Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-17
FOURTH N A SERIES
OF Laws Having the Same End
in View.
DEFENDING THE PEOPLE
Against the Encroachments of Big
Corporations.
WHEN RATE BILL Is PASSED
Railroads Are Content That They
Have the Fullest Right Of Appeal
to the Courts.

Within a few weeks there will be added
to the federal statutes new law defending
the people against the encroachments Of
corporations. 1t will be the fourth in a
series of laws having the same end In view.
When the railway rate bill now pending In
the Senate passes into the perfected stage
OF legislation 1t will put the capstone upon
structure of laws designed to check cor
porate ruthlessness.
The first of the series was the interstate
commerce law, enacted in 1887. 1t was at
best feeble measure because 1t was shorn
of Its effect in large part by designing men
acting In the interest of corporations. The
commission was given the power to declare
but not the authority to enforce in full de-
gree. The commission could upset rate
fixed by a railroad but could not supply
another. The commission was fiouted openly
by the railroads. defied in the courts and
Its decisions were often upset.
Yet, all the time it was doing good work
for the people and was calling attention to
evils that existed and that could be cured
by adequate legislation. In one respect the
commission performed very valuable serv-
Ice; 1t pointed out, through its hearings and
decisions, abuses that obtained and whet-
ted the appetite of shippers and the pub
lie for remedial legislation.
4hc NCAC 1TcdC GuaCCmenL.
The next great enactment in the same
line was the Sherman antitrust law OF
1880. For long time it remained a dead
letter. practically. on the statute books
The corporations laughed at 1t. Gigantic
trusts were formed and carried on their
operations openly and boldly. The people
complained from time to time, but the
trusts paid no attention to their mutterings
and went gaily along with the big game.
Finally, the boldest stroke of all was at
tempted. The great Northern Securities
merger was foated. 1t had for object the
controlling by two or three men of the en-
tire system of railway transportation be-
tween the Mississippi river and the Pacific
coast from the Canadian border to the gulf
That plan contemplated not only the
monopoly of the freight and passenger car
rying business Of the great empire growing
up west of the Mississippi, but hal in view
the control of the glorious commercial flu
ture that was arising above the oriental
horizon, as the policy of expansion was be-
ing developed. 1t was a daring undertake
ing, this effort of less than half a dozen
men sitting around a table In New York to
hog the most Industrious portion Of the
habitable globe
About that time there was a smal1-stat-
ured, bald-headed man of modest mein, but
prodigfous brain. sitting up in room over
looking Mcpherson Square-Attorney Gem
eral Knox, to wit, In the Department of
Justice. He tumbled over the Revised Stat
utes and picked out the Sherman act, under
authority of which he went after that mer-
ger, hammer and tongs. The Supreme
Court upheld his contention and demolished
the merger. Since then other trusts have
been attacked and today half dozen of
the great combinations are on the rack.
The Elkins Anti-Rebate Law.
The next legislative act in the same d.
rection was the Elkins anti-rebate law Of
1908. For years the public had been COM
planning that railroads were violating the
spirit of the interstate commerce law by
publishing their rates in accordance with
law and then giving secret rebate to ia
vored shippers The railroads were COM
plainants, as well as the public, for often
the roads were forced to give the rebates
when they were not Justly due, and it
meant loss of profit to them
The EkinS act Is supposed to have cor
rected many of the evils of rebating al
though the Department of Justice has re-
Gently declared that the Sugar Trust and
several railroads are still engaging in the
practice. and the department Is going after
them. The Elkins law, however. Is an
important feature of this consecutive plan
of regulation of corporations.
When the rate bill passes 1t will be in
some respects the most radical example Of
governmental control of business and in
dustrial affairs ever attempted in this
country. Although 1t is not yet completed,
its general features are agreed upon to the
cAlSnl llleat liicy Sdil DC ulsCuSoeO dl tiIlS
time.
The most important provision of the bill
Is the authority given the interstate COM
merce commission TO declare that rate
fixed by a railroad Is not Just and reason
able, and to state in terms what is
just and reasonable rate. That rate Is to
stand and be enforced unless 1t Is en-
Joined, suspended or set aside by the court.
The railroad company will have to go
into court and spend it's money to contest
the rate, the government defending in be-
half of the shipper, the latter not putting
up q cent
The Railroads Content.
The railroads are content that they have
the fullest right of appeal to the courts.
That they have insisted upon all the time,
and they finally secured 1t, many of the
ablest men in the Senate holding that It
could not and should not be withheld. The
fear has been expressed that the rail-
roads will use this power to hang up"
contested rates and keep the unjust rate
in existence pending tedious legal proceed
ings. but the answer made to that Is that
there is provision for speedy final trial, and
that 1t will be to the interest Of the roads
to have quick settlement.
The authority of the Interstate commerce
commission is broadened to cover pipe
lines, express companies, switches, ter
minals. storage facilities, icing charges
and all the side issues Of railway trans
portation which In the past have lent them
selves to Determinations against small
shippers in favor of great corporations.
These special privileges made most of
the trouble, and under the old laws the
commission could not reach them. The
commission can In the future compel rail-
roads to connect with short private lines
and give facilities to shippers of the main
line. There is also regulation Of through
freight routes over connecting but different
lines. This will remove another source OF
discrimination.
The provision prohibiting after May I,
1905 railroads from owning coal, lumber or
other properties will give private owners
of mines equal transportation facilities.
These are the main. broad features of the
prospective new law that interest the gen.
eral public.