Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-25
HEPBURN MAKES REPLY
TO CHARGES AGAINST HIM.
CONTINUED from Page ~
Producers, who went farther along the
same lines
Henry Wallace Speaks.

Henry Wallace Speaks.
i The feature of the afternoons SEES
sion came when Henry Wallace Of
Des Moines, publisher and owner OF
i Wallace's Farmer, was introduced tc
the audience. Mr.. Wallace is foremost
among the men who have criticised
Col. Hepburn and other members OF
congress but especially Col. Hepburn
as chairman of the interstate com
merce committee of the house, for the
delay in railroad rate legislation. He
was invited to speak before the farm
ers' institute because of his wide &C
quaintance among farmers and also
because of his efforts, through his pa
| per and as an individual, for railroad
| rate reform.
Congress Must Act.
| Mr.. Wallace said in part: "a year
ago you kicked because Of the rail
road rate condition and told you that
lit was useless to depend upon the
state legislature to secure the reforms
you desired. told you that congress
was the body to which you must ap-
peal In order to secure law that
would relieve the situation. We had
grievances. They were many. Among
them was the abolition by the rail-
roads of the return pass for stockmen
returning from market. The poor ser.
vice, however, was the worst griev-
ance we could cite. This slow service
began January 18, 1908, when all the
big stock carrying railroads issued an
edict to the effect that the transporta-
ton of cattle from western Iowa, for
instance, to Chicago, should in. the flu
ture take about six hours longer than
prior to that date"
Mr.. Wallace then entered upon dis
cussion, from the farmers standpoint
of the shrinkage in the weight
of stock when shipped and kept
upon the cars for several hours,
showing that the loss to the
farmer is great when he Is compelled
to leave his cattle in the car longer
than sixteen to eighteen hours. After
that time has elapsed, he declared, the
He commended that both these difficult
ties have grown out of the improve
ment OF the railroads, the tonnage sys-
TEN, the heavier trains and conse-
quent slower. rate of speed, and sum-
med up the situation with the state
ment: "To pay for the coal they use
in their big mogul engines the rail-
roads are burning the fat Of your Iowa
steers. l don't know that the inter-
state commerce commission can help
us. I don't know that congress can
help u.s."
Mr.. Wallace also mentioned as a
grievance of the cattle raisers the fact
that in Iowa no feeding in transit"
rate is allowed by the railroads, though
it is allowed to shippers living in
states farther west.
Charges Against Hepburn.
Last May" said the speaker. "a
meeting of live stock men was held in
Denver. 1t was attended by men en-
gagged in the business of stock raising,
gathered together from many states.
They said to the Iowans in attendance,
Tt is useless for us to try to get re-
forms through our state legislatures.
The interstate commerce commission
is also powerless. But congress has
the power and the interstate commerce
committee is the body which must set
on foot the reform movement But you
Iowans have the chairman of that COM
mittee and he is dead against u.s.
when l heard this charge against
Col. Hepburn l couldn't believe it. I
said to myself, 4 will find out about
this for myself. examined the rec
ord Of the hearing before the inter-
state commerce committee of the
house of the Cooper-Quarles bill in
1902. l found that Col. Hepburn had
repeatedly asked questions which
showed that he regarded railroad prop
erty as private property and showed
that he was, in regard to that matter,
in the gall Of bitterness and the bond
of iniquity."' (Applause.) The supreme
court decided this point in the grange
days of the seventies and declared
that railroad property Is not private
property in the sense intended.
81 wrote to Mr. Hepburn in order to
get an expression of his views on the
matter. Mr.. Hepburn's correspond
ence Is private and I will not read
it."
Here Col. Hepburn interposed, say
ing, Read it, read anything ever
said or wrote"
"All right" returned Mr.. Wallace,
II will read it and be glad to do SO.
have 1T all but one letter, which was
lost. 1t is a letter from Col. Hepburn
to myself"
He then read series of letters
which passed between himself and Mr..
Hepburn last summer, in which he
asked Mr. Hepburn for an expression
Of his, position on the railroad rate
question. Mr.. Hepburn's replies we're,
apparently, not satisfactory to Mr.. Wal
lace, the latter intimating that the
congressman refused to say that he
was for the bills in question and
thereby tacitly admitted that he was
against them. The only vote Col Hep
burn ever recorded against measure
looking to the solution of the rate prob
lem, however. was explained by him
in one of the letters. He said that the
democratic members of the committee
having agreed upon the plan before
hand, entered the committee room in
force and moved to refer the bill to
the house for action. with favor
able recommendation, without first
considering and discussing it in the
committee. This Col Hepburn char
acterized as playing at politics." and
cto in bic x,otod