Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-04
DEFECTS IN THE LAW
INTERSTATE COMMERCE CoMMIS-
SION TALKED OF.
Subject of an Address Last Night by
A. B. Stickney, President of
Western Railroad.

| THE Defects of the Interstate Commerce
| Law was the subject of an address deliv-
| cred last evening by Mr.. A. b. Stickney OF
ST. Paul, president of the Chicago Great
| Western railroad, before the Washington
| Economic Society at the Shoreham. There
was present a distinguished gathering OF
gentlemen interested in economic questions.
| among them being Senators Nelson and
Clapp of Minnesota and Dolliver of Iowa,
Interstate Commerce Commissioners Knapp,
! Prouty and Clements, Secretary Moseley,
and Representatives Bede, Mann, Hill OF
! Connecticut and Lacy. Mr.. LIE Grand Pow
ers president of the society, presided. AT
| the conclusion of the address Chairman
Knapp of the commission said that it was a
sincere pleasure for the commission to hear
from the lips of the president of a railroad
| that he approved of more power for the
commission than it had ever asked or
dreamed of asking of Congress, and that he
agreed with Mr.. Stickney III the funda-
mental views expressed by that gentleman.
He said that he believed that all corpora
lions should be under the control of a fed
eral commission having power to supervise
their conduct, and that the railroads were
by means the only corporations open to
criticism for their methods of operation; in
fact, that they are not as bad as many 9TH
ers which he refrained from naming. Sen
ator Nielsen also made a few remarks COM
that he favored federal supervision of rail-
roads and other corporations.
Mr.. Stickney said in part:
AS all the purposes of the law relate to
the schedule of rates, and as none of the
purposes can be accomplished without a
schedule, it seems evident that the most Sc
rious defect in the law is it's failure to au-
thorize the commission to make a schedule
of interstate rates.
Schedule of Rates.
IT do not hesitate to say that the Senate
committee which framed this law was
wrong in concluding that it would require
infinite investigation before the commits
sion would be able to produce schedule OF
must be applied to such tonnage, have al
able for transportation and the rates which
must be applied to such tonnage have al
ready been ascertained by the experience OF
years, and are fairly represented as whole
by the present schedules of the companies.
The practical duties of the commission in
this regard would be to line up the existing
rates to the best of its ability, reducing
those that seem too high and making COM
pensation for such reductions by increasing
those which seemed too low" Mistakes of
the commission, he said, could be remed1ed
by the courts
He took issue with the committees con-
illusions about the requirements OF exact
knowledge in making such schedule. Traf-
fic managers, he said, do not make sched-
ules; their clerks figure out the rates:
"since the injunctions, the exact knowl-
edge of the traffic directors has been ex-
erted in the extremely difficult problem
of how to pay rebates without paying re
bates Nothing" the speaker said, short
of exact knowledge can do it. Hence, since
the injunctions, the traffic directors have
stopped paying rebates on grain shipments,
but in lieu thereof have paid elevator fees,
practice which the interstate commission
has sanctioned as admissible under the
law, Notwithstanding it is evidently a re-
bate paid to elevator owners which is not
available to ordinary shippers The traffic
directors have made secret contracts with
the traffic directors of large shippers at
rates below the schedule rates, and, having
thus secured the tonnage in advance, they
publish schedule containing the contract
rates. In the parlance of the profession
such schedules are called midnight sched-
ules.' and have all the effects of secret re-
bates.
mo small dealer can secure the advan-
tages of a midnight schedule, because he
does not control a sufficient volume or
tonnage to induce the making of such a
schedule. The small dealer must pay the
regular schedule rates, but it is not so with
the large dealer
Matter of Stability.
Mr. Stickney claimed that the commits
sioners' schedule would be superior in the
matter of stability, basing this statement
on the experience VI Iowa anu 1illuOlS,
where, he said a commission had accom-
plished the task satisfactorily. He denied
that varying conditions of trade demand
constantly fuctuating rates. saying every
student of natural laws of prices knows
that the relation of supply to demand does
not work It's inevitable results instantane-
ously, but is effective only in the long run
He criticised the proposed legislation be-
fore Congress on the ground that it does
not authorize the commission to make a
schedule of rates, but only to hear COM
plants, and after hearing, to fix the
particular rate which has been the sub
ject of the complaint.
Turning from the defects, he called at
tention to some extraneOuS conditions and
influences which have conduced to render
ing the law unenforceable and which, as
long they exist, will render the most
perfect law unenforceable
THE law which makes 1t a misdemeanor
for any individual not officer or en-
ploye of a railway company to use a pass
was enacted by Congress and approved
by the President fifteen years ago, and as
an individual rule of action it was ig-
and by the President who approved it, and
subsequent congressman and Presidents
with rare exceptions, have ignored its pro-
visions. Travelling, they present the evil
dence of their misdemeanor before the eyes
of the public in way which indicates no
regard for the law.
What Country Needs.