The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-07
DEPARTMENT OF
 AGRICULTURE
PROPOsf:S TO BRING 1900 SUITS
 AGAINST RAILROADS.
For vsoiations of Cattie Feeding Stat- ute-AttOraeys Attempt to Com prsntse hy Payment of the
 Minimum Penalty.

Washington Correspondence N. o.
 Democrat,
 The quiet man of the Cabinet, James wilson; Secretary of Agriculture, has with the result that the Department Of Agrcuiture has prepared and is about ready to begin 1,zoo suits against the psnaItyof $500 eSenIny. Se imposed asH for each each violation Of the so-called twenty-eignt- hour law. That statute requires car riers transporting live stock from one water and rest every bead of livestock Tor period of five hours after 1t has been on the road not more than twenty eight hours.
 Every railroad from Maine to Cali against them Is so strong that attor- neys rspresenting them are negotiating having a minimum penalty of $10o im- poSed, the understanding to be If the maximum is not demanded that the raiiroads TIT 9sr VIII comply with the law: S:,
 tary is disposed to agree. because he cares more for the future observance of the law than for punishment for of thought they could disregard the stat ute with impunity. put such cases as are not compromised will be filed in the circuit courts. The suits are to be of theNUnited States. and they are to be civil actions, as the law makes no pr0- vision for either fine OF Imprisonment. created consternation among the raii- road men having charge of the cattle business. They had been able to keep cattle on the roads for forty-eight hauled Up. They could afford tn pay the penalty and go ahead without re- gard to the law. It was a dead letter partment until q few months ago de- cided that before they could make a case witnesses who had ridden on the cattle trains for more than twenty eight hours were needed to testify that the stock had not been watered, fed or rested.
 Six or. eight months ago the Secre- Cabe. a man from Utah, who knows the cow country and the ways thereof, as well. as he knows his Blackstone. A few days ago he was appointed solicitor had been merely law clerk. McCabe said that two witnesses were not nec- essary-at least that 1t was not neces- sary that they should ride on the cars for twenty-eight hours. He held that agents of the Department stationed at the points of origin and consignment and at the intermediate points where make up case against the railroads, especially if they took care to note the names and numbers of the cars, the tihiS ol dTEiVdl duQ ana as to whether the cattle contained there in had been fed at the feeding station. Acting upon that suggestion Secre-
 tary Wilson detailed the 1,500 inspec- tors and taggers employed in the Bu- reau of Animal Industry to collect sta- tistics of that kind about all shipments of cattle. In a very short time they were able to file data In Washington showing very clearly that the law was
 being violated without even a pretenss of cOncealment. One of the results was the inaugura- tion of schedules that made reductions
 in running time of cattle trains so great that the competition between New York and Chicago look like the rivalries ot pygmies. The Missouri Pacific, in or- der to avoid feeding the cattle, cut the time of its stock trains between Pueblo, Col, and Kansas City from about for Weight hours to twenty-six. The trains seldom consume more than twen- ty-seven hours in that run of more than 6O0 miles. As great a cut was made in the running time of trains between Sapulpa, l. T., and TexarRana and East St. Louis.