Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-30
MAKING TIE LAW nprous.

MAKING THE Law oDT0US.
Every measure designed TO curb the
arbitrary or unreasonable exactions Of
Public carriers has always been met
by attempts to make the law odious
The first practical railway regulation
measure In Nebraska was the law
famed by Judge George w. Doane,
stigmatized by the railroad managers
as the "Doane Tub Law"
The Doane law in its general provi-
sions was drawn in conformity with
the state constitution, which made 1t
obligatory on the legislature to enact
laws prohibiting unjust discrimination
between the patrons of railroads. 1t
provided that for like shipment over
like distance a like rate should be
charged, and prohibited a higher
charge for hauling freight over a
shorter distance than was charged for
a longer one over the Same line.
The traffic managers denounced this
law as imperative, unjust aEa extrav-
agant, but they promised to live up, to
It to the letter, and they lived up to
1t with a vengeance. In order to
make the law odious they refused to
carry exhibits to county and state fairs
without exaeting the same tolls that
we're charged to ordinary shippers for
the same class of commodities. They
also announced that no more excursion
rates would thereafter be granted in
Nebraska under any circumstances.
There was nothing in the Doane law
that prevented a railroad from max
ing a separate classification for the
transportation Of freight to fairs and
expositions, and there was nothing in
1T either to prohibit excursion rates,
providing that the same rate would
be charged to one set of excursionists
that would be charged to another set
of excursionists.
To make the Doane law still more
odious, the railroads raised their
freight rates in western Nebraska on
the plea that in carrying out the
provision that prohibited higher
| charge for shorter distance than for
a longer one they could not transport
commodities at the old rates. 1t was
to have been expected that the tactics
pursued twenty years ago in Nebraska
would be repeated in this as we'll as in
all the other states to make the new
interstate commerce law odious.
The first step toward making the
new law odious was taken promptly
by the new demurrage regulations.
against which Omaha jobbers and
heavy shippers have entered an earnest
! remonstrance. The new law granting
to the Interstate Commerce commission
the power to declare a rate unreason-
able and to substitute a reasonable
rate, subject to approval by the fed
eral courts, cannot be considered as
requiring a change of demurrage rules
any more than the law prohibiting
passes can be construed into a prohibit
| ton of the issuance of mileage books
to commercial travellers at lower rates
than are charged to ordinary passen-
| gers.
The compulsory discontinuance OF
rebates and drawbacks is not due to
the new interstate commerce law, but
to the fear that the law prohibiting
rebates and drawbacks enacted sew
eral years ago would be enforced by
the federal courts. Instead OF increas-
ing demurrage charges and imposing
heavier burdens upon jobbers and
heavy shippers, the railroads should by
rights have reduced the demurrage
rates, because they will save millions
of dollars heretofore paid in rebates
and drawbacks to the same class Of
patrons. But reduction or ameliora
ton of conditions would make the
new law popular. while the railroads
are bent upon making 1t odious.