The Oskaloosa herald., 1905-03-09

were maze IN IrelSnL II passenger
schedules and the changes filed by the
carriers with the commission. One
hundred and forty-three thousand nine
hundred and e~ighty-two of these were
in freight schedules, an average Of oy-
er 500 changes a day. Now, these
changes might well go on in future
and most of them be just and proper.
Under this bill you can make the
change until it shall have reached the
judicial stage of a decision of the
court. After that the rate becomes
immutable. 1t is fixed. 1t is like the
laws of the Modes and Persians-unal-
terable. There should be some modif-
cation by which these schedules might
still be much more easily changed
when found to be unjust and unreas
enable, ever after judicial determina-
ton or judicial decision.
LET me illustrate further: We had
a great fire in Baltimore. They
changed the freight schedules upon
food supplies and upon the materials
to build the new town. There was a
great flood in the south, covering
parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
The freight schedules were changed
in order to encourage the shopment
of supplies into the stricken communi-
ties. The same thing occurred in Chi
cago after the fire. Now, then, of
course, these are extreme cases, but
there are other common cases. We
have a great crop n year and rates
are based upon an enormous shipment.
One year we ship corn from Iowa east
and it goes to Europe. The next year,
perhaps, we ship it to Kansas or Ne
braska, or further west, where the
crops may have failed. The supplies
go one year in one direction and in
another the next. These varying con-
ditions necessarily require that there
should be some elasticity in the ar
rangement of rates. The fact that the
companies now, under existing condi-
tons, make an average of 500 rate
changes a day shows that there should
be some elasticity.
I think this bill could be strength
ened and not weakened by giving
even more power to the commission
than is given to it by allowing 1t to
modify the rates ven after they have
been established by a judicial decis-
ion.
The main purpose of this bill is to
prevent unfairneSs and discrimination
in the treatment of individuals and To-
calities. I shall vote for the bill and
believe that it in almost every respect
meets the demands of the people and
the suggestion made by the president
in his message. .
"The complaint is a very simple one
in the main. Usually it comes from
communities. For instance, the state
ment made by the gentleman from H.
linois the other day that the rates
from Boston to Montgomery, Ala,
were 80 cents a ton lower than they
were from Chicago to the same place,
although the distance was 700 miles
further.
Now this is a discrimination against
a locality. A discrimination some
times m up against an individual
and most of these matters are AMIGA
bly, settled. When a case is submit
ted to the interstate commerce COM
mission upon the conflicting claims of
the railroads on one hand and of the
shipper on the other, ordinarily the
commission says what ought to be
the rate, and it is accepted. 1t is only
in some instances where the action
of the commission is ignored by the
carrier. But there are instances
where the carrier absolutely refuses
to recognize a decision of this kind,
and there is no power to enforce its
decision, except to go in to a court of
justice and compel by mandatory in
junction the carrying out of the decis-
ion of the interstate commerce COM
mission.
The proposition now is, to allow the
decision of the commission to be pre-
sumed to be right and binding upon
the parties. 1t shifts the burden onto
the person or corporation attacking
the decision of the interstate COM
merce commission.
"The assignment Of five official
judges for hearing cases growing out
of this proposed act will greatly eX-
pedite the final determination of liti-
cation arising in regard to rates. If
the litigation were allowed to take its
ordinary course, going through the
slow process of the different courts Of
the nine circuit courts of the United
States. not only would there be end
less delays in the proceeding, but
numerous conflicts in the decisions Of
the different courts as to the meaning
of the law. We have many evidences
Of this in the court reports of the fed
eral decisions in different parts of the
union. One court will construe a
statute as meaning one thing, another
court will take different view of the
same act and in the end the supreme
court must solve the controversy. IN
der the provisions of this bill the de-
cisions of five judges especially select
ed and detailed for this work will, of
course. be more uniform. The criti-
cism has been made on this feature
of the bill that it provides for delay.
Exactly the opposite is true. 1t pro-
vides for the least delay possible in
the final determination of all contro-
versies.
"The vital question in dispute is
fully covered by the bill"
Say, pa, what's q closed incl