The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-06
regulation of the railways of this coun-

regulation of the railways of this coun-
try, and a closer governmental super
vision than that afforded by the inter-
state commerce act of 1887, was clear
as Mr.. Roosevelt. The connection be-
tween the monopoly of the industrial
combinations and the railway abuses
emphasized this. The interstate COM
merce act has been amended from time
to time since its passage, and in the
first administration of Mr.. Roosevelt
the subject Of rebates in the so-called
Elktns bill was treated in more datai
than in the original interstate COM
merce act, and was made more effec-
tive in that way; but still the power
OF the Interstate commerce commission
over the carrier was limited to deter
mining whether rate was unreason-
able, and Its order requiring rail-
road company to fix a reasonable rate
could only be made effective through
a mandatory decree of federal court.
Ihfs act only involved delay in the en-
forcement of its orders but took away
from the commission the poyer and
dignity essential to make it respected
by the railroad companies and greatly
limited Its usefulness. 1t was of i'm
portance that the commission should
have the power, when it found a rate
unreasonable, to fix what was a rea-
sonable rate. or at least to say that
any rate beyond a certain maximum
was unreasonable. This was the great
reform which Mr.. Roosevelt in his
second administration recommended
to congress, and which in one session
of that congress has been brought to
a successful result. The increased
power and efficiency of the interstate
commerce commission under the new
law can not fail to remove many of
the evils of discrimination in favor of
persons and places caused by fixing
of unequal rates, and will operate dir
ectly to withhold from the great mon
opolizing corporations the chief instru-
ment they have been using in driving
competition out of business. There
were seventeen original proceedings
begun and prosecuted for violation Of
the interstate commerce act under Mr..
Harrison, thirty-two under Mr.. Cleve-
land, twelve under Mr.. Mckinley, and
there have been begun, and are be-
ing prosecuted, more than silky under
Mr.. Roosevelt.
Additional LegislntiOn Needed.
1t is probable that in order to secure
speedy and effective prosecutions of all
violations of the antitrust law and
the country over, the executive ma
chinery for carrying on the work
which is enormous in detail and re-
quires skill and legal knowledge of a
high order, must be greatly increased
and special bureaus created by legis-
latfon. There is no doubt that for a
decade or more after the passage of
the trust act, and the interstate COM
merce act, those who were violating
their provisions regarded their vague
ness and the difficulty of proof of the
facts as rendering them immune from
prosecution and making the laws dead
letters. But while the mills of the gov
eminent have ground slowly, they are
grinding exceedingly small, and the
seriousness of carrying on a business
in violation of the terms of the Sher-
man antitrust act, or the interstate
commerce act, made clear as those
terms have been made, by judicial de-
cision, aided by additional COMPRESSION
al legislation, is impressing itself on
those members of the business COM
munity prone to unjust methods.
Shows UseFessness Of Vehement De.
nuDefatfon Of Trust EVIL. Without
Definite Remedie. Of a Pratical
Kind.
A close study of the history of this
contest which has been going on for
the suppression of these trust evils
shows that the work of eliminating
them from our economic system is full