines had entered into unlawful
agreements as to the transportation Of
food products from the west to the At
lantic seaboard, giving few favored
shippers rates much below the tariff
charges imposed upon the smaller deal
ers and the general public. These I'm.
just practices had prevailed to such
an extent and for SO long time that
many of the smaller shippers had been
driven out of business, until practi-
cally one buyer of grain on each rail
way system had been able by his lille
gal advantages to secure monopoly
on the line with which his secret com
pact was made, this monopoly enabling
him to fix the price to both producer
and consumer. Many of the great
packing house concerns were shown te
be in combination with each other anc
| with most of the great railway lines
whereby they enjoyed large secret con
cessions in rates and thus obtained 6
practical monopoly of the fresh and
cured meat industry of the country
i These fusions, though violative OF the
statute, had prevailed unchecked fol
so many years that they had become
intrenched in and interviewer with the
commercial life of certain large dis
tributing localities; although this wa'
of course at the expense of the vas
body of law-abiding merchants. the
general public and particularly of un
favored localities. ~
Discovering Abuses.
Under these circumstances it wa
! serious problem to determine tn
wise course to follow in vitalizing
law which had in part become obsolet
or proved incapable of enforcement
OF what the attorney-general did i
enforcing it l shall speak later. TIL
decisions OF the courts upon the lay
had betrayed weaknesses and impe
fections, some of them so serious a
to render ahortive efforts to apply an
effective remedy for the existing evil
Anti-Rebate Bill.
e 1t is clear that corporations create
for quasi public purposes, clothed fc
that reason with the ultimate powe
i of the state to take private propert
. against the will of the owner, hol
' their corporate powers as carriers