The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-11-07

and Other-Senator Knox Fayors
the Presidents Proposition That
Some Tribunal Should Have Powerl
to Pass Upon the Reasonableness of!
a Challenged Railroad Rate-TheI
Time Has Come, He Says. When
Congress Must Exercise it's Power.
Pittshurg, November 3.-The Pitts
burg chamber Of commerce banquet at
the Schenley Hotel. which concluded
the Founders Day celebration Of the
Carnegie Institute. was an event OF
national importance, the roster OF
speakers being the most brilliant in
the history of the organization.
President John Eaton, of the cham
Der of commerce. presided and Con
gresham John Dalzell was toastmas-
ter. Three hundred of Pittsburg's rep
resentative business and professional:
men were seated at the banquet table
The principal speakers we're Senator
Philander c.. Knox, Sir Chentung Lii
ang Cheng, the Chinese minister, Gem
eral A. w. Gree,y, commander Of the
UNITED States signal service, and Mel
vile E Stone, general manager Of the
Associated Press
ADDRESS OF SENATOR KNOX.
Senator Knox spoke on the railway
rate problem, and his address was as
follows:
The President believes that the pow
er to pass upon the reasonableness OF,
a challenged railroad rate or pracGice|
should be lodged in some tribunal up
on which can be also cOnstitutiOnaliy
cast tne power to fix a reasonable rate
or practice in lieu of a rate found by
it to be unreasonable, and that the
rate SO fixed should become as nearly
Immediately operative as possible.
The proposition hat the national
government should exercise supervise
ry control ove the tax upon transpor-
tatiCn became almost self-evident from
the time that the railroads began
through various devices, to concentrate
this taxing power in the hands of a
few men.
The governments efforts to check
this concentration Of power under the
provisions of existing laws should he
supplemented by legislation which will
prevent the abuse of the power of tax
ing the movement of persons and prop
erty under any form of concentration
or under any circumstances whatever.
It commends itself to me to be wiser
craftsmanship to provide a remedy for
a mischief in whatever form it ap-
pears rather than to waste time in
matching the ingenuity Of the lawmak-
er in devising laws to impose a penal
ty for a wrong rs it may appear in
specific devices against the ingenuity
of the law breaker in trying to avoid
it's provisions by creating new ones
In other words, it would seem to be
wiser to cure the disease than treat
the symptoms.
The proposition is that congress can
and should at once enact a law cover
ing the main features of the public de-
mand for a prompt and efficient rene
dy against unjust railroad practices
and leave to the future the determina-
ton of wisdom and necessity of leg;s-
lating in respect to collateral and re-
lated matters.
L L 10 liz uuly Vi SOhSICSo W IOSuihtS
commerce so as to prevent injustice
and imposition by the carriers.
The proposition to correct %unreasO1-
able railroad rates and practices goes
no further than this. 1t is tantan1onat
to the proposition to correct injustice
and imposition.
II you pkoviGe the remedy the evil
will largely disappear. The tendency
for some time has been toward fai:er
dealing by the railroads with the pub
lie.
The enlarged and more effective pro-
visions against rebates and unjust dis
ordinations contained in the legisla-
ton of the F~ifty-Seventh Congress af-
fected fewer railroads and met with
less ;ailroad opposition than it would
have net ten years earlier, as many OF
the managers Of the best roads had en-
deavored to abolish such practices be-
fore Inc law went into effect. One
makes a mistake who assumes that the
best railroad conscience of the country
approves the extravagant propaganda
now being carried on to convince the
public that any regulative legislation
would be unjust to the railroads.
There is no railroad in the United
States that can be in the slightest de
gree affected b. legislation giving re-
lief from unreasonable rates and prac
tees. There is no practice of any rail
Inad that it adopts or sanctions that
ri lie declared to be unreasonable Oh
unjust until it is challenged in a q1as
judicial proceeding, and proved To be
unjust and unreasonable after the full.
est hearing AMI argument. There is
no order that :ar he made by my com
mission Or boa d now existing, os
ws:sch it is pr1.osed tc create, taa.
can Grange a rate or Practice tina. is
unrak. enable or unjust without its o.
der Ling subjec. to Iasiew in a judi
tai proceeding in the CTited Sta es
cir.uit court no n the ground OF the
unreasonableness Of the order of the