Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-30
As to Getting Together on a
Rate Bill.
THE PRESIDENTS PLAN
OR RATHER WHAT 1T is SUP
POSED TO BE.
Why Senator Foraker Proposed the
Courts for Settlement-Speaker
Cannon's Attitude.

The discussion of plans for railroad-rate
legislation is still going on in the Senate
committee on interstate commerce, and
members of the committee say that this
discussion is constantly tending toward
such an understanding of the differences
between the several plans for accomplish
ing the result desired that the committee
will soon be able TO come to an agreement
on some bill
Many senators and representatives regret
that the discussion of rate legislation gen.
orally tends to create the impression that
| there is a wider difference of opinion as to
the-knd of a bill that should be enacted
than really exists Almost everywhere
there are statements that what is known
the Presidents plan is widely in conflict
with the plans believed to have the favor
of the Senate.
1t is stated that the distinctive feature
of what is known as the Presidents plan,
providing for the settlement of thes. dis
putes by commission, is simply the pl2n
that Congress adopted for that purpose
when 1t established the interstate commerce
commission. Ever since that time there
has been more or less discussion to the
advisa utility of extending the powers of the
commission, and the plan believed to be ap-
proved by the President Is in conformity
with the view of that element of Congress
that has long advocated that course:
Complaints of Delay.
But there have been many complaints
that the commission has been slow in han
ding the cases that have come before It,
This charge has been resented by members
of the commission who have declared that
the only unsatisfactory conditions sur
rounding their work have resulted from the
fact that it has been held that they lacked
the powers they were supposed to possess
Tor 20 to
passed.
The plan for the settlement of these mat
tiers embodied in the bin laid before the in
terState commerce committee by Senator
Fo1aker contemplated the use of the United
States courts for the settlement of disDutes
instead of the commission because he be-
HeEes the courts are better adapted to such
work and because, in his view that course
VIII avoid various dangers of having the
law pronounced unconstitutional He also
believes that the courts being the last re-
sort for the settlement of such disputes are
instance. --'I
Both those who want these matters s,t-
tied IN the courts and by the instrumental
ny OF a government commission. presunn-
AMY the present interstate commerce com
mission, declare that their purpose is ex-
actly the same and that is to keen the rail
ROADS open for all shippers on equal terms
and to encourage healthful competition
lhey all say 1t is a matter of method What
- 49, va Go eiit itSiutlt ) lAeIlOG Is the
one Congress decided upon in 1887 hut
which has been questioned since that time
IN view of the experiences of shippers and
the railroads before that commission
Speaker Cannon's Attitude.
Various statements have gone over the
country as to the attitude of Speaker Can
non on the subject of rate legislation 1t is
said that Speaker Cannon is TODAY exactly
where he has always been known TO be on
TINS question. He has always been regarded
as entirely in harmony with not only the
purposes of the President but also with
that feature of his plan which contemnIates
the use of commission instead of the
courts for the sttlement of rate DISPUTES
between the roads and shippers
The ESch-Townsend bill of the last Com
gress, while bearing the names of young
members of the House of Representatives.
merely represented this idea which has
long been advocated by some of the oldest
OF the members of the House and of the
Senate also, so far as what were regarded
as Its essential features were concerned
Criticism of that bill has developed weak
nesses that even it's friends now are in
clined to correct. But the essential princi-
pies of the bill did not originate with the
men whose names have been attached 10 IT
but had long been advocated by MANY men
In Congress.
During the next few weeks the adyan-
tages of both methods of arriving at the
same result will be discussed. and there is
an entirely hopeful feeling that there will
be some common meeting ground on which
q compromise can be effected