Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21

| A. B. Stickney.
| President Chicago and Northwestern Railway.
| photo by Staff Photographer.
vent preferential rates by merely insisting
| upon a provision of the law that requires
| the publication of the entire tariff of a
! road whenever a change is made Speak
| ing Of this phase of the law which Mr..
| Sticlney has presented TO the commission,
| he said:
| Purpose of the Commission.
! The prime purpose of the interstate
| commerce law is to prevent all kinds of
| discrimination in rates The method of pre-
venting them adopted by the law is to re-
quire the carriers to publish a schedule Of
| all of their rates in such form that persons
| of ordinary understanding can by inspec-
| ton of the schedules determine for them
| selves all the legal IA ties. The law requires
| each carrier when rates changed to re-
| print its schedules, that at all times
| the shipper by inspection determine the
| legal rates. s55
| This important provision of the law has
| always been disregarded by the railways
| and they. have made changes inrates not by
| reprinting the whole schedule, but by print
| ing supplemental schedules and amendment
| by circulars and otherwise. until their
| schedules are now in such shape that a citi-
zen in order to ascertain the legal rate is
| compelled to examine not only the schedules
but in some cases more than one hundred
supplemental amendments. circulars and
rules. each of which modfies or changes
one or more of the legal rates
| This and other practices has got the
scneduieS in such confusion that none but
the expert schedule clerk. who does nothing
but keep track of the amendments circu-
lars and rules can possibly tell the legal
| rates They are in such confusion that in
many instances there are several schedule
rates between the same points In one case
which has been called to my attention
there were seven different rates published
| IN seven different schedules issued by the
| same road.
| In case tried before the interstate COM
merce commission on a shipment to Little
! Rock Ark, the shipper was charged and
made to pay a schedule rate of (say) 20
| cents per hundredweght The shipper an
pealed to the commission. The auditor OF
the commission found the T0-cent rate in
one schedule, and later found a rule in
! another schedule which reduced the rate to
30 cents. The shipper being still dis
| satisfied, the auditor of the commission
made still another search and found an
other rule another schedule which re-
| duced the rate to 80 cents. The time oc-
cupied IN searching for the 30-cent rate
am told by one of the commissioners was
five full days. These three rates upon the
same commodity could not possibly have
| existed II the schedules had been changed
| as the law provides by republshng the
| original schedules instead of filing fifty or
sixty hastily prepared amendments.
Prohibit Printing Of Irrelevant Rules.
The commission should also prohibit the
printing on one schedule rules which are
| not germahe to the rates contained in such
| schedules. but are intended to modify the
rates which are published in other schedules
pertaining to different and other commodi-
| ties
The effect of the list OF suggestions made
to che commission by MT Stickney Is to
| secure the publication OF tariff sheets in
way that may be understood by any ship
per, so as to place all shippers on an equal
| ity, not only technically under the law hut
in actual practice.
when you think that since the inter-
state commerce act was passed eighteen
years ago said Mr., Stickney, there have
been 25o00o0 tariff sheets fled or 400 a
day. you will realize how difficult 1t is for
shipper to keep himself informed OF rates
even II the tariff sheets are the embodI-
ment OF simplicity Itself The law will
never be successfully enforced If the COM
mission depends on occasional prosecutions
OF railroads for its violations. You might
as well get rid of a mosquito pest by ap-
pointing a commission to catch mosquitoes
found in the act of depositing their malariaI
poisons in the bodies of citizens. A railroad
that is to secure 100000 worth OF freight
by violating the law may be willing to pay
a fine of $4,000.
Dishonesty Of Determinations
The fact is with all that we may do
iook upon the work OF educating the pubic
generally and the railroad in particular
10 the dishonesty of railway dscrimina-
lions as the prime means for getting rid OF
them The law is well enough. but it will
not stamp them out alone. Men must be
brought to q sense of the meanness of such
practices before they can be stamped out
and then the law viii remain to take care
Of cases that may arise occasionally. It is
Ike law against stealing. Men do not re-
frain from ordinary theft because of q
fear OF being fined or imprisoned When go
to England I do not care to inform myself
about the penalties for violating the laws
| and do not care to inquire about acts that
are legal or illegal. My sense of proper
| conduct guides me. So II should be in re-
spect to this class OF acts concerning rail-
| road rates. sense OF honesty should pre-
| vent a man from seeking or from Offering
| advantages that are unfair to others When
men look upon such practices an of tho
same nature az ordinary theft then they
| win become as rare as ordinary theft.
| I'm the meantime the comnnfssiOn should