The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-12

LYNCH LAW |. Avn
---------- ------
President Of the Southern At
tacks Government Railroad
Control.
BE BUREAUCRATIC ' METHODS
.El1orl'1ous Powers, re Declares,
TO Body Without Any
Responsibility.
Be ' BUREAUCRATIC METHODS
(By Associated prcss.)

(By Associated prcss.)
4 NEWARK. N.J., October 11.--Thnt gov
.crnment control OF railroad properties, MS
proposed In the Townsend bill
winch was introduced In the last session
Of Congress, Is unfair. Unjust to the rail-.
ronds. opposed to the fuhtn mental prlnci-
pies or Anglo Saxon Jurisprudence and 49,
equivalent TO providing BY statute for tho
enforcement OF commercial lynch law, liz
III substance the reply OF the railroads to
the agitation for rslIrond rate legislation.
MS outlined by President Samuel Spencer
In an address this evening before tho
Newark Beard Of Trade. Mi. Spencer
said
up to the present time shipper and
carrier have been frec3t to work together
without political interference, to facili-
tate the establishment and development
OF new industries, to reach out for new
markets for our farmers and mnn,fac-
.turers, to create new communities and
maintain the prosperity OF those already
established, and to co-operate to the full
est possible extent to enlarge the volume
OF both our domestic ana foreign trade.
Bureaucratic Methods.
1T Is now proposed TO change this sys-
TEN and substitute for It one In which ar
.titicial bureaucratic methods will take the
place OF natural laws OF trade and COM
merce, which have been the controlling
force In the evolution OF the present sys-
tom.
"And 1t must be borne II, mind that 1t
is proposed to give these enormous powers
to body on whom no responsibility rests
or can rest, for the preservation or main
tcnance OF the railroad property, or for
the discharge OF its financial obllga tons
or the fulnllment OF its duties to the
public rs an efficient common carrier
1.-THE President. In his last annual mes
sage. laid special emphasis upon the ne
cesslty for doing away with rebates and
for the keeping Of the highways OF trans
portntion open to all upon equal terms.
There Is no issue or controversy before
the people or Congress as to whether or
not rebates or secret discriminate
should be stopped. No one desires more
than the railway managers themselves
that there should be an end to all such
practices.
The Secret Rebate.
Il. No rational suggestions have been
made however. as to. how the granting OF
RI te making power to the Interstate Com.
merce Commission could be effective td
this end. a rebate or any secret discrim-
inatory device can. OF course. be applied
to government made rate as we'll ~
to one made by the carrier
I'm fact, a rate established by the
commission and thereafter unalterable
by the CARRIER In reduction or other
wise. except upon petition 10 the com
mission, instead of serving as n cure
o. a preventative. would be a distinct In
centivc towards secret reduction. when
commercial conditions demanded land
4 public and legal reduction could not
bc promptly made.
"Onc OF the most serious objections to
the legislation proposed Is That under 1t
n rate once fixed by the commission
would continue In forco indefinitely. I'M
less changed by the commission or b.
the court. The carrier would, there
fore. have no power to make either re-
auctions or increases to meet new con-
ditions. Slow but steady paralysis wonld
creep into tho international arteries,
through which the blood OF commerce
flows. and tho transportation system
would gradually become numb and rigid
All rates would soon be machine made
only and commerce and industrial CEN
tres, acknowledging no bounds for the
ultimate distribution Of their products,
would find themselves operating In mar
rover and narrower zones, finally Cir
cumscrlhcd by governmental edicts as TO
where their wares should 60
Rights of Property.
'.Tha plano Of comforting upon the conf
mission the power to make or revise
rates and make them effective prior 70
review by courts would be opcntto the
decisive objection that It is necessarily
unjust to the railroads and opposed 10
the Fundamental princrte bf tNnglo-
Saxon jurisprudence that rights of prop
erty and persons shall be enforced and
protected according to due process or
law.
VIRTUALLY there is not n single respect
in which tho Interstate Commence COM
mission resembles n court. II ~ sorl
o.! a railroad grand jury, IN me courts
OF the country n grand Jury cannot Try
a case that 1t has investigated and In
nugurnted. nnd no member of the jury
can sit upon the Jury which tries the
case. Tho commission which investi-
gates offerscs and Initiates prosecutions
may and does In addition, SIT IN jude
4 n, ent uron some cnses which have been
~ s,,hiect Of the investigation md
nrosecutlon, In other words, the plain
ht,f IN the litigation Is the judge that
tries tho case All such features arc
utterly foreign to courts, ana they nre
utterly Incompatible with an Impartial
attitude, -
tribunal which Is or may no prosecutor.
tnrw and Judge, and, Mt the same time,
se ~, is equivalent to providing
nv statute for the enforcement OF COM
merclal lynch law,
Bass-Ould.
Mr.. Fitzgerald Bass and Miss Cecil Ould
were married at the residence OF DR..
George Bnrksdale. on thirty-second Street,
at ii O'clock yesterday morning.
b DR.. Eggleston performed the ceremony.
Only the immediate friends and relatives
were present. Mr. Bass is n prosperous
young farmer OF Halifax county, Miss
Ould is ono Of HaltaX's most beautiful
and charming young ladies',
5t Mr.. and Mrs, Bass returned yesterday ia
their home ut Ingram, Va.
ANNUAL EXHIBITION NORFOLK
HORSE SHOW, NORFOLK, VA.
OCTOBER 18TH TO 21ST,
For the above occasion the Chesapeake
and Ohio will sell tickets from Richmond,
to Norfolk and return, Including one adj
mission, at rate'of So; tickets on sale
let with final limit