The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-05-02
RAILROAD NEWS.
Fight on the Rate Bill Is Near
ing the End.
Voting on Seventy Amendments
to Begin on Friday.
OPPOSITION ON RUN.
Victory for President Looms Up
Brighter Than Ever.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
in Railroad Circles.
OPPOSITION ON RUN.

washington. May 2.-Unless there are
some unexpected developments, the rate
bill win get through the senate by the
end IF next week No formal date Tor
the fnaI vote has been agreed upon, but
it was decided in the senate yesterday
afternoon to begin voting on the amend
ments under the fifteen minute rule next
Friday. md continue on that basis until
all pending amendments are disposed
OF.
There are upwards of seventy amend
ments already proposed. and number
of others undoubtedly will be dropped
intot the hopper before Friday Unqef
the rule, each senator will have the
right to speak for fifteen minutes on
each amendment. AS there are ninety
senators. with nearly hundred amend
ments, It might be possible 10 postpone
the i-aal vote for weeks.
In ,ractice. however when the SEN
ate once agrees to take up amendments
in their order the end is not far off BY
q week from Friday the rate bill ought
to be on its way to the conference com
mittee. After that pretty much every
thing viii be easy, because the chances
are tnat any action taken by the SEN
is agreeable to the administration.
There is no doubt the railroad sen
ators are on the run. They have MADE
a hard Apb+ but have been beaten on
their own ground. largely, II not en-
tirely through the potential personal
influence of the president
AS tne~matter now stands, the Hep
burn-Dolliver bill probably Will pc
amerded only to the extent that IS salts
factory to the president. He is not vim
dictive nor opiniOnated. He wants TO
secure the largest measure Of protection
for the interests Of shippers without
sacrificing the property Of railroads. He
IS endeavoring still. as he has always
endeavored, to secure the passage OF q
law giving the interstate commerce COM
mission the right to fix rates upon com
plant and after a proper nearing
This general principle viii surely be
enacted into law at this session Of
congress. The railroads have ceased to
fight the idea itself and viii be per-
fectly willing to compromise on a court
of review amendment which may result
in tiresome delay but which will not
affect the general principle Of govern
mental regulation Of railroad rates.
In determining just how far he viii
Yield on the subject of court review Of
the action of the interstate commerce
commission President Roosevelt has
shown himself to be stngularly patient
and tactful. He never apparently has
lost sight Of the goal at which he has
been aiming. but he has been willing
to listen to expert lawyers in the cabi
net. IN the senate, and in the house OF
representatives.
He has studied the railroad question
probably as carefully as any man in
the country. He has listened to rail-
road officials describe how rates are
made. He has received Populations of
shippers who have told him how rates
should not be made, and he has fol-
lan-fra
tional lawyers like SpOoner, Knox. Taft
and Root but. more than all he has
read newspapers and magazines, and
out Of his own good hard sense he has
arrived at a general programme, which
he has not yet modified, and which will
not be substantially changed so far as
the president can control the course of
events.
Having won his fight for the general
princfpie that a government tribunal
should have the statutory right to hear
complaints against railroad charges and
fix the rate which would be fair to
carrier and shipper alike, the president
has devoted his entire attention of late
to the one point of providing for a pro-
per appeal to the courts so as to pro
tect the property interests Of the rail-
roads, but at the same time. so far as
such thing can be done by law, to pro-
tect the interests of shipper and con-
sumner by preventing DELAYS.
Under what is called a broad review by
the courts which is what the railroads
now are striving for, it would probably be
possible to hang up the decision reached
by the Interstate commerce commission
for so long time that shippers and con
sumers would become tired of waiting for
relief and would be forced to send on their
goods at the higher rate. On the other
hand, Il there is little or no chance for
review by the courts the decision of the
interstate commerce commission practi-
cally would be final
In the long run this might result in ser
ious injury to the railroad properties of
the country If the commission was made