The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-17

provided by construction, II YOU
please, that the commission shall
! have the power to raise rates. II
II rnllr0ad company makes rate
too lOw-wlnt an anomaly il is to
talk about such Il thing, whuI It
contradiction IN terms--li can make
the increase too low Tor what Too
low for the people who patrouar
the railroad company DO YOU
talk about raising rates because the
people who patruniHr the railroad
company are charged too little, Or
Is It because the railroad company
itself chooses not 10 charge enough
for It's own interest and the inter.
est of the honhhoI,lrrs and stock.
holders? That is not thing Ia hr
provided for 10y Congressional beg
tSlatiou, and that is Il thing thul
does not happen; it is 1t thing that
will not happen.
Now, these are some of the de-
fects as ! see it, in the bill which
has been offered for the considcru.
tl0n of the llouse; defects that can.
not he corrected here-thanks to
the rule adopted to shackle us
even if great majority desires to
do it; defects which we put into
the bill on purpose: not Inherent,
because these things were pointed
out, aud because bills were before
the committee which reported this
one which would cure these defects,
bridge over these chasms aud elm.
mate the inequalities and injustice.
| am not going lar into discus.
Sion of the merits of this bill or
that bill, but | say frankly, simply
because ! believe it, that of all the
bills introduced upon this subject,
the bill most comprehensive III its
treatment of it, the bill which ii
enacted into law would be product
i've of the most good, the bill sus-
Ceptible Of the least miScoustruc-
ton ana least misupplication the
bill which guards most effectively
against tendencies to minimize,
weaken aud destroy corrective
measures is the bill introduced last
spring and long pending in that
committee-the bill of the gentle
man from New York, Mr.. Hearst.
1t is the fruit of study and cxprrl.
encr, developed while its author as
II private citizen, ut his own rX.
pensr, contrnded IN the courts for
the rights Of the people against the
coal barOns and other oppressive
monopolies.
AS to the two measures which are
before us aud upon which we are to
vote, | am going to vote for the
substitute introduced 10y the gentle
man from Louisiana (Mr. Davey).
| am going to do it because il clear.
Iy provides that the power to raise
rates shall not exist. The other
does not. | am going to vote for
It because il provides that during
litigation the rate fixed by the com.
mission shall be the established
rate. The other does not do it di.
rcctly, indirectly or by implication;
does not do it at alt
believe in providing II special
court to deal with these interstate
commerce matters, but | do not be
lIcyr III the way of providing it
which III the bill reported by the
committee is chosen think it
will be far better to provide Il court
distinct and devoted to that kind
Of business than to provide one as
here provided by picking certain
justices from the circuit courts Of
the United States for the service,
and adding to the number Of those
officials.
Nor do see any reason why the
numbers composing the Interstate
Commerce Commission should be
incl eased. Increasing the number
from five to seven, to my mind, is
one OF the many confessions in the
bill that the object is TO mislead
the public rather than to relieve
the public; to make the public be
lieve that something has been done
rather than to do something And
why increase the pay of these gen.
tlemen from 81 800 to $4,000 Il
year, What is the reason for III
The same reason that is born to
the disposition to deceive; il is one
Of the parts of the scheme to de
ceive 1t is not to get better work
out of the commission. A com
mission of five in my judgment is
more effective and worth more than
a commission of seven members.
If you were to divide that commits.
sion Of seven into two parts you
would have for most purposes two
commissions, thus doubling the ca.
pacity and power ofthe commission
to work and accomplish things.
Then there might he something
in the increase, but to simply
require four men instead of three
men to agree upon a conclusion in
order to have anything done is sim.
ply to require consultation among
seven instead of consultation among
five.
This commission ought to be n
body of quick action. 1t ought to
be body to investigate things,
expeditiously. 1t should be body
which could quickly make mp its
mind and quickly promulgate its
decisions. Adding to its number,
instead of adding to its efficiency,
is lessening its efficiency, and by
making the public pay $4,000 in.
| ctaat nf d. EOl on loc,, xn,, ,,,,,. Il.