The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-11-10
RAILWAY RATE REGULATION
Interstate Commerce Commission TO Be
Given Enlarged Powers

Given Enlarged FoWers
Now that a big convention held IN
Chicago to consider the question Of
railway rate regulation has decided in
favor of the policy of charging the
powers of the Interstate Commerce
commission for that purpose is a time
when the summarizing of that policy,
and of the history and justification of
restrictive railway regulation, is valu-
! able lust for recollection. This deslr-
able thiag is well executed in the con-
illusions of the fnal chapter of a newly
published book on that subjest by
Henry s. Haines, the author of Gamer
lean Railway Management and who
has held a number of high positions IN
railway control and is well qualified to
make such a study. The work con-
tains the substance of a course of lee
lures delivered last spring at the Bos-
ton University School of Law.
The question of rate regulation IS
probably the largest issue nov coming
up before the public for solution. 1t IS
not only directly and in itself a great
matter, but it's decision, by the power
of established precedent, will extern
sively affect our whole economic sys-
tenn. One of the first items to consider
is the magnitude to which our railway
interests have grown. The mileage IS
almost equal to one-half that of the
whole world. Counting employees,
stockholders and the families of both,
the people directly dependent on the
welfare of the roads amounts to one
fifth of the population. In recognition
of the rights and influence of the press
it has been named the ''fourth estate
among the powers that be, and perhaps
the one-fifth of our population directly
interested in railways might be called
"the fifth estate
In the decision to extend restrictive
legislation the Importance of this
great estate is not forgotten. The rail
way historian believes that in the gen.
eral summing up every dollar that the
public has granted to railways in
bounties and the value of granted priv
ileges has been amply returned to the
public in the advancement of pros
perity and in the facilities for easy in
accommodation which has so ef-
ficiently helped to break down provin-
cial p~rejudices, and to knit us by their
network into a homogeneous nation,
much more strongly woven by peace
than those other peoples by conquest
joined.
However, the regulation of the com
pensation for the public service is no
new thing. cit had been for centuries
recognized as a fundamental principle
of common law When our laws pro-
hibite1 traffic agreements it was such
a heavy blow to the internal control of
the regulation OF railway rates that
logically there is now no other mode
for the making of joint rates except by
the exercise of some control external
to the corporate will of the parties di-
rectly interested in the profits that are
made by those rates. The history of
economic evolution is the history of the
struggle for a balanced adjustment be-
tween competition ana combination.
There are goods and evils in competi-
tion, and likewise in combination use
and abuse show it's need of delimita-
tion.
hallway development has 50 far adj
vanced in this country that most of the
measure of evil that resides in competi-
tion has been eliminated. Practically
the whole great system is controlled by
eight traffic managers. Wasteful COM
petition IS thus avoided. Fear for the
public welfare is now, therefore, to be
directed to the abuses of unrestricted
combination. This is why there is an
cutlery for further regulation of rail
way affairs by national legislation.
That the majority of the people are
strongly behind the movement is
strongly evidenced by the fact that the
leaders of both the great parties,
Roosevelt and Bryan, unite almost as
brothers in advocacy of further con-
troll. The president S policy is so con-
sentative that it appears that if the
railways could resist and defeat it,
they would but cause a later resurge
of popular Indignation against the
abuse of combination which would be
revolutionary by comparison with the
mooerate regulations at present pro-
posed.-San Francisco Call.