The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-02-23
IPREs|DEN'1NO1'|
S0 D | ! ! ] ] NOW NJ v
ASeei1,s&to Have Undergone More
or Less vi Chang i,,1 III, A l;t:jI ~
tutlc on Rate Que tiot,.s
WILLING TO Wait AIT AWHILE Az n 1 Z:
Townsend Bill Passed 5bysH ouse
Declared ITO be Absolutely
y t5 Ineffective. SsS5s q

Ineffective. 53$5 h. 4
8 tHronlsOn Regular correspondent.)
vYASH1 NCiTON, u. CT, Feb. "a. ~ here
4 Is manifest among the real adyoca tes Sof
Al tekislatlOn for tile regulation OF freight
4 rates d very general feeling at what they
* conceive to be tho vea kening OF the Pres =
4 ident In the position he took In his ar rlllal
messing on this subject. Ills declarn ton
Il In the n1essageG that he Congress should
undertake slslattot, giving the inter
state Commission power to 4 Tx ra y way
ohargesy nd his active efforts earlier
s III thu session to Induce Representa- ycs
4 and senators to- take HIS View OF * he mat
4 ter gave earnest that he WINS homes IN
his advoca cy Of the proposed h leg lsa tom y
He! has not had q great deal TO say recently
Indeed, he has appeared to be tndi'e DC \
sirous 81 having, tho Congress vote 70
authorize n the construction Of u two ba q
i tleshlps than he has to have tle Sen ale
y accept the ra te bl passed by the ~ otse
49 Tho Senate N Will mot come ~ where
near passing this bill MT thls session a. u
It Is even prOphesied I by well informed
men that the Scla teS q the Tinted states
- will never 20 SO far as I o enact q 70 ~
taking from the railroads the pow 70
Ak tteSchargea for services. III There are
many MILF ions OF ca ital and perllaps q
q hundred thousand miles OF ral road rep
resented i'll the senat oft. he United ilt.'i y
a states. Il III asi5
/ s8533 What Happened. u
.2s8&There IL something humorous about y
al. s.rhe President declared IL his mes.
u aEc that the government . honld N take
4 over the rate-making power. Nobody paid
any attention to his feature 81 tne. mes
81 sa &c, save a few Democrats. who Ia igf-
nedy spoke &of the effort being made at
tho white House to get into he Demo
II. cratic z wagon. s.yall street wa s e n ter.
q osted, however, and a r1tlmher q sen ma
4 Sors and representatives received phone l !:
q "a lis from N ew ork BY en- CAPITALISTS ana
brokers, VI who wanted n ~ ltIt ~ yhet her
4 legislation along the lines Ind lea ted by
Inc President. In every instance, .tiley
II were a ssured that there would he no ~ "
"a az this Kind enacted, and tina { the Fresl-
4 Aent was not to be taken n eriously ~
Il his Recommendation. In less than q week tst
81 they learned rneir mis- ke, ND In TWO y e
II &wecks Soma tor Elkins, one OF ( he veal TIL
lat mon III !, he Sem te. ana chairman OF
the Committee on Commerce, which fwouiia q
KS have q, con git, cr any IA te bill which would
IA proposed h, began declaring $.iiat ne wal az
vi N favor az such eglslntion, but Z the
same time began to show Why it should
VI not be enacted at this sessi = may
\ te. 4 stated here that The Sena tor Il from
x West yirgir,in--tlns been8d doing boil ever e
Ss3 incc His fortune rs largely Invested IN
Il Threads. n; 5i
.. Forthwith came 4 represen ta ttyess Of the
~ ilroad az 10 tie capital Never ha 8 such
large ana II such IN II able lobby be z y
seen here. Some Of the best la"ye !. - /, "
9 re limited states have beer, ABOUT S. J. 9
capitol idors this ~in 70. = 81 y !,
that the Congress do nothing rash. N
every instnnce, this meant DO notn-
ing which will ~ prevent the ra !lroad =
charging tho shipper all he ca n DO mad
"a nav. q some of the celebrated chaTac--
ters 81 the abroad world ca me- 70 wa sE-
Il inetor, TO fight the proposed g eg lsnt ION.
including Samuel Spencer, pres'dem y s. g )
man in America, In one Or NO part y Y :
~ lars Nd He took two days 10 how the n n 1
tergtate and Foreign Commerce S,oHmN,
az ar he House tina t no such law q $ had
I henn nroposed should be placed 4 on the
( statute books. Mp Cassatt, presiaenII
Of the Pennsylvania. was here u severn 4
tines generally at the lnvitation of y ~! nc
prssId ant who believed he would be able
/ "a make the railroad managers see ! na fll
sI Il was 10 their best interests 70 allo~
$s Legislation such as he had opposed, Mt.
n spencerT d, i'd 4 d number OF ra ilroad ma s.
Mates OF their class, went to new my ,'s
House BY invitation, and spen t some ti ~
Al every case, talking questions OF rates rates
with Mi. Roosevelt. 1t looks now very
n much as though they had changed me
mind al the President, that they nag
cantured him instead OF their having b ' I,
Il cant,,,.cd by: him. It ought TO pc sala
here that Mr.. C,assatt has never peen so
strongly opposed TO 70 g reg,ila ton u
have been many OF his con ere es. n 5,
8H ouse Bill Ineffective.
,,rhe House passed tile Town send -Escll
b,i The Daveys Il BILL offered by the
Democrats as q substl tute, was rel cted.
,rha Dayey bill would have given tho
Interstate Commerce Commtsston the
nnwer 10 regulate rates. The Demo
orntsa. in turn, had rejected the Hea rst
Bill In ca,c US. Many Of those who voted
sSS to take this action have tolJ me that inc
Hearst ELL was the better OF the 2tFo
measures 81 The personal npopular!ty \ o.
the patron caused y g reJectlon' ~ large
n measure. tsa5 s5. 8i9 53 ,s3
tile pnssfge OF tho Townsend- Escll Bill
They would caro- but little II 1t were
Il nlnccd on the statute books, though they
rcly on tho Senate with absolute conti-
X dence to prevent anything OF this kind,
The bill#wlll not afford more than In
fnitesslmal relief to the shipper, The
feature Of the law creAt IS w court y. 20
which tho railroad may appear ! TON Rt''p
decision OF the Interstate Commerce Com
mission is enough to make tho shipper
skeptical of tho efficiency OF the bill. but
the further feature which makes him GER
tain that he will receive no relief, and
makes the, railroads absolutely secure, Is
that which proposes to give to the court
OF Transportation the power to stay the
decision OF the Interstate Commerce ComI
u mission pending the appeal to the. court. \
~ have not tho slightest. hope that the
bill will be OF any EeneAt to the ship
y PER- sald Representative Hay, OF Viz
4 gnia. to-day. II voted for tho Dayey
substitute hrst. Which did not have this
special court feature. and then voted
for the Towrsend- Esch bill beca use there
was nothing better to do, IT isn't going