The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-08-20

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I'm the rate bill, congress amended
the Elkins bill and restored imprison
ment as part of the punishment for
secret rebates. Had the rebating and
dishonest practices of the railroad
companies and the trusts been as
clearly known to congress and the
public when the Elkins bill was con.
sidered as they were when the rate bill
was passed, the Elkins bsll would not
have passed so smoothly.
"I do not wish to decry the merits
of the Elkins bill because, aside from
its elimination of Imprisonment as
! punishment, II Is most useful
measure, but its scope is so narrow in
respect OF the regulation OF railways
that 1t cannot be compared in import
ance Of operation and effect to the rate
bill The increase BY the rate bill in
| the powers Of the commission in super
vision. investigation, ratefixing and ef-
| fective order-making to prevent dis
| elimination is great. Elaborate ma.
chinery for making It difficult to vio-
late the law without discovery and for
discovering violations when they exist,
and for affording Affirmative and man
datory relief in requiring railroads to
! furnish equal facilities to all, is found
in the provisions of the new rate bill.
Criminal prosecutions will continue to
be under the Elllins law, but as amend
cause the Elkins law, as amended, con.
tains the part Of the interstate com
merce legislation which prescribos the
punishment for violations of the law
and so, in ordinary practice, comes
into operation after the violations have
been discovered under the other pro-
visions of the rate bill.
Why Such Railroad opposition7
IF the rate bill was likely to be a
failure and to accomplish nothing in
the regulation of their business, the
query naturally arises why did the
railroads spend so much money and so
great effort to defeat It? Why was It,
II It had no effect, that in the interval
between the time of its passage and
its going into effect, there were filed
with the interstate commerce commits.
sion, more notices of reduced rates
by the railroads than ever had been
filed in the previous twenty years of
the life of the interstate commerce
law?
Attitude Of Country Toward Rats Bill.
"The passage of the bill was taken
the country over, and properly taken,
as a most important step toward the
suppression of abuses which had
grown up in a period of tolerant pros
perity. II was thought to be an effec-
tive cure of the arterial system of the
country which had become poisoned by
dishonesty, injustice and fraud. It was
the country outraged by recent revela.
tions of railway and trust manage
ment. Passed at the instance of Mr.
Roosevelt, it stands as monument to
the principle which he has incessant-
ly maintained in speech and action,
that the laws must be so made that
they can be enforced as well against
the sins Of the wealthy and the power
full as against those OF the poor.
Error of Mr.. Bryan.
"Mr. Bryan contends that the law
was greatly weakened in authorizing,
or recognizing judicial Intervention to
restrain the orders of the commission.
The criticism has not the slightest
foundation. There can be no judicial
appeal in the nature OF complete re-
view on the merits from the commits
sion to the supreme court or to the
circuit court of the United States, for
the commission is not a court of first
instance, but only mere administra'
tive tribunal.
Amendments to Rate Bill Needed.
"The rate law does not go far enough.
The practice under 1t has already dis.
closed the necessity for new amend.
ments and will doubtless suggest
more. Such is the true method-the
empirical and tentative method--of
securing proper remedies for a new
evil The classification of merchan.
disc for transportation is most i'm
portant matter in rate fixing, for by
a. transfer from one class to another.
the rate is changed and may work in
justice. With the power of rate fixing,
1t would seem, should go the power in
the commission to classify and to pre-
scribe rules for uniform classification
by all railroads.
Recent revelations have emphasized
the pernicious effect of the so.called
overcapitaliz&ion of railroads which
aids INSCRIPTIONS stock manipulators
in disposing of railway securities at
unreasonably high prices to innocent
buyers. This evil would not of itself
justify federal restraint or control, be-
cause such stock and bonds are usual
ly issued under state charters. The
practice, however, has a tendency 10
divert the money pale by the public
for the stocks and bonds which ought
to be expended in Improving the road
bed, track and equipment of railways
into the pockets of the dishonest
manipulators, and thus to pile such an
Improbable debt upon a railway as
TO make bankruptcy and a receiver.
ship probable In the first business
stringency This result in an inter
state railway necessarily interferes
with, and burdens, interstate com.