The Caldwell tribune., 1905-12-23

OF the decision of the United States
Supreme Court are these: "The
power to prescribe a tariff of rates
tor carriage by common carrier is
a legislative, and not an admins
tratlve or Judicial function"
Therefore, since there is no point
OF constitutional law better estab..
llshed than that Congress cannot
give any legislative authority to
any subordinate body, I think it
would be wise to take this decision
as complete proof that it is uncon.
stltutional to give the Interstate
Commerce Commission power to
hx railroad rates. This is the ar
gument's sum and substance in a
nutshell. True, the shell may be
rather hard, but the kernel is there.
just the same.
But, even granting that Con-
gress might give to the Commis.
sion the power of fixing the rates;
the execution of t;lis authority
would still be beyond the power of
the Commission, for three reasons:
first, the Committee now has all
the work it can properly attend to;
second, the Committee does not
have judicial authority: third, a
body of men sitting in Washing.
ton could not possibly determine
reasonable rates for all parts OF the
country.
/. The duties of the Commission
are now to merely investigate and
report or advise; which you can
easily see are very insignificant
duties when compared to the ire
mendous one of fixing rates for g
country more than twenty-foul
times as large as the United King
dom, where the attempt at govern
ment regulation has resulted il
complete failure. That the Com
mission is already too busy is showr
by the fact that they constantly EN-
ploy 40 clerks, who daily receive
over 500 new tariffs, which have
piled up until there are now de
posted on the shelves of the Com
missions headquarters over 1000,
900 tariffs. some single ones o
which contain hundreds of thou
sands of rate changes. About tel
years ago, the Nebraska legislatur
| fixed rate for the charges of rail
roads of that state. The rate wa
objected to, and an appeal wa
made to the United States CirCui
Court. of which the noted Justic
Brewer was the head. After six
months trial, the rate was fnall
} decided to be unreasonable, and th
decision was given to the Suprem
. Court for confirmation. That aus
tere body required full year I
merely confirm the decision give
by the Circuit Court. If, ther
these two great courts, with tn
: best possible aid, required yea
ana a half to do nothing but decid
unreasonable a fixed rate for on
of az states, traversed by 10000
> miles of railway, representing S12
600. ooo, 900 worth of investmen
: is it probable or even possible thu
: this busy committee could 60 tu
ther and perform a much hlghe
| and greater duty, that OF establish
] ing a reasonable rate? But, as hs
been shown, this $4,000, 900, ,oc
: is private property, the lnvestmen'
of savings banks, fire and lite il
surance companies and educatlon'
J institutions; and, since in regul'
S ting a persons income you reg'
late the person, you are again con
ing dangerously near TO tread1n
on "the constitution, which war1
, all departments of the Cover
ment, legislative, executive ar
judicial, and all mankind, that n
person shall be denied the equ
protection of the laws; and tn
q private property shall NOT
o taken for public use without Ju
!. compensation.