Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1905-05-26
RAILWAY REGULATION.
American and British Views on
Rate Making Powers.
SIR CHARLES ]. OWENS STATEMENT

London and Southwestern's Manager
Says British Experience shows
That. While Fixing of Maximum
Rates by the Government May BE
Justi6nbIe, It's Tendency In to Ar
SonabIe Rate Legislation Not OPP
posed, Says samuel Spencer.
An interesting and significant state
ment of special timeliness, In view Of
President Roosevelts recent utterances
on the question of railroad rate max
ing and of Secretary Taft's discussion
of the same subject at the banquet Of
the recent international railway con-
gress at Washington, was made In an
interview the other afternoon by Sir
Charles ]. Owens, general manager of
the London and Southwestern Railway
company, who is one of the most prom
inent of the British delegates to the
congress. says the New York Posts
Washington correspondent. Sir Charles
has been active in railway manage
ment in England during the whole agi-
tation of the matter Of rate regulation
there, and his experience Of the eff
fects of government regulation in Great
Britain is especially valuable In the
present discussion in the United States
Speaking from British experience, he
says that the fixing of maximum rates
may be iustifiable. but he adds that the
result of this in England has been to
arrest the natural decline of rates and
10 maintain them ut the high level at
which they stood when regulation was
adopted.
Where l quarrel with the legislation
proposed by President Roosevelt as
understand it." said Sir Charles. sis
that It is suggested that tribunal shall
have the right to fix an actual rate. In
my opinion, a government should be
perfectly satisfied with fixing reason
able maxima, leaving the railroad com
panies proper commercial liberty to
act within the limits of those maxima,
subject always TO the enforcement of
the law as ii guards against discrim-
ination in all its forms.
Il quite agree with the suggestion
it would be as logically unsound for
the government to fix the price OF |
bread as it would be to fix the price of |
the commodity we call railroad trans |
portation. Its effect could only be to |
deprive the railway companies Of that |
commercial elasticity in arranging |
their prices which is a fundamental |
necessity in the conduct Of any bust /
ness. Indeed, but for the fact that |
there is a measure of monopoly NO. |
cry railroad, although fne
extent in the tinted Sfafes Is
Britain, it would be hard to fine any
logical reason why even maxima
should be imposed upon a railway
company more than upon the producer
of any other necessity of life, for such
we may surely call transportation"
Speaking of the regulation of freight
rates by the British government, Sir
Charles said:
Dealing with the question historic
ally, it should be remembered that
when each individual railway compa-
ny obtained its powers from parlia-
ment the powers were accompanied by
the imposition of maximum rates. The
rates varied greatly in many districts
and were in every case accompanied
by a classification setting out the
classes in which various articles of
were TO be found, but the
classes were extremely vague and COW
cred but very few articles and COM
mOdities. From time to time amalga-
nation Of companies has taken place.
so that our largest railroads in Great
Britain are, broadly speaking, made
up OF tens or even twenties of small
each originally having va
rious powers both as regards rates and
This made it extreme
ly difficult for any trader to decide
the rates charged by partic-
ular railway company were within the
maximum powers of that company
and would often involve referring to
anything between ten and twenty diff
ferent acts of parliament. This led TO
a great many complaints on the part
Of the public and TO constant false ac-
cusations against the railway compa-
MES that they were charging in ex-
ress Of their powers.
Repeated committees of the houses
Of parliament were appointed to con-
slider the question, and the ultimate
was the passing of the rail
way and canal traffic act in 1888. This
act provided that every railway com
pany should submit to the board OF
trade a revised schedule of class rates
and also a revised classification. The
railway companies. of course. com
Piled with this and after mutual con-
sideration submitted classifications
which were TO be common TO all rail-
wav companies and schedules OF rates
which but very slightly differed.
The board Of trade then heard OBJ
iections on the part of traders to the
proposals OF the railway companies.
md public hearings of fbe whole .