Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-05
THE MESSAGE
To CONGRESS.
confined from page -

can with propriety be loft In private
haads But neither 40 / believe in the
s1Ysnmen. ninchlng from overseeing
any work when it becomes evident that
a.,asas are sure 10 obtain therein I'M
Less there f. governmental supervision.
II is not NY province to indicate the
exact terms of the law Which should
be enacted: but | can the attention OF
the Congress % certain existing cOndl-
tons with which q rs desirable 70 deal
in my Judgment the most important
provision which such iaw shonid con-
tain is that comforting upon some CONF
peteu, administrative body The power
10 decide lpon Che case being brought
before ~, whether q given rate pre-.
Gcrlbed by @ railroad IL reasonable and
just and n b X found to be uureas0u-
able and unjust, then, after fun inycs-
lgati0n OF tho complaint 20 prescribe
the limit Of rate beyond which 81 shall
not be lawful TO gothic maximum rea-
Eon0ble rate. as u liz commonly called -
this decision 20 60 into effect within Il
Reasonable time and 10 obtain from
thence onward, subject % review by the
courts, II sometimes happens at pres
ent not that a rate Is too high but that
favored shipper Is given too
low rate. In such ease The
commission would have the right
70 hX this already established minimum
rate MS the maximum, ana il would
need only one or two such decisions by
the commission To- cure railroad COM
pani0s OF the practise of giving I'M
proper minimum rates, / call your at
tention 60 the fact that my proposal is
not to give the commission power to
initiate on originate rates generally
-. to II .Itf ne
originated by the roads. upon COM
plant and after investigation. a heavy
penalty should be exacted from any
corporation which fails to respect an
order Of the commission I regard this
power TO establish a maximum rate as
being essential 20 any scheme OF real
reform IN the matter Of railway regu-
lntlon. The first necessity IL 60 secure
It; and unless II Is granted 10 the COM
I1ission there Is little use In touching
he subject at al.
Illegal transactions often occur under
the forms OF law It has often oc-
Cured that a shipper has been told by
traffic officer TO buy large duHn-
tity OF some commodity and then aftcr
II has been bought an open reduction
is made IN the rate 20 take effect inn
mediately, the arrangement resulting
W NlF biNlll VI wv tlf nlllINfA anu Ail'
one railroad and TO tho damage Of all
their competitors for Il must not oe
forgotten that the big shippers arr NJ
least as much to blame as any railroad
I'm the matter OF rebates. The law
should make It clear so that nobody
can fail TO understand that any Kind
Of commission paid on freight ship
nnents, whether In this form or IL. che
form Of fictitious damages. or OF a con-
session. a free pass, reduced passeu
ger late. or payment OF brokerqg', II
Illegal. IL IL worth while considering
whether Il would not be wise - con-
fer on the government the right OF
civl action against the beneficiary ol
2 rebate for at least twice the value
Of the rebate this would heip stop
what Is really blackmall. Elevator ai-
icwances should be stopped, for they
have now grown to such an extent ttat
they arc demoraliz'ng and are usei as
rebate.