The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-03
RATE BILL FIGHT
 NEARING THE END
TIME LIMIT VOTING ON AMEND
 MENTs BEGIN TOMORROW.
victory for President Roosevelt Looms Up Brighter as Decks Are Cleared for Final
 Action.

\ hs
 | vote has been agreed upon, but it was | decided in the Senate this afternoon to begin voting on the amendments ts
 under the fifteen minute rule next l Friday, and continue on that basis
 until all pending amendments are dis- posed of.
 There are upwards of seventy amend 1 ments already proposed. and number l of others undoubtedly will be dropped into the hopper before Friday. Un-
 der the. rule. each Senator will have the
 right to speak for fifteen minutes on each amendment. As there are nine ty Senators, with nearly hundred amendments. it might be possible to
 postpone the final vote for weeks.
 In practice, however, when the Sem ate once agrees to take up amendments l in their order the end is not far of. By a week from Friday the rate bill | ought to be on it's way to the con- I ference committee. After that pretty | much everything will be easy, because I the chances are that any action taken by the Senate will be accepted by ne l house if it is agreeable to the admin | istration.
 I With the railroad bill out of the way | bv May Il. the senate will be able to l clean up it's other business rapidly, and the Adjournment of Congress will | become possible at amost any tune
 after June I, with June i5 as the prob able limit
 Railroad senators on the Run. i There is no doubt the railroad Sem l ators arc on the run. They have maoe hard fight, but have been beaten on \ their own ground. largely. if not en. | tirely, through the potential personai influence of the president.
 As the matter now stands. the hep- | burn -Dofiiver bill probably will be | s,afky fn fha nxtauf that IS l satisfactory to tho president. He IS | not vfndictive nor opinionated. he | wants to secure the largest measure I of protection for the interests Of ship pers without sacrificing the property 1 of railroads. He is endeavoring seili, as he has always endeavored, to se- cure the passage of q law giving the | lnterstate commerce commission the
 right to fix rates upon complaint and
 after a proper hearing
 This general principle will surely be enacted into la wat this session of Con- Eress. The railroads have ceased to fight the idea itself and will be per
 fectly willing to compromise on court
 of review amendment which may re-
 suit in tiresome delay but which will
 not affect the general principle of gov
 ernmental regulation of railroad rates
 In determining just how far he will yield on the subject of court review or
 tho action of the Interstate Commerce Commission President Roosevelt has
 shown himself to be singularly patient and tactful He never apparently has lost sight of the goal at which he has been aiming, but he has been willing to listen to expert lawyers in the Cab- , met, in the Senate, and in the House of Representatives..
 Pr.blcm studied by President. II He has studied the railroad question . probably as carefully as any man in the country He has listened to rail- road officials describe how rates arc
 made He has received deputations of . shippers who have told him how rates should not be made, and he has fol- , lowed the arguments of great consti-
 tutional lawyers like Spooner, Knox l Tart, and Root. but, more than all, he has read newspapers and magazines
 and out of his own good. hard sense
 he has arrived at a general program, . which he has not yet modified, and | which believe will not be substantial
 ly changed so far as the President can | coatrul the course of events.
 | Having won his fight for the general l principle that a Government tribunal
 should have the statutory right to hear
 complaints against railroad charges and fix the rate which would be fair to
 carrier and shipper alike, the President has devoted his entire attention of late
 to the one point of providing for a l proper appeal to the courts so as to protect the interests of shipper and feonsumer by preventing delays. Under what Is called broad review by the courts" which Is what the rail- l roads now are striving for, 1t would ! probably be possible to hang up the | decision reached by the Interstate Com l merce Commission for so long a time l that shippers and consumers would be- come tired of waiting for relief and would be forced to send on their goods at the higher rate. On tho other hand if there is little or no chahce for re- view by the courts, the decision Of the 1 Interstate Commerce Commission prac-
 tically would be final.
 Wants Strongest Possible Law. l In the long run this might result in } serious injury to the railroad proper ties of the country if the commission was made up of incompetent men, or if 1t was filled with demagogues. who 1 were willing to sacrifice great vested l interests for the sake of mere popular approval. Both these contingencies are l more or less extreme and unlikely. The l chances are that in any event the la 1 tent power of the Interstate Commerce Commission will be sufficient to force
 the railroads to treat the public fairly l whether review by the courts be limited 1 or unlimited.
 Naturally enough, however, President l Roosevelt. who occupies a peculiar po-
 sition in this fight. desires to see the l law which is to be passed made as l strong as possible. He is willing there
 shall be provided specifically a right of appeal to the courts on constitn- 1 tional uuestions so that after the l commission has fixed rate the rail l roads may go into court to show. Il they can. that the rate would be ur- fair to them and would require them tc
 transport goods at less than cost. Beyond that the President does not desire to go. and unless he is forced tc l, do so he will not accept the broad re- 1 view amandment. which will enable l railroads to go into the courts and fiEh , 1 the wholA case over again there. brinf , evidence as to the reasonableness o' , unreasonabieness of a rate. call up thu questions of differentials and of com petine routes, and involve the court 1T l a fog of technical questions which thu
 law intended should be settled abso' 7 ltely by the Interstate Commerce Com mission. A tribunal created forthat spec fife prpose.
 Hard Fight Certain in Senate
 If he could have his own way. regard
 less of what the constitution prescrihes 2 the President would not write into tn ! proposed law any provision whateve l for court review. He would insist Una , | the railroads should rely on their con . stitmtional privileges. Merely to proven | the law being declared unconstitutionaI l he has accepted a court review pro vision which defines clearly the exten
 to which he has been willing to go , When the Senate begins its Votln' } | upon the amendment next Friday tner