The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-03


in high places"
Success, he said, and the admiration
for great wealth breaks down the line
between honesty and dishonesty. Leg
islatiOn could do much to correct these
evils of dishonesty. Publicity was one
step; to cease ,condoning great offenses
was another; to provide equality Of OPP
portunity, the third, To make 1t plain
that this corporation was so great that
il was above the law was, he said. a
duty Of congress and this should not be
confined to railways.
Mr.. Burton concluded with the state
ment that the present bill was q step
in the right direction and that he hoped
year by year others might be taken.
Throughout Burton commanded the
close attention Of members and re-
ceived applause and congratulations on
his conclusion.
South Dakota View.
Mr.. Burke Is. d. followed, having
been yielded an hour He favored the
bill and reviewed the legislative status
of rate regulating laws.
Mr.. Burke emphasized the necessity
of defeating all amendments that may
be proposed to the bill and have it
PASS the house by the largest vote
possible. To do this meant a gener-
ally good effort by the country and the
senate.
Speech in Opposition.
When Mr.. Burke concluded Mr.. Nc
bill
Mr.. Mccall made the point that the
bill delegated legislative as we'll as
judicial power to the commission.
You might as well delegate tariff leg
islatiOn to a commission" he declared.
Mr.. Mccall presented an extensive
argument in opposition to government
rate making. He said the pending bill
ought to deal particularly with re-
bates. This was what public opinion
demanded, until diverted to an ut
terly irrational and haphazard rem
edy."
The present effort Mr.. Mccall called
political rate making" Mr.. Mccall
said he preferred the liberty of the
courts to the cast-iron regulations of a
commission. He cOntended the orig
inal act creating the interstate COM
meTce commission did not grant the
rate-making power, and was not in
tended to. The pending bill, he insist
ed, gave power to set aside great
groups of rates It was a rate fixing
scheme Of most sweeping character.
AT the rate we are now going" Mr.
Mccall concluded, cit will not be long
before we regulate everything and
everybody from Washington"
Good Democratic Doctrine.
Mr. Russell of Texas. who followed
stated that President Roosevelt stood
with the Democratic party on the
question. Since 1896 that party had
advocated the very legislation now
pending, while the presidents first ut
terarce on the subject was in 1904
However, the president, he said, was
fighter. Would not the president
have charged up San Juan hill, just as
many of US thought he did, if he had
been there?" Oaughter).
He said the president had modified
his views since his first message the
first intimation of which was made
during his southern trip when at Ra-
leigh, n. c., he had declared that
authority should be given to name a
maximum" rate, while before he had
declared for a reasonable rate. After
this announcement, Mr.. Russell said,
railroad presidents tumbled over them
selves to get into the presidents band
wagon and rumOrs were current that
a compromise had been reached and
that the white flag had been run up
over the White house. The presidents
last message, he maintained, If fol-
lowed in legislation, would result in no
benefit whatever.
Rate Bill Explained.
Mr.. Russell explained this portion in
detail, saying it was just the point of
compromise betl, cen the Republicans
and Democrats of the committee. The
majority bill authorized the committee
to fix a maximum reasonable rate.
A maximum reasonable rate, he said,
was a fraction under extortiOn. The
minimum reasonable rate was a shade
higher than cOnfiscation. If the presi-
dents suggestion had prevailed and
the committee had declared the maxi
mum reasonable rate in a given case
TO be 40 cents a hundred when as a
matter of fact the actual maximum
rate was 80 cents, the court could set
the Ascent rate aside on the ground
that the commission was granted
authority only to fix the maximum
reasonable rate, and it had not done
so, and set the rate aside. 1t was
there the compromise in the bill came
in-the commission is under the terms
of the bill to fix the Just and reason
able maximum rate to be charged"
This, he said, eliminates from possible
litigation the question of what the
actual maximum is by explaining that
the maximum fixed is simply the max
imum ito be charged" or above which
the roads cannot charge,
The house, at 5:15 o'clock, adjourned
until tomorrow at II o'clock.