Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-12-05


, legislation is concerned is the enact
| ment into law of some scheme To Sc
cure to the agents of the government
such supervision and regulation of the
rates charged by the railroads of the
| country engaged in interstate traffic as
shall summarily and effectively pre-
| vent the imposition of unjust or unrea-
| Sonable rates. 1t must include putting
a complete stop to rebates in every
| shape and form. This power TO regu-
| late rates, like all similar powers over
the business world should be exercised
| with moderation, caution and self re-
Straint, but it should exist, SO that il
can be effectively exercised when the
need arises.
The first consideration TO be kept in
mind is that the power should be af-
tirmative and should be given TO some
administrative body created by the
congress. If given TO the present in
terstate commerce commission or to Il
reorganiZed interstate commerce COM
mission, such commission should be
made unequivocally administrative.
do not believe i'll the government inter
fering with private business more than
is necessary. | do not believe in the
government undertaking any work
which can with propriety he left i'll pri-
vate hands. But neither do / believe
in the government tiinching from over
seeing any work when ii becomes evil
dent that abuses are sure to obtain
therein unless there is governmental
supervision. Ii is not my province to
indicate the exact terms of the law
which should be enacted. but | call the
attention of the congress to certain ex-
listing conditions with which ii is deSir-
able TO deal. In my judgment. the
most important provision which such
law should contain is that comforting
upon some competent administrative
body the power to decide, upon the case
being brought before it, whether IL given
rate prescribed by a railroad is reason
able and just, and if it is found to be
unreasonable and unjust. then. after
full investigation of the complaint. to
prescribe the limit of rate beyond
which it shall not be lawful TO go-the
ma ximum reasonable rate. as it is com
monty called-thiS decision To go into
effect within reasonable time and TO
obtain from thence onward, subject To
review by the courts. 1t sometimes
happens at present, not that a rate is
too high, but that a favored shipper is
given too low a rate. In such case the
commission would have the right to fix
this already established minimum rate
as the maximum. and il would need
only one or two such decisions by the
commission to cure railroad companies
of the practice of giving improper min
imum rates. | call your attention TO
the fact that my proposal is not To give
the commission power 10 initiate or
originate rates generally. but To regu-
late a rate already fixed or originated
by the roads upon complaint and after
investigation. \ heavy penalty should
be eXacted from any corporation which
fails 10 respect an order of the commits
sion. | regard this power TO establish
a maximum rate as being essential to
any scheme of real reform in the mat
ter of railway regulation. The first
necessity is to secure ii. and unless 1t
is granted 10 the commission there is
little use in touching the subject at all.
Evasions of the Law.
Illegal transactions often occur uG-
der the forms of law. 1t has often &C
CURED that a shipper has been told by
a traffic officer to buy a large quantity
of some commodity. and then after it
has been bought an open reduction is
made in the rate TO take effect imme
diately, the arrangement resulting to
the profit of the one shipper and the
one railroad and to the damage of all
their competitors: for il must not be
f.Ar I'll Iii -f.fr
least as much to blame as any railroad
in the matter of rebates. The law
should make it clear so that nobody
can fail TO understand that any kind
Of commission paid on freight ship
ments, whether in this form or in the
form of fictitious damages or of n coli
ceSSiOn, a free pass. reduced pasSen-
ger rate or payment of brokerage, is
illegal. II is worth while considering
whether ii would not be wise TO confer
on the government Ihe right of civil
action against the beneficiary of a
rebate for at least twice the value of
the rebate. This would help stop what
is really blackmail. Elevator allow
ances should be stopped. for they have
now grown to such an extent that they
are demoralZing ard are used as re
bates.
The best possible regulation of rates
would, OF course, be that regulation Sc
cured by an honest agreement among
the railroads themselves 10 carry out
the law. Such a general agreement
would, for instance. az once put stop
TO the efforts of any one big shipper
or big railroad To discriminate against
ar secure advantages over some rival.
and such agreement would make the
railroads themselves agents for en-
forcing the law. The power vested in
the government To put a stop to agree
ments to the detriment of the public
should. in my Judgment. be accompa-
niei by power 10 permit under specified
conditions and careful supervision
agreements clearly in the Interest Of
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