Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-01-14

lle w. work of the Interstate aai ,rce commission as coi''p'eN - ra says ,.oa;s JUS p'ie'0 ond communities who 1s !, , thev s would have better e ehahee ahess l, t m tiug what they want Il s snes aSi5.aa 'lne ent their case to a sympa- ooisi Pfes Commission. But imagine s,tn's the aea '0 of commission to when $ 5l ods s or thousands of such claims 's ens sa presented. How could any ! ion D deals with them? It would ,os 'ss,d s.adngly difficult to find com ue A's sss of requisite knowledge ience Hsu and ability for so tremena. a a task. Such work now occop'es s, .ods of highly-pa.d traffic of- $ but none of these deems mn m r .otont to pass upon traffic :a ars except in the territory With
 bo is familiar. Some cohmu-
 uou1d feel aggrieved by every ' sion of the commission. There ?, ~ ho sectional appeals and re- 'e rould be had to polif cal inf1u-
 Taking the case of the New ,ua and North Caroliea cotton
 ,ot us suppose that after tho
 s.mont of the proposed law the
 prstate Commerce c2nmlssioh
 ,,,d decide to readjust the differ
 ;a1 rates to these mills by inereas-
 the advantaee of the North Nafo-
 lille One can imagine what
 assure would be exerted upon con
 lsn,on and senators to make the
 ,,n,;csion change the.r ruling as
 :, os the towns in New England de-
 ndent upon the eotton-weaVing 1h-
 stry began to feel the bad effect
 tbe commission interference.
 robably the commission woula be
 wood to establish a tariff of rates
 ocod m distance. It has leaned
 bat way in the past This is what
 ovornment bureaus controlling rail-
 av rates in other countries have
 me In no other way could the
 commission protect itself against
 harges of favoritism toward particu- lar markets and sections. However, here can be no doubt that the in- kroduction of distance tariffs upon onr railways would be national mis- fortune. It would teGd to stop long i |hauls The currents of commerce (which now flow unhinderel in natural |channels would be impeded, and |the interior of the country would be broken up into comparatively small areas around local trs dir conters. The restriction of trade W nlG weak en the commercial ties between the different regions. and the people who live in them would feel less interest in each other.
 The present interstate commerce act and is amendments. iaclud ng the Elkins act. prohibit and r nder ll- legal virtually all these acts which are the grounds of complaint against the railway companies. People, how ever, are net satisfied With the in, terstate commerce act, because i has not been fully enforced. and the r2a- son for the failure to enforce 1t that no adequate machinery has heeN provided for ascertaining violations ol the law and for bringing offenders to justice. If an energetic enforcement Of the law were assured, the wrono- ful railway practices would cease. To 1evise and enact legislation which would secure the enforcement of the interstate commerce act would be a wiser and safer course to take than 0 lmperl the business of the coun- ny by trying the dangerous eXperi- nent of giving the rate-making power ( the Interstate Commerce commits 'lon. Legislation of this character las been suggested, and it is yet pos lble that the president after further judy of the question may prefer the ncre conservative course to the plan e has heretofore favored. The fol owing points would probably be em- odled in law designed to give full meet to the prohibitions of the inter- tate commerce act: Part of the work hlch is now imposed upon the over- Interstate Commerce com slon should be taken away and rahsferred perhaps to the department commerce. The department should . relieved of it's quasi-judicial func- ohs, and should be enabled to con- ehtrate it's energy upon it's police du- les and prosecuting functions. To HIS end authority should be given to nploy an adequate number of spec'al