The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-08-10
PUBLIC OPINION AND RATE FIX.

ing the subject of rate fixing with much |
earnestness. They Indicate that there !
has come a change in sentiment owing
TO the deebate which has been in pro- !
gress, the testimony which has been
taken by the senate committee on in
terstate commerce, and the consequent |
thinking in which serious men who de-
sire to reach sound conclusion have
INDUCED. A good many persons who
carelessly mistook the general outcries
against the railroads and their prac-
fices for the truth find on examina-
ton that many of the accusations
against the roads are untrue. While
there has been manifestation of greed
and of some tendency to disregard the
law on the parts of the roads, it is be-
coming clear to the minds who have
been set at work seriously on the pro-
blem that the relation between the
roads and the community. between the
agencies of distribution and of produc-
tion, are mutually dependent. One
cannot flourish without the help of the
other. Extortion on the part of the
roads means injury to those who pro-
vide them with products to carry, and,
at the same time, undue restraints
upon the roads, unwise interference
with their business would cripple the
roads and would prevent the extension
of our railway system. Foolish greed
has no doubt more than once controlled
railway policy, but inevitably the over
taxing of the roads customers will lead
to impairment of the roads business,
and this the leading railroad men of
our time. a new generation, of which
Mr. J. ]. Hill is the leader, are recog-
nizing. The relations of the two ele-
ments, producer and carrier, have for
some time been in process of adjust
rnent; If the politicians succeed in see
curing control of the roads and In fix
ing rates, the process will inevitably be
stopped, and the carriers may iujure,
in some instances DESTROY. the means
for conducting that vital function of
their business, the transportation of
their products to market
! b. The idea that the control of the roads
by the politicians may injure the COM
munity and the shippers, as we have
| said, is agitating the west. The other
day, for example, the Argus-Leader Of
Sioux Falls, S. D., said:
! The rate discussion has progressed
| far enough to prove that the commits
sion which seeks to fix up a rate sched-
| ule which will please everybody is go
| ing to have a merry time of it. If the
| yrylr ie Mt al will
have to be fixed on mileage basis, and
| such rates while technically fair, would
mean great disaster to South Dakota
shippers. There Is nothing that South
! Dakota wants so little as rates deter
| mined on a mileage basis
Here will be heard an echo of the
controversy between Boston and New
York on the one side and the intertate
commerce commission on the other,
The view of the South Dakota newspa-
per simply tends to how the inextrica-
Bile confuion in which the commission
would find itself in endeavoring to
'pleae everybody"
The Aberdeen Is. d. News in a re-
cent number expresses its opinion as
follows: x...s... j.. r.
1t is sufficient argument in the minds
of many newspaper advocates of the
proposed rate regulation that the rail-
roads are opposed to. the movement
The people of South Dakota are two
1evel-headed to beiswayed, by such ar
guments and will look upon the ques-
ton from the standpoint of merit alone
Investigation will show that the people
of this state have nothing to gain by
rate regulation and very possibly have
much to lose.
This questioning of the proposed pol
icy in the west is not confined to South
Dakota. In Wisconsin the rate com
missioners themselve have recognized
the propriety of elastic rates by per
hitting a opt rate to be given to lane
seekers in order to aid inu, SETTLING un'
occupied parts of the state. There il
even opposition on the part of some o.
the shippers. We learn from the Kan
sas City Journal that Mr.. w. P. Trio
kett, superintendent of the Kansas Cit!
transportation bureau, differs with thu
politicians who would grant to govern
ment the power to fix rates. The Jour
nal says:
1t is a. significant fact, although Mr.
Trickett's interests and sympathies are
of coure with hi clients, the shippers
his Judgment based upon many year
Of study and experience, is that the fix
ing of railway rates should remain il
the hands of the railway managers
subject to the supervision ofthe inter
into commerce noYnnissiOr
Finally, we learn from the Chillicoth
(O.) Democrat that the local freigh
agents have memorialized the Pres
dent against the proposed change. Til
Democrat says:
Striped of formal verbiage the me
mortal set forth the impracticability o
the change that has been proposed, o
taking the rate-making power from tn
technical hands now managing the sit
uation, and placing it with a commits
sion totally ignorant of practical rail
roading-a commission Knowing moth
ing of the peculiar conditions whic
regulate fair rates for transportation O
, freight. These men are /
close touch with the people, and know
: every foot of ground through whic
their various lines pass; they know tn
various indutries developed, or the pos
sibilities of them. along those lines
they are men selected from the multi
plicity of railway employe for the