Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-05-03
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
Equal Justice to People and
Railroads.
DEMOCRATIC POLICY OUTLINED,

republicans Invited to Join In Mink
ing the Hepburn BiH EHc~ctive-Vhe
Shippers Must BE Protected From
the Laws Delays-A Reasonable
Proposition,
That was Il most interesting debate
on the railrond rate regulation bill
which occurred in the senate on March
Z, In which Senator Bailey of Texas
outlined a policy for the Democrats OIL
what Senator Tillman termed the ''spi-
nal cord of this whole question" Sen
ator Bailey stated that when Il rate is
once established by the interstate com
mcrce commission lit is not u%nreuso
able 10 require that that rate shall re-
main in force until the question has
beer thoroughly determined upon it's
merits by the court. TO say that a
rate established by a commission Of
men supposed to be especially fit for
the performance of that duty shall be
set aside by a judge who may know
everything about the law, but may
know very little about the justice of a
railroad rate, is, to my mind, conceding
more than congress is under the neces-
sity OF conceding to What are called
the inherent equity powers Of the
court"
But Senator Bailey clinched his con-
tention by saying that Gin view Of the
fact that in most of the states in the
Union when the railroad comes to
take the citizens property and they
disagree about the price which shall
be paid the carrier is authorized to ap-
ply TO the court for the appointment of
d commission, and when that commits
sion assesses the value of the property
actually taken and the damages to the
remainder Of the tract the carrier can
deposit the assessment with the court
and appropriate the citizens property
to it's use, it seems to me we are not
asking too much when the citizen is
compelled to apply to the commission
to assess the value of the carriers serv-
ice to permit the citizen to have it at
the value assessed by a commission,
just as the railroad was permitted to
take the citizens property at the value
assessed by a commission.
1T does not seem to me that there is
any difference in principle, and l sug-
gest that we all agree upon al amend
ment which provides against the sus-
pension of rates by ~interlocutory de-
cree, and then in justice to the car
rier-because l want to be just to the
railroad as we'll as l do to the shipper
expedite the decision. I have never
seen the hour when I would consent
to close the doors of the courts Of this
country to any person, mol have | ever
the time that l wanted to obstruct
the free and open access Of every man
protection of his property rights. But
opening the doors as wide to the rail
roads as to the shipper-and l want
them to stand equally open and as
widely open to Il as to the other
still it seems to me that we should pro-
vide for the rate established by the
commission to remain in effect until
finally suspended by the court upon a
full investigation into the merits Of
the case and provide that when this
suit shall be instituted it shall have
precedence over every other case Oh
the docket of a different nature, first in
the trial court and then in the court to
which it might be appealed. When
that is done there car be no serious
delay in the final adjudication of the
case upon it's merits"
That should appeal to every one as
a fair proposition, and If the Republic
ans are really in earnest to enact a law
that will protect the shippers from un-
reasonable rates and prevent the rail
roads from taking advantage Of the
laws delay they will join Senator Bal
ley, as he invited them to, in perfecting
and voting for such an amendment to
the Hepburn bill as will insure relief,
because. it will stand the constitutional
test that the supreme court must
eventually decide.