Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-11
Railway Tariffs.

halfway IarlHS.
at is said that the making of railway
tariffs requires the exercise of the highest
expert skill and that any attempt to take
out of the hands of the railways them
selves the making of those tariffs must re-
suit in disaster. Let me particularly call
your attention to the fact that the Presi-
dents policy does not propose to divest
the railways of the right to make and put
into effect in the first instance whatever
tariffs they see fit. While in many cases
tariffs are now made by the state govern
ments, while it may be found necessary to
so finally construct interstate tariffs there
is no proposition of that kind before the
country today. When, however, those tar
ifs have been put in effect it is proposed
to provide the means by which they can
be examined and if found unlawful cor
rected.
las nearly as I can understand the claim
of my railroad friends upon this branch of
the case. 1t is this: The making of rail-
way tariff requires a peculiar mental quail
ity. This quality is only possessed by an
occasional specimen of the human species.
The entire supply has already been taken
up by the railways at extremely high fig
ures and hence the government could not
if 1t would and would not If it could pro-
cure that form of genius which is neces-
sary to make or revise a rate schedule.
Nothing could be more absurd than the
claim of the railways in this respect We
have in the past frequently Intercepted the
best of these traffic experts to the meth
DDS by which they proceed. Not long ago
one of them when pressed with the conse-
quences Of the various answers he had
given, stated that traffic man made rates
largely as the honey bee forms its cell, by
a sort of instinct Upon another occasion
a traffic official who now couples one of
the most responsible positions of that kind
in the country, after being questioned by
the various members of the commission as
to how he arrived at a reasonable rate
said: TO tell the truth, gentlemen we get
all we can. That gentleman told the exact
truth. The traffic official is paid to get
all he can.
Expert knowledge Needed.
do not misunderstood me-. The making
Of railway tariff demands a ! certain
amount of expert knowledge and the re-
vision of a tariff when once made is not
likely to be intelligent unless the person
revising it has this knowledge, but the
questions presented, while requiring the
best OF Judgment In solution, not diff
cult OF comprehension to one habitually en-
gagged In hearing them. There is not the
slightest difficulty In providing a board
which can treat these matters intelligently.
But it Is asserted that the railway rate
is determined by the laws Of trade and
commerce. and that these laws should not
be interfered with The first half of this
statement I utterly deny The railway
rate is not commodity whose price Is de-
termfned by the law of supply and de-
mand. Competition is the most important
factor in the laws Of trade and commerce,
and while certain forms of competition in
certain cases determine railway rates, that
element Is absent in the great majority Of
instances. The railway rate In this coun-
try today is q tax resting In most cases In
the judgment OF the man who imposes It,
II y frequently urged that we have ~