Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-26
OPINION IN THE WEST
Control Of Great Transporter
tion Companies.
ESCH- TOWNSEND BILL
WAS A GREAT EDUCATOR, BUT
NOT NOW NEEDED.
General Opinion Favors Bill
Declaring Private Car Lines
Common Carriers.
ESCH- TOWNSEND BILL

Mr.. W. w. Jermane, Washington corre-
spondent of the Minneapolis Journal, has
Just returned from three weeks western
trip, where he looked into political ques-
uons and other matters that are concern
ing the public of the western states. To
Star man Mr.. Jermane said today:
1T would be difficult in any statement 1
might make to exaggerate the interest
which the middle west is taking in the
Presidents plan to secure incre ased federal
control of the great transportation COM
panies. Public sentiment in that part of
the country was last winter crystaIlzed in
favor of the Esch-Townsend BILL for the
passage of which there was a very general
demand Sentiment today is just as strong
as it then, but it has different base.
1t is still the opinion of the leading men
that there should be legislation of rather a
drastic character, but the Esch-Townsend
bill is not now regarded calculated to
correct the evils complained Of
The Esch-Townsend Bill.
prominent men with whom 1 talked in
half a dozen states believe that that bill
has served important purpose in
awakening public interest and calling at
tention to the need for relief, but they say
very freely that it would have been very
unwise for Congress to have enacted it into
law. Nearly all of these men were orfgi-
nally in favor of that bill, and | was hardly
prepared to find that so many of them had
changed their minds regarding it.
The discussion which the Esch-ToWn-
send bill brought about has had a high
educational value, and the average business
man knows great deal more about the
railroad question than he did before. This
bill has given the general public informa-
ton regarding railroad economics, just as
the presidential campaign of 1896 taught
them many new things about the money
question. In Minneapolis and st. Paul. for
instance as well as in Chicago, l found
men who ordinarily pay little or no atten-
ton to questions of this character discuss
ing the details of the railroad situation
with great clearness, and criticisng with
high degree of intelligence the testimony
of witnesses who have appeared before the
Senate committee on interstate and foreign
commerce.
A More Equitable Adjustment.
ITO sum up sentiment as l found 1t in
the middle west, l should say that there is
now almost no demand for any legislation
clothing the interstate commerce commits
sion with the power to fix rates Instead,
the large ma jorty of men believe that
rates are already sufficiently low, and that
the crying need is for more equitable ad-
justment of them. These men are now
talking in favor of a bill which will declare
the private car lines common carriers in
conformity with the decision of the Su-
preme Court do away with rebates which
are paid under the guise of terminal switch
ing and elevator charges, and prohibit the
midnight tariff If relief can be afforded
along these lines the shippers and business
men generally in the states where l have
been believe that the public need will be
almost entirely met
"In the early days of the discussion these
men thought that the ESch-Townsend bill
would give them the SOuglt-fOr relief, and
they advocated the passage of that bill with
all their might. More accurate knowledge
of the situation, however, and opportunity
for reflection have produced the change in
sentiment to which l refer. Sngularly
enough, western railroad men do not seem
inclined to oppose such a bin as has just
been suggested. They are as unit. of
course, in opposition to the Esch-TownSend
proposition but I doubt If they would Sc
riously oppose the substitute plan which
the middle west seems now to be favoring.
Private Car Lines.
"The private car lines are much of
nuisance to the railroads as they are to the
public and both could reach common
ground in a desire to bring them under
proper federal control. while the rebates
paid in the form of terminal switching and
other charges as well as the midnight
tariff. are kept alive by the railroads for
the simple reason that the big shippers have
the whip hand.
"One of the heaviest shippers in Iowa. a
man who is worth more than a million dol
lars, told me in Chicago on Monday that
unless Congress enacted the legislation here
referred to, the time would come when all
honest men would be driven out of business
in this country, both as carriers and ship
pers, and only rOgues left in charge. He
knows a great deal about secret rebates
which being paid by the railroads,
and says that if the private car lines are
made common carriers and thus brought
under the Elkins anti-rebate law these re-
bates would disappear"