The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1905-03-17
CROSSCUP ON REBATES
Chicago Judges Views on Roose-
velt's Railroad Policy.
URGES FORMATION OF RATE BOARD

Advises Railway Men to Join the
President In Establishing Just Tri.
bunal-sees Serious Danger s1>--'~
Judge Peter S. Grosscup Of Chicago
IN commenting upon the presidents
railroad rate policy at recent dinner
he saw serious danger in the whole
question unless it was handled deli
cately not only by President Roose-
velt, bat by the railroad men. The lat
ter, he said, while insisting that there
should be no confscation Of their prop
erty or supervision that in the long run
join with the president in establishing
tribunal through which the nations
power could be honestly exercised.
Continuing, Judge Grosscup said:
"Whatever may be its legal status,
policy Of discrimination that gives to
one set Of persons In community
rates that are refused to the balance
Of that community or to certain COM
munities rates that are refused to 9TH
er communities Is a policy of injustice,
unjust both to the persons and CON-
munities Disseminated against and
unjust to the people Of the United
States as an entirety.
1T is none the less unjust that the
means used to accomplish the discrim-
ination may have been indirect. Secret
rebates are as unjust as direct differ
ences in rates. Arrangements by which
the private cars Of particular shipper
are hauled at q reduction that substan-
ed by the shipper in such cars and ar
rangements to divide rates with ship
pers who pretend to be operating inde-
pendent railroads that in fact are only
switches in ratio not measured by
legitimate switch charges-all these
and all other devices of their kind are
equally unjust, for the injustice Of the
thing, whether it be accomplished d.
rectly or by circumlocutfon, Is in the
fact that one set of shippers are thus
enabled to get their goods into mar
ket at cost that competitive shippers
cannot obtain.
"This injustice Is one that it Is the
business Of our people as a nation to
look after, for practically it Is armed
Intervention by the railroads of the
nation that in these days of small
profits turns the fortunes Of the con-
test. If, as some of our courts have
held, lesser rates under the law as 1t
stands today may be given to the lar
ger shippers an unjust thing to the peo-
pie Of this country is being done by the
law. I know the argument on which
this discrimination Is based.
"Now, in these days of universal
commerce the rates charged by the rail-
roads is one of the conditions upon
which an individuals business will sue
ceed or fail. To very substantial ex-
tent, too, these rates are conditions au-
thorized by the nation itself, for the
railroads are the nations carriers and
within the nations reasonable control,
so that any difference in rates permit
ted by law, even though based on the
bulk of the tonnage handled, is d.
rect and effective blow by the nation
itself at the principle that every man,
whatever his present business size,
shall be given equal conditions and
equal opportunity. To destroy that
principle is to destroy competition and
further concentrate wealth in fewer
hands.
v1,0+ (c tn IN 0rpff
ton is that at its head Is the president
of the United States; that the people Of
the United States, regardless Of their
interest individually as shippers, have
come to look upon the subject as ma
tional concern. And what Is new in
the present agitation, and full Of dan
ger, too, is that from its being ques-
tion Of proper relation Of the railroads
to the public on business and political
principles it may become movement
under cover of which the social and
political revolutionists will push for
ward their assault upon the present or
der of American institutions. Already
they are climbing over the wheels into
our conservative presidents wagon, de-
termined to ride just as far as he is
compelled to carry them on his way to
a just solution Of this problem. Al
ready they are claiming this whole
movement as their movement. Herein
lies the embarrassment and the peril
of the president. Right here, too, rises
that grim menace that no friend Of the
institution of private property any
where can afford longer to ignore.
"The big Drained railroad man has,
it seems to me, his hour Of opportunity
now. Let him insist that there shall
be no confiscation Of his property or no
arrangement Of control or supervision
that in the long run will amount to
confiscation. Behind him on such an
issue the country will be found to
stand.
"But let him recognize, also, that in
the nation there resides the reserve
power Of supervision and control, q
power that the nation must exercise
in the interest Of equal citizenship, and
let him join our president In estab.
fishing tribunal through which the
nations power can be honestly and al
all times promptly and adequately ex.
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