Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-04-27

has been betrayed by the Hepburns,
Aldriches, Elkinses, Spooners and Fora
kers when it reads the invaluable con-
tribution to the literature of the cam
paign which Senator La Toilette has
made. President Roosevelt, too, will
learn a great deal about the perfdious
counsels of the railroad Congressman
who have gained his ear when he con-
siders the crimes of the Hepburn bill
as they are exhaustively exposed in the
La Toilette address.
The railroad press bureau will not
spend thousands of dollars to circulate
that document. But no student of the
question can afford to miss the reading
OF it. Not one OF its more than 100000
words can be dispensed with by any
citizen who desires to understand the
extent to which he is being robbed daily
by the corrupt coalition of railroads,
trusts and Congress. The La Toilette
brief becomes the peoples text book on
the most vital question before the coun-
try to-day.
From the reading of this argument,
with its collation. of every judicial de-
cision having pertinent bearing on
the many phases of the problem, its
clear and consecutive story of the
thirty years of vain contention for a
square deal, its lusty and fearless dem
Of hn
, against the public, the layman as well
as the lawyer will rise armed to smash
every sophistry the special pleaders
have conceived.
The service performed by Senator La
Toilette is to show what is necessary
for fair test of the power of govern
ment, operating through private capital,
to bring about a square deal in trans
portation without resort to the alterna-
, tive of governmental operation.
The gaping holes in the Hepburn bill
are:-
! 1t affords the Interstate Commerce
Commission no means of getting at the
reasonableness of a rate through the
appraisal of railroad property. The
railroads have a capitalization of thir-
teen billions on an investment of five
billions. Mr.. La Toilette finds that "'if
per cent, Is a fair rate of earning, the
railroads of this country are charging
annually at least S4s5, 000,0 900 more for
transportation than is a fair return
upon the investment and just COM
pensation for the services rendered"
This is a sufficient answer to the plaus-
ible plea that when rebates are pre-
vented the railroad problem will be
solved.
The Hepburn penalties are too light.
Imprisonment ought to be provided.
Unlimited court review, of course,
means a retrial of cases decided by the
commission, and this means defeat of
the shipper.
The Hepburn bill does not give the
commission the right to initiate com
plants. This shuts out the shipper who
is not equipped for fight with the
powerful railroad.
The commission does not have the
power over classification. Without this
right to change classification the whole
purpose of the bill can be destroyed.
Authority is not conferred on the
commission to stop unjust discrimina
ton between localities.
No attempt is made to reduce the
unnecessary annual slaughter of train
men and passengers, which can be pre-
vented to large extent by approved
safety appliances.
On the broad general aspects of the
question Mr.. La Toilette has made some
points which in disconnected form viii
give some idea of the force of his argu
; ment for a rate regulation bill that will
really regulate:
To permit the railroads to control the
+ analysis, to permit the railroads to con
troll the country.
| maintain, then, that the authority o
) government to control transportation
both as to the character of the service
and the rate of the service, is inheren
8 as right of sovereignty, and that tn,
: obligation rests upon government to ex
: ercise this power.
Arguments have been made in opposi
= ton to this legislation that have been re
t jected again and again by the Suprem