Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-02-05

ceived $500, 900, 900 since 1887, and so on through long list of indus tries. Do you think these men are going to give up this vast means of aggrandizement without long struggle, lasting a generation or more? You know little of human nature if you do.
 Some have come to the conclusion that government should take the rail- roads and run them in order to end the abuse. It is very certain that If the abuse can be ended in no other way the people will compel the gov- ernment to take the roads. They do not intend that their legislatures shall be corrupted and tbeir govern ment controlled by those who control the railroads This country and gov- ernment of ours are great enough to do anything. There is nothing radi- cal or startling about government owning and running railroads, when one-half or more of the railroads of the world are owned and operated by government. For my part would rather not see government do it. Pri- vate enterprise is too valuable to be eliminated from railroad building and management if it can be avoid ed.
 My own view, which I express with diff1dence, is that it is only necessary for government to appoint the general freight agent of every railroad, for he could stop all rate favoritism at once. It would not be his office to fix the schedules of rates, but only to see that every one paid the schedule rate, no more and no less. The summary dismissal by him of any local agent who gave a false rate, and his criminal prosecution by government would soon destroy the evil"
 Judge Gaynor said of free passes:
 The last statistics on the subject showed that 10 per cent of those car- ried on our railroads rode free. All of our legislators and public officials whose aid and good will were ser viceable to those who controlled the railroads, and who would accept passes, were given them for them selves and friends and corrupted by them. And even some of our judges tell 1t not in Gath, publish it not In the streets of Askelon'-had their passes or rode in private cars. In england the king could not get him. self carried free. He would be told in the formal but polite British manner that it is against the law. The rest Of us In this country have to pay for the 10 per cent carried free. In Eng land the 90 per cent would start a revolution that would endanger the throne if the outrage on them were not stopped at once."
 Judge Gaynor said that actual pay- ments of rebates back to shippers was now seldom done, but the favor itism was done in many other ways. some of which he mentioned, saying in part:
 one way to give favoritism in freight rates is by billing goods at one-half their weight say. Another way Is by means of the private switches or tracks which connect many business places with railroads. One of these little roads a quarter of mile long may get 25 or even 50 per cent of the freight money charged by the railroad it connects, and which carries the freight hundreds or thou sands of miles. One illustration will do. At Hutchinson, Kan, were six teen salt mills owned by separate cor porations. Nine of them united to- gether as trust, and for less than a mile of terminal or switch track re- ceived 50 per cent of the freight moneys. do not need to tell you that that closed up the other seven salt mills; competition was at an lend.
 Private cars are another means. You notice by looking at passing freight trains that the great trusts and business concerns of the country have their own freight cars. We'll, instead of receiving back a vulgar check from the railroad companies for rebates of freight moneys paid, they just lease these private cars to the railroad companies at exorbitant rates and get the rebates in that way. Another way is to way bill these cars as of a capacity much less than their actual capacity. In the investigation of the Boston and Albany railroad before 1t was leased to the New York Central railroad it was found that the cars of certain monopoly or trust had for years been way billed for 24,000 pounds when their capaci- ty by actual measurement was 48,OO6 pounds. Another way is to give large commissions to go-between for get ting the freight, and he hands the commission over to the shipper.
 Another way is by what are called midnight tariffs. The railroad com- pany is privately informed by a great shipper that he Is accommodating and loading on cars a years supply of sugar or of oil for California or some other locality, and will have it ready by a certain day. Thereupon the railroad posts the notice to lower the rate required by the interstate com merce law, so that the required num- Der of days are up by the secret date communicated by the shipper. On that day the freight is billed at the reduced rate and starts off. and up goes the rate again as soon as possi- ble. No one else can take advantage of it on the nick of time, because no one else had large quantity of freight ready for shipment. and it cannot be got ready at once.
 Another way is by means of the