The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-12
MIR. SPENCER
 MAKES REPLY Railroads View of Gov
 ernment Control. COMMERCIAL LYNCH LAW Would Be Unfair, Unjust and Illegal. President otthe Southern Delivers an Address Before Board of Trade of Newark, New Jersey.

Newark. N. J., Oct. 11.-That govern ment control of railroad properties, as proposed in the Esch-Townsend bill. which was considered at the last ses- sion of Congress Is unfair. unjust to the railroads. opposed to fundamental principles of Anglo-Saxon jurisprud- ence. and is equivalent to providing by statute for the enforcement of com 'mercial lynch law. is in substance the reply of the railroad to the agitation for railroad rate legislation. as out lined by President Samuel Spencer. of the Southern Railway. in an address this evening before the Newark Board of Trade Mir Spencer said. in part:
 up to the present time shipper and carrier have been free to work togeth- CT, without political interference, to facilitate the establishment of new in dustries; to reach out for new markets for our farmers and manufacturers; to create new communities and to main tain the prosperity of those already established, and to cooperate to the fullest possible extent to enlarge the volume of both our domestic and foreign trade.
 'It Is now proposed to change this system and substitute for 1t one which in artificial bureacratic methods will take the place of the natural laws of trade and commerce, which have been the controlling force and evolution of the present system.
 And 1t must be borne in mind that it is proposed to give those enormous powers to body on whom no respon- abilities rest, or can rest, for the pre- servation or maintenance of tho rail : road property, or for the discharge of financial obligations, or the fuifillment of its duties to the public as an ef- ficient common carrier.
 .Tf It were proposed that the govern ment should acquire the ownership of all the railroads of the country and assume the responsibility for their ownership and operations, the payment for their obligations. and the protection of the capital Invested. entirely diff ficult questions would arise. But that is not the plan proposed by the legislation now being urged. It Is proposed to grant power over the earning capacity without Imposing cor responding responsibility for the ex- penses and risk of conducting the busi- ness.
 Railways Dislike Rebates.
 "The President. in his last annual message. laid special emphasis upon the necessity for doing away with re- bates and for the keeping of the high ways of transportation open to all upon equal terms. There is no issue or con- troversy before the people or Congress as to whether or not rebates or secret dfscriminations should be stopped. No one desires more than the railway managers themselves that there should be an end to all such practices.
 No rational suggestions have been made. however. as to how the grant ing of rate making power to the Inter- state Commerce Commission could be effective to this end. A rebate or any secret discriminatory device can of course, be applied to government made rate as we'll as to one made by the carrier. One of the most serious objections | to the Legislation proposed Is that under it a rate once fixed by the commission i would continue In force indefinitely un- | less changed by the commission or by the court The carrier would. there- | fore, have no power to make either re- auctions or increases to meet new con | ditions. Under such a law all rates | would in time become commission rates and the functions of railway managers | in making adjustments to meet the | exigencies of commerce and fin extend | ing the sphere of usefulness of the I transportation system of the country would step by step come to an end. Slow but steady paralysis would step | into the industrial arteries through which the blood of commerce flows and | the transportation system would gradually become numb and rigid. All rates would soon be machine made | only. and commerce and industrial cA,tres now acknowledging no bounds eor the ultimate distribution of their l products would find themselves 'operat- ing in narrower and narrower zones. finally circumscribed by governmental 1 edicts as to where the wares should go.
 "The plan of comforting upon the | commission the power to make or re- wise rates and make them effective ! prior to review by courts would be | open to the decisive objection that it is necessarily unjust to the railroads and opposed to the fundamental prin-
 ciples of Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence
 that rights of property and persons
 shall be enforced and protected accord
 ing to due process of law.
 "RailrOad Grand Jury"
 virtually there is not single re-
 spect in which the Interstate Commerce
 Commission resembles d court. It is a
 sort of q railroad grand jury. In the
 courts of the country grand jury
 cannot try q case which it has inves-
 tigated and inaugurated. and no mem-
 her of the grand jury can sit upon the
 iurv which tries the case. The Com
 mission. which investigates offences
 and initiates prosecutions. may and
 does in addition sit in judgment upon
 some eases which have been the sub
 iect of the investigation and prosecu-
 lion In other words the plaintiff in
 tbn litigation is the judge that tries
 tho case All such features are utterly
 fnraign to courts and they are utterly
 incomnatible with an impartial atti- tude. ,..,,ou .,4 4. A oronosed that the rates made or re-
 1,isaS Inv the Commission shall be sub
 tact thereafter to the action of the
 'ourt According to the plan proposed.
 tTs rates made by the Commission are
 ensotive pending review by the court
 fn otbsr words, the statement, while in
 i,n,v,ne in UIne an admission that the railroads
 UoaNinS .StitIed 10 a judicial trial. makes
 she ramarkable demand that they shall
 Sn e oon,Icted before their trial begins.
 nA stand convicted and suffer the
 nanaIties of the conviction during the
 trtaI surelv if the railroads are en- |