The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-05-04
Rail Rates: The Problem.

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The United States has bad case
OF locomotive, or railway, ataxia, and
the problem which faces the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce
Is not how to allay popular clamor by
the recommendation of some bill
which on its face will be adapted to.
regulate railway rates. That would
be demagogic in it's extreme simple
ity. The committee has before it
now the Esch-Townsend bill, which
was passed by the House at the last
session, and very considerable pro-
portion Of the people would indorse
its approval. Nor is the problem how
TO please or displease the members of
the Interstate Commerce Commission,
or to raise their salaries, or provide
new cribs for hungry politicians.
Nor, again, is it how best to cripple
the carriers, to strange commerce
with red tape, or to take the first
step toward Government ownership.
On the contrary, It would seem
that the real problem before the COM
mittee is: Given our present form of
government; given an existing body
OF laws bearing upon the relations
between the Government, the people,
and the interstate carriers; given the
natural laws of commerce; given
demand that the statutes be changed
to conform to present conditions and
inSistent needs; what legislation, il
any. is now needed, and, if new laws
are requisite, should the old statutes
be superseded. or amended, and if
amended should this be by cancella-
ton or by addition? Underlying all
this is the fundamental problem of
how to frame q law which will deal
with exact justice between the va
rious parties in Interest, preserve the
spirit Of our constitutional liberties.
and advance the interests Of the
whole people.
It is easier to please the people
than to serve them.
The testimony so far taken by the
committee shows many things, pre-
eminent among which are the facts
that railway men know not only
their own business but that of the
shippers as well-and they don't hire
fools for attorneys It has been
brought out that the laws we now
have are ample, if enforced, for the
prevention of unlawful rates; that
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has served useful function, particu-
larly in the role OF arbitrator or
reconciler of slight differences be-
tween the shippers and the carriers;
that it was a mistake ever to burden
the commission with quasi-judicial
powers or TO impose upon the COM
missioners the tIresome and onerous
duties Of the bench without giving
their decisions all the weight of a
court of record; that in view Of the
proven value Of their administrative
and executive functions, and the i'm
proprieIy of adding thereto anything
akin to judicial duties, Congress
should broaden and dignity the COM
mission as a branch Of the executive
arm of the Government and shorten
the road for the commission. for the
shippers, and for the carriers 10 the
courts
It has been made quite plain that
the present procedure whereby the
litigants waste time and money in
protracted testimony and long hear
ings before the commission, and
whereby the commission is enticed
into delivering learned and weighty
opinions, is a delusion and snare
for all concerned, for under the law
the findings Of the commission are
only prima facie evidence of the
facts and on appeal the courts must
go over the whole case anew. 1t has
been pointed out, too, that under our
system 1t is impossible to rob the
courts of their power TO review the
acts and judgments Of the commits
sion, and that the only common
sense, constitutional. and economic
policy would be TO place the power
to control rates, to punish discrimi-
nations, rebates, and the like i'm
mediately in the courts. The COM
mission, meanwhile, should have its
powers enlarged for investigating
charges against the carriers, for over
seeing them, and for instituting suits
against them in cases where the pub
lie interest, rather than the rights of
an individual shipper, is at stake