Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1905-12-02
RATES AND RATE INEQUALITIES,
tFrom the washington Correspondent
New York Sun, Nov. 8, l905.)

(From the Washington Correspondent
New York Sun, Nov. 8, l905,)
In his Raleigh speech the President
advanced no new argument in sup
port of Federal control OF railway
rates. With characteristic vigor he
pounded recognized evil for the sup
preston Of which existing laws are
only little short Of duly adequate
He made no allusion to the possible
results of a stern and unrelenting en-
forcement of laws already provided
for the restraint of what he calls 'un-
scrupulous and ruthless cunning in
railway management" by which some
big shippers and some railroad man
ayers who are always willing to take
unfair advantage OF their weaker COM
petitors force other big shippers and
big railroad men who would like to do
decently into similar acts of wrong
and injustice, under penalty of being
l01C DOiItIu IN tuo race rOr SUCCESS.
This, which is the main line OF the
Presidents argument, does not seem
to touch the principal issue Of the
present consideration, namely, the
question of reasonable rates. Upon
the issue Of the equality of rates and
treatment for all shippers there Is
little room for argument. Shippers,
railways and the public are in general
agreement upon that point. With
some elaboration OF the present laws,
to which little or no objection will be
raised the point of unfair discrimina-
tion may be covered as well as 1t can
be. 1t is doubtful if any such law
could be made absolutely effective.
But that Is an issue which is quite
distinct from the proposal to place
rate making powers in the hands Of
an administrative body. There ap-
pears to be confusion upon this point.
There is wide difference between
the prohibition of any form of unfair
discrimination between shipper and
shipper, OF between point and point,
and the determination of rate charges
by Federal commission. 1t is to
the latter and not to the former that
objection is made. Mr.. Roosevelt said
that actual experience has shown
that 1t is not possible to leave the
railroads uncontrolled" l do not
know the exact period Of this actual
experience. l am under an impress
sion that railways are, and always
have been, subject to long list of re-
straining laws, statutory as well as
economic.
Our transportation system has made
this country what 1t is today. Our de-
velopment has not come in spite Of our
system, but because of 1t. That abuses
have crept in is undeniable. Abuses
have crept into our Government con-
trolled postal system and into our Gov
ernment supervised and regulated
banking system. But freedom of ac-
ton in rate making has enabled rail-
ways to open enormous areas of other
wise valueless land, and to distribute
the products of our farms and our
workshops in a manner impossible un-
der restrained action. The history of
all state rate making shows the in
evitable tendency of that method to-
ward the fiat distance tariff. Such
system in this country Of enormous
areas and distances would turn farms
into waste places and valuable ma
chinery into junk.
Nowhere in the entire range of the
railway discussion has it been shown
that the country has suffered or that
it is suffering from excessive railway
rates Outside of individual in
stances, whose rarity makes them al
most unique, there has been neither
complaint of excessive charges nor
clamOr for reduction by Federal
commission. The call for rate regu-
lation by a commission or by court
does not come from our thousands
upon thousands of shippers. 1t is the
cry of few who hope to gain by it,
augmented by the roaring Of non
shippers who have little or no knowl-
edge of transportation questions.
The country, the shippers and even
the railways will support the Presi-
dent in any effort to remedy evils, to
correct abuses, to stamp out inequali-
tics and unfair determinations. But
1t is not railway managers only who
are staggered by proposals that COM
mission be empowered either to fix
rates or to regulate railway tariffs.