Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-05-23
NEW RATE BILL;
WHAT It WILL DO
REBATING COMES TO A COM.
PLETE END.
SOME VERY FAT JOBS
Interstate Commissioners Get $4,000
Salary and Hold Office for Seven
Years-No Universal Establish
ment of Freight Schedules in Con-
temptation.

The new railroad rate law which
is to come out OF congress is an eX-
tremely radical one. Ii properly ex-
ecuted it will revolutionize the rail-
road system of the country to a large
extent. AS the bill now stands III
puts under the control of the inter
state commerce commission every
fundamentally of commerce, both
for passengers and freight Not only
are the private car lines put under
the interstate commerce law but the
express companies, the sleeping car
companies. and similar subsidiary
corporations are all made amenableI
to governmental control. The inter
state commerce commission can fix
rate for icing a fruit car, ana itI
can similarly establish a tariff on
express packages and require the
sleeping car companies to give value
received for the money they now COZ
lect from the public
II will take, of course, a long while
for the interstate commerce commits
sion to reform the railroad system,
The commission has no initiative
whatsoever. 1t is a tribunal pure
and simple 1t can proceed only
/ upon complaints by interested per
sons, but when those complaints are
once made it has ample jurisdiction
and power to effect the necessary
changes in the interest of the public.
The first thing the president will have
to do will be to reorganize the com
mission. This is to be done by the
immediate appointment of two addi-
tional members, one for a term eX-
piring at the end of 1911 and anoth-
err who will hold over year longer.
This will make a commission of sew
en- members, holding office for seven
years each. and paid salary of s10
| 900 annually. The new law goes in
to effect as soon as 1t is signed by
| the president. He will lose no time
| in sending into the senate the names
of the new commissioners, and the
| chances are that before the end OF
| this month the commission will he
| ready to tackle the railroad situation
under its new powers of personal reg
ulation.
1t will take a long time to reform
the railroad rates of the whole coun-
try. The present members of the
commission have had a great deal OF
experience and they are beginning to
prepare themselves for active work.
| Under the new law the commission
will of course not attempt to estab-
| lish a system of railroad rates of its
own, Every freight rate, however
| insignificant in itself, has a definite
relation to all other rates.
The first work undertaken by the
commission, therefore, will be 10
| take into consideration some one
complaint and endeavor to discover
4 whether the tariff as fixed by the rail-
| roads is reasonable or not. In case
/ the commission decides a chang5
must be made it probably will be
| necessary to install at the same time
an entirely new system of freight
! rates in that particular territory. A
decision by the commission as to the
proper rate for hauling a particular
| kind of freight between two points
almost certainly will involve a re
casting of the tariff rates to hundreds
Of other points and possibly upon
/ dozens of other commodities. de
cision as TO the rate on coal from
Bloomington to Chicago would nec~
| sarily involve a consideration of rates
| from all the bituminous coal fields in
the west.
At the outset the interstate com
| meree commission is certain to be
swamped with business. Every ship.
per who is dissatisfied with his freight
rates viii have the right to file a
complaint, and there may be thou
sands and tens Of thousands Of cases
brought before the commission al
most from the beginning. There is
no expense to the shipper or the con
sumer. The government assumes
all the burden Of litigation. no mat
ter how far the case goes in the
courts.
At first, therefore, the railroads viii
Rave a busy time of it defending
themselves against all sorts oil
charges. many of which will be en-
tirelv without foundation. After d
short time, however, it will be discov
| cred that a single decision by the
commission will really dispose of hun
dreds of these complaints. and after
the first rush 1t is likely that the
commission will only be appealed to
to decide certain cases of great i'm
portance which will determine tariff
rates over a wide area. There is
practically no limit to the power OF
the interstate commerce commission
over the railroads. 1t can establish
a new system of classifcations. pre-
scribe uniform bills of lading, enc
regulate all sorts of subsidiary
charges for terminal service. switch
ing. refrigerating, and other side is
sues.
Experience has shown that the bic
trusts and favored shippers have not
been given open rebates, but have
been favored in other ways. lnas'
much as the commission will be en-
abled to fix charges of all kinds for
| transportation, it win cut off practic
!