The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-14
HaHAH6HaOEAW W. ~
Commerce Commission Explains
Necessity for Its Bill
In Annual Report Which Was
Presented to Congress Today.
NEED MORE POWER.
Commissioners Are to Stop All
Illegal Practices.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
in Railroad Circles.
NEED MORE POWER.

W eioAAAlA5 L0lls L. - Lee. l4.-CDLlSAu=
cradle space is devoted by the members
of the interstate commerce commission
in their annual report which was pre-
scented to congress today, to explaining
the necessity for certain amendments
to the present act to regulate commerce,
which were drafted by the commission
in compliance with a request from eAe
senate committee on interstate com
merce, and which have been presented
to the senate by that committee in the
form of a bill
The most important amendment is
delegation of authority to the commits
sion to determine what rate should be
substituted for the future in place of
one found, after full hearing, to be I'M
lawful with the further provision that
the order of the commission prescribing
such substituted rate shall take erect
Wllhln reasonable time, unless vaca-
teu OF SET aside by judicial proceedings.
ms question has become thorOughlv
Understood, and as the proposed Iegis-
lation is now under consideration by
the congress it seems unnecessary to
repeat either the recommendation
heretofore made or the reasons on
winch they are based. It is designed
IN the amendment proposed by the COM
mission to confer this authority in IN
mlsIakable terms and in conformity
VIII Tic uCCI51OIS OIL the supreme court
and the opinion of the attorney gen
eral furnished to the committee respect
ing the power of the courts and the
consdtutionality of such legislation.
The commission recommends that the
phrase under common control, man
agement, or arrangement" in the first
section of the law, be omitted. This
would make the regulating statute ap-
ply to certain classes of carriers now
exempt from its application and re-
Qulrements. The definition in the first
section of the term transportation"
should be enlarged SO as to include the
charges for various services, such as
refrigeration and the like, which are
now claimed to be beyond the authority
of the commission. The obligation to
furnish and provide the services here
referred to is also proposed, which is
likewise a point now in dispute.
On the question of refrigeration
charges the report says:
AT the present time large quantities
Of perishable. commodities are transport
ed over such distances that artificial re-
frigeratiOn is necessary, and in such
transportation the ice is just as essential
as the hauling of the car. The owner
of the commodity transported can no
more provide the refrigeration than he
could provide the transportation itself, /
and the consequences of an exOrbitant
icing charge or of discrimination in re-
frigeration charges are precisely as ser
iOus as the same kind of extortion or
discrimination would be in the transpor-
tation charge itself While some rail-
road companies furnish refrigeration
themselves. in most cases it is furnished |
by Independent companies, which usual
ly provide the ear, for which the rail-
way pays and the ice, for which I
charge is made against the shipper. To- |
day this business has fallen into the
hands of two or three companies, OF
which the Armour car lines is the prin- |
cipaI. Extended Investigations by the
have led to the conclusion
that the charges imposed are, in some |
cases al least, exorbitant, and tha1 shose
charges are not uniformly eXacted.
The commission has held that the fur |
nishing of refrigeration is part Of the
transportation itself, and that the rail-
vvav is Obliged. under the present law, |
to publish and maintain its charge Tor |
icing; but the railways confidently II |
sist that providing refrigeration IS a /
local service. which is not and can not /
he nut under the supervision OF any /
government tribunal; and that even II |
congress might impose upon the carrier /
the duty of furnishing this service II |
has not done so; that II IS IuILllsheu " I
Drivate persons and not, therefore, sub |
ject to the Jurisdiction Of the conmls-
sion tt is not recommended at ms /
rine that the carriers should be pro
hibited from using private cars or from
EMPLOYING the owners OF such cars 10
that course to their advantage, put the
commission does recommend that tnese
C1,aroges should be put on the same basis /
as all other freight charges, SO IaF as
they can be-" ,,,a ioin+
ra+as the commission observes thal'
While the third section of the act TO
,.ee11Iafe- commerce attempts to secure
tbs interchange of traffic by connect
mo railways and to prevent UNJUST
i,5I;s5.riv,7inatiOn by any carrier between
- 7ifferent connections. it has oeen
i9aI5 both by the courts and the com
mission that this part of the thlrd
sac+ion is not enforceable, because no
,,9eans are provided for determining
nc cor ditions upon which traffic shall
he inferchanged and the proportloh OF
f17e through rate which snail pc re
eeived nv the several carriers. II tol-
lows that connecting carriers are now
under no legal obligation to estaphsh
through routes or joint rates ana may
at their pleasure, Withdraw from sucH
ran gements when they have been
actually entered into When IL IS con-
zidered that large part of the most
i1o0orfant rates of this country are
ioi1t rates. it will be seen that the
"a iI7vaxs have it in their discretion by
This means to largely defeat the pur-
nose of the law. and that in order to
Drevent this the commission should
have authority to order railways to-
continue through routes and joint
rates which are in effect and to pre-
scribe the divisions which the several