The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-11
CRISIS IN The RATE QUESTION.
PRESIDENT DETERMINED TO ~.
SYST on LEGISLATION.

Secretary Taft supplements the Presidcnt,s
DenNer Speech by Declaring That
Railroad Legislation Is Bound 20
Come, Beciuse the People want IT,.
WASHINGTON May lo.-With the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce nearing
a conclusion Of ito hearings on the question
Of giving the Government the right 10 fix
railway freight rates and President Roose-
volt returning to Washington more than
ever determined, according to his Denver
cueech. to insist upon rate legislation. the
crisis in tho rate question Ia apparently
close at hand In the month Of the Presi-
dents stay at the capital before leaving
II for the hot season. something definitely
pointing 10 the character Of the action
that will be taken by Congress, whether
positive or negative, is expected to develop
The recent declaration Of Secretary Of
the Navy Mort on, himself a practical rail-
road man. that il determinations ceased
the railway companies would be able to
settle the rate question without legislative
action, was greatly at variance with the
Denver speech Of the President. That Mr.
Morton in his view is out of harmony with
the ideas Of the President was emphasized
last night in some remarks made by Secre-
tary Of War Taft who more than any
other man in the Administration lie in
position to reflect accurately the policies
Of Mr.. Roosevelt.
Mr. Taft's remarks we're delivered at q
banquet Of the American Railway Associa-
ton, and his audience included 800 railway
officers Of this and other countries. Stuy-
vesant Fish, president Of the association,
who presided, took issue with Mr.. Taft in
his declaration that railway legislation was
bound to come because the people wanted
il, and he advised the railways to meet
Congress half way in an effort TO frame
appropriate statutes. Mr.. Fish maintained
that the present laws were sufficient 10
cover railway abuses. What was needed,
he said, was the enforcement Of the laws,
not new laws.
His remarks are interpreted here as
throwing down the gage 20 the Adminis
traton, and there Is a general opinion
in Washington that the prospect that the
President would receive assistance from
the heads Of great railway systems in rem
edying the alleged abuses OF which he has
complained is now virtually negatived.
A statement Of the position now assumed
by the Administration, as expressed by
Secretary Taft last night, was obtained
to-day from an authoritative source. The
the fixing Of rates in the sense OF making
a table Of rates in advance II is giving a
court or other tribunal before which a ques-
ton might come the right 70 fix for a short
time what a maximum reasonable rate shall
be with respect to a particular Hugated
case. IL is clearly in the power Of the court
to decide this, and the Administration holds
that il cannot see any great difference
between that and saying that a rate is un-
reasonable. To say that rate is unreal
A -. - 81 Il
process of fixing what the maximum rate
shall be.
What is regarded as very much more
important is the preparation OF machinery
by which when the first tribunal speaks,
its decision shall enter into force; unless
there should be a judicial procedure by
which the decision snail be set ASIDE. The
idea that there must be tribunal to fix
a ate which shall prevail all over the 90 u
try is not contemplated and will not be
favored. because II would not be wtse.
The proposal Ia for Hugated cases only.
The speeches Of Mr.. Taft for the Roose-
welt Administration and Mr.. Fish for the
railways come at time when the me M
bers of the Senate Committee on Interstate
Commerce have reach tho point where
they are willing 10 form conclusions on the
question Of Government rSte-making. i
has become evident TO these who have fol-
lowed the testimony taken by tire com
mittee that most Of the Senators who have
attended are of the opinion that the present
interstate commerce laws, and particularly
the Elkins law against rebates and dis
examinations, have not been properly en-
forced and that II they we're enforced
many OF the alleged abuses would cease.
Whether the committee members or
majority Of them have reached the con-
olusion that additional legislation is neoes-
sary has not definitely appeared, but Il has
become evident that they regard the ksch-
Townsend bill rushed through the House
in the closing days Of the last session, a.
hardly worthy OF consideration, There
are indications that, whatever the outcome
Of the committees work, Il will not bring
In q measure giving any Federal tribunal
the right TO AZ freight charges.