The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-25

lEeTeDy force. other 9lg Sntt.tE3S aHt. big railroad men who would like 10 do decently, into similar acts of wrong and injustice, under penalty of being left behind in the race for success,
 Experience has shown that thepres- ent laws are defective and need amendment. The effort to prohibit all restraint of competition. whether req sOnable or unreasonable, is unwise. What We need is to have some admin istratiye body with ample power to forbid combination that is hurtful to the public, and to prevent favoritism to one individual at the expense of an- other. We must not leave the en- forcement of such law merely to the department of justice. The delays of the law are proverbial, and what we need in this matter is reasonable quickness of action.
 The abus5s of which we have gen. uine right to complain take many shapes. Rebatss are not now given openly. But they can be given just as effectively in covert form; and private cars, terminal tracks and the like must be brought under the control of the commission or administrative body, which is to exercise supervision by the government. But in my judg ment the most important thing to do is to give this administrative body power to make it's findings effective, and this can be done only by giving it power, when complaint is made of a given rate as being unjust or unrea- sonable, if it finds the complaint pro- per, then itself to fix a maximum rate which it regards as just and reasona- ble, this rate to go into effect practi cally at once, that is within a reason able time, and to stay in effect, unless reversed by the courts"
 To an uninformed person. these re- marks would imply that this subject is as yet substantially uncovered by fed eral legislation.
 In fact it is all so covered, except in one particular, the power of the Uni ted States to make and at once, enforce rates.
 On this point also federal legislation and judicial decision have gone to the following extent:
 The government through it's admin istrative commission, hears complaints about rates and, unless the dispute is adjusted, if the commission finds tha rate to be unreasonable, it orders the company to reduce it, and also states that the reasonable rate would be such and such an amount.
 The company, under the law, as it now stands, must comply with the or der to reduce the rate or appeal to the courts, and the appeal suspends the order. as appeals universally do in cv- il actions, but the company s not bound to reduce its rate to the amount stated in the order.
 In other words, federal legislation at | present, stops just short of enabling the government to fix and determine | the charge for transportation. and it is l the determination of President Roose- welt that the government. shall have that power, subject only to the con- mon law right to appeal to the courts, 1 if that power should be SO abused as to amount to confiscation. Meanwhile, l however, President Roosevelt insists | that the exercise fof the power must have immediate effect, and that theloss from the delay oK the law, to which he alludes, must fall upon the owner of 1 the article calledZ transportation, and not upon its purchaser. For the law, to the apparent surprise of President Roosevelt, does insist that causes should be fully prepared for hearing, should be fully heard and carefully
 considered before judgment, and be subject to review by the higher courts, and the delay of the law is neces- sity i'
 The interesting questions are then CD Is there any practical necessity or propriety for this proposed legisla- ton?
 @ Is or is it not right that sup posed power of the government to fix rates of transportation should go into effect at once, pending judicial re- view?
 l (3) Would this supposed power of the government be capable of indefinite expansion, and so become dangerous to
 industry and the public welfare? About the first question, there is no | dispute as to these facts: Rail-
 road rates in the United States are low, and the tendency has always been
 to increase the volume of goods to be l transported and lower the rate. | Of all the complaints which have come before the commission concern ing rates, during the last eighteen
 years, a great proportion, say 90 per cent, have been settled by adjustment and without a hearing.
 Of the remainder, which have gone
 to a hearing, in most cases, the rates
 have been reduced, but not to the ex-
 tent stated in the order, and no sub sequent proceedings have been had.
 In some two dozen cases. however, the company has refused to make any re-
 duction and has appealed to the courts