Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1905-11-15

that is the consensus of opinion
here among lot of leading Demo-
Gratis who lately have visited the
National Capital.
Now, seriously, there has been
more rot written and printed about
this railroad rate business and the
So-called private car lines than
about anything else that has come
up here as news. A lot of hyster-
zeal people have jimminy fits about
the great OutrageS that have been
perpetrated by the railroads on the
shippers of the country and are
bowling Justify for the kind of
legislation that will check this
thing and give the people relief.
The truth of the matter is that
there now Is all the legislation on
the statute books of the country
sufficient to check and completely
eradicate the evils of rebates and
unjust determinations 10y the rail
roads of the country, if it were
only enforced by the present Re
publican administration in and
through its Department of Justice.
They won't do it and vet they set
up the hypocritical howl that they
have no way of doing things unless
the Congress will strengthen the
hands of the Interstate Commerce
Commission. They had the chance
to send Paul Morton. late Secre-
tary of the Navy under Teddy
Roosevelt and rebater-in-chief of
the Sante Fe railroad, into the
lookup on his own testimony. but
there was nothing doing from
Teddy'S standpoint. He wants to
put the corporation in hook" and.
| presume. place the charter i'm.
Jail. What idiotic rot and non
sense,
Don't believe it. ara telling
YOU straight. 1t Is all rot.
Why. a bill probably will be in
troduced into the next House of
Representatives to the effect that
ALT private car lines. all Pullman
palace car lines, all express com
panies, all telegraph companies.
will be placed under the iurisdic-
ton of the Interstate Commerce
Commission 80 it can regulate their
charges.
Do YOU think such Bill will
pass; Not on your life, I have
known members of Congress to |
have passes over the Pullman car
line and have franks over the ex-
press companies and over the diff |
ferent telegraph and telephone
companies, and some of them have |
them vet and they do not want to |
part with them. But none of them
have any pass over a refrigerator
car line and none of them want 10
ride in a refrigerator car. That's |
why they are making the refriger-
ator car lines the fall guy" the |
scapegoat of the whole situation.
1t isn't right, it isn't Democratic. |
1t isn't jusJ. Let the people de-
eide what they want and then let
Democrats help them to get it and
maintain it.
Finding that the Eastern and
Central States are both solidly op-
posed to his plan for rate fixing by
Commission, President Roosevelt
has invated the enemy's coun-
try" and made an appeal to the
Southern Congressman and Sena-
tors for support for his pet hobby. |
His Raleigh speech in which he /
outlined his position with regard
to railroad rate regulation was a
direct attempt TO offset Senator
Morgan 5 appeal to the Democratic |
South to remember State rights. |
and the danger of Capitalization |
of power in Washington, as we'll |
as the opposition which has devel- |
oped because of the fact that the |
legislation he proposes would do |
away with the Jim Grow" car
business in that section.
While the President did not re-
cede from his former position ex-
actly, he modified it to the extent
that instead of placing the power
in the hands of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, as originally
intended, he proposes to put it in
the hands of some administrative
body. In addition he evolved
the scheme for uniform system
Of bookkeeping for the railroads
and a system of governmental in
spection.
| don { imagine that the govern
mental inspection business is going