The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-02-10
RATE MEASURE
PASSED BY THE HOUSE
An OVERWHELMING MAJORITY
FOR THE BILL.


Against 1t Eleven Were Republicans
and six DemOcrats--Mr. Hill of Con-
necticut Among the jFormer--Demo-
cratic Leader Pays Tribute to Presi-
dent Roosevelt. ..
Washington, Feb. 9.-After nearly
four days of discussion the house to-
day, by a vote of S26 to II, passed the
Esch-Townsend bill providing for the
regulation of freight rates. The mega
tive vote was made up of eleven repub-
licans and six democrats. The closing
hours of the debate were occupied by
Messrs. Williams, of Mississippi, the
minority leader, and Hepburn, of Iowa,
chairman of the committee which re-
ported the bill Mr.. Williams, while
supporting the minority measure, even
though he said he knew it could not
pass, complimented the republicans for
bringing in a bill which was much bet
ter than he expected would come from
them. The speech Of Mr.. Hepburn was
rather in defense of himself. He said
that his deeds and acts were sufficient
answer to the lies and ISLANDERS which
had been heaped upon him. The bill
known as the Hepburn bill, he said, had
been prepared by the attorneys general,
and he only yielded to his colleagues on
the committee on the Esch-Townsend
bill because he did not want the COM
mittee to be the target for seribblers
who wanted sensational headlines. He
devoted some time to a strong present
alton of the merits of the majority's
measure.
In his closing speech Mr.. Williams
congratulated the house upon the fact
that not only in the mattersof rate leg
islation, but in other particulars, Pres
ident Roosevelt, nominated by the re-
publican party and elected by the peo-
pie" was beginning to assume a dis
tinctly democratic attitude.
Addressing himself to the republicans,
MIR. Williams said they need nothing
more than marking out of the path
way to follow the president, not be-.
cause he is president or a republican,
but because he was outlining the prop
er policy for the American people.
t'6h," he said, amid democratic laugh
ter, 81 know how non-partisan you
are.
Mr.. Williams said it might be true in.
some things, as Mr.. Grosvenor stated
yesterday, that the democrats "camped
tonight where we carnped last night"
but he loudly proclaimed, facing the re-.
publican side, that on this question s'it
is you who are camping this year where
the democracy camped last year. If,
he said, the majority in the house did
not follow the presidents recommends
tions, it proved the necessity for an iau-
tomato coupler between the White
house and the house of representatives
"a republican Daniel is calling you, 7
he exclaimed, "and he is at the other
end Of the avenue, and he is calling you
to do identically the same thing that
you refused to do because it came out
of a democratic Nazareth. -
Discussing the merits Of the bill, Mr..
Williams said the country had waited
and waited for the railroads themselves
to do it justice. He agreed in part with
Mr.. Mccall, of Massachusetts,, who had
said that the right to fix rates was a
dangerous power to confer on seven
men, but he argued it was choice be-
tween evils, as only about seven great
railroad magnates, acting in conjunc-
tion with one another, were directing.
the stream of American commerce in
the channels they wished, and discrim-
mating wherever they saw fit. If the
fixing Of rates was to be lodged in some
hands, Mr.. Williams said, he preferred
it to be a government tribunal, weak
and ineffective as such tribunals are
(CoIltinued on Second Page.)