Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1905-11-02

in S,Au rei. s.ano me attitude of the president
M regard to legislation relating to rail
way rates, the present system of com
petiliVe rates and the effects of the svs-
| tenn must be understood
| - IS Wen known that ever since COM
petltlve railways have existed, the actual
| competitive rates have been made nv the
rebate system ~ INC
me rebate system consists in collect
f ng t tlum an shippers exactly the SAND
| ana entered on the books of both rne
| forwarding station and on the books of
| tne receiving station at full tariff rates
t ana these full rates are collected and
the money is RENTED to the treasury of
the company. And SO far as the accounts
and records at both the forwarding and
receiving stations-whch are the only
RECORDS rfs,o which which, are by any means access
knowledge of the station agents goes,
everybody is treated to the full tariff
rates on terms of exact equality. In
be maintained. Later, a portion of the
money thus collected, sometimes s per
cent, sometimes 10 per cent and some
times as much as 80 per cent. is secretly
| returned to some of the shippers, but not
to all. And those who receive rebates
do not necessarily get the same percent
! age"
Mr.. Sticllney proceeded to show that
| prior to the establishment of the inter-
state commerce commission all the small
| Shippers had been driven out of business
by the enormous rebates given to the
large shippers in some cases exceeding
| 20 per cent of the total charges.
| The Intention Was Good.
The interstate commerce law, enacted
in 1887, was designed to correct the evils
growing out of the system of making
rates by rebates. The chairman of the
senate committee, in explaining the bill
when 1t was introduced in the senate,
said:
THE provisions of the bill are based
upon the theory that the paramount evil
chargeable against the operations Of the
| transportation system of the United
States, as now conducted, is unjust dis
| elimination. The underlying purpose
and aim of the measure is the prevention
of these determinations"
| The law has been amended and as it
now stands, stripped of all it's Verbiage,
1t provides:
/ That the railway companies alone shall
. make the rates.
;! That schedules of such rates shall be
/ printed and published
That as long as such schedules are in
= force neither more nor less than such
rates shall be collected
| That such rates shall remain in force
and cannot lawfully be advanced until
ten days after, nor lowered until three
days after, new schedules are printed and
published; and
/ That the failure of the railway COM
pany to strictly observe such rates shall
be a miSdemeanor, punishable by a fine
of not less than $1,000 or more than
$4,000 for each offenSe.
/ 1t also makes it a mtsdemeanor for
any citzen-using the language of the
law"to solicit, accept or receive any re-
bate, concession or discrimination in re-
spect to the transportation of any prop
erty whereby any such property shall by
any device be transported ut a less rate
than that made in the tariffs published
and filed by the railway company pun
ishable by a like fine of not less than
$1,000 or more than S20,O0n.
p.,sI So A ENrysy ~
1t is true that the law provides that the
rates thus made by the railway COM
panies shall be reasonable and just. =
but, whether reasonable or unreasonable,
until the court decides that a rate is un-
reasonable it is a misdemeanor for q
citizen ito solicit accept or receive" any
rebate. concession or discrimination
whereby his property snail by any de-
vice be transported at less than the pub
/ lished rate.
Experience has proven that this general
proposition, that all rates shall be req IA
s6nabe and ST ff1a pn yan Dy
During the thirty years in which the
subject OF reasonable rates has been in
controversy in this state l can recall but
one case in which a citizen has had the
| temerity to invoke the courts to enforce
the law. The case was carried from
court to court on appeals by the railway
company and was finally decided In the
citizens favor by the supreme court of
first trial. The amount involved was ex-
actly 43 cents.
| When we consider that the whole vast
revenues of railways are collected in
petty amounts varying from % cents to
| pra ct!cally fifty or sixty dollars, rarely
more than 500, it, will be readily seen
! that no one Individual would ever be
! likely to have enough at stake to justify
| a contest with RAILWAY company.
| Everybody Is Mu1cted.
Railway TRANSFORMATION enters into and
hecomes a mart of everything. 1t is paid
For NOT nv the shippers or receivers. but
| hV the consumers. without knowing when
| o oS HI how no1lch is Maid. When one buys
| e eltu ~. c,ntbine he pays railway trans
nortation When one buys a theater
| Ticket emplovs a doctor, lawyer. or
navs rent. he pays railway transporta
| zion In short. it permeates everythin :,
and like the air we breathe. no one can
refuse railway transportation and live.
| Stating the gist of the law in nut
| shell. the railway companies have an alb
sollte monopoly in it's production, ana
| under the law fix the price upon that
| which they alone can produce and WHICH
| every living man must consume, and the
| law makes it misdemeanor for the c co
| sumner to kick. Is this square deal
| Theodore Roosevelt says it is not a
square deal Gov. Cummins, VINO is mere
| tnaznieht saws it is not a square dead.
and every fair-mnded man will say 1t Is
II is wrong in principle, but as long as