Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-10-09
Defects Show in Hearing
Against Hill and Hartman
Lines at Spokane
ROADS JuGGLE THE RATES
People Denied Hearing in Courts on
Appeal From Findings of the Com
mission-Roads Offset Reductions by
Making Advances in other Commod
tiles.

Spokane. Wash, Oct. 9.-"Reduced to
! its final analysis the present interstate
commerce law, as defined by the COM
mission, gives the transportation com
| panieS very much their own way In
| practically all matters affecting the
! revenue of the railroads. They can
establish and cancel rates at will and
| they have recourse to the courts for
sion, while the people are denied the
! courts in findings Of the commission.
(, The commissions orders are limited to
a period of two years. The commits
sion does not make inquiry into the
! reasonableness of rates without COM
| plant having been previously filed.
| The railways can offset the effect OF
! reduction in rates by order of the COM
| mission by voluntarily advancing them
| on other classes OF freight not affected
| by the order"
Frank H. McCune, expert for the
| chamber Of commerce in the Spokane
| freight rate case against the Hill and
| Hartman railroads before the inter-
state commerce commission, said this
| in discussing the decision handed down
recently by the commission in the suit
Of the A. J. Poor Grain Company OF
Omaha VS.. the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad Company, which arose
from an erroneous rate quotation made
on wheat from point In Nebraska to
California. Mr.. McCune added:
"a loss was incurred by the shipper,
who appealed to the commission for
| reparation. A little more than 20 per
cent of the claim was allowed, not on
the liability Of the railway for the
error of its employees, but upon an as
sumption Of the unreasonableness Of
the rate charged.
This decision throws some light
upon the act to regulate interstate
commerce as interpreted by the COM
mission. 1t was supposed during the
agitation and passage Of the Hepburn
amendment to the interstate commerce
act that it would be panacea for the
peoples railway ills, but the rulings
of the commission, from time to time.
in interpreting the law, are gradually
dispelling this belief
commissioner Harlan wrote the re-
port of the commission OF the Poor
case, affirming that the railways are
still sovereign as tariff makers. The
publication Of original rates are the
voluntary act of the railways. The
law does not restrict these voluntary
acts of the railways but adopts them
and thereafter protects the railways in
their operation, until formal COM
plant is filed by some shipper when
the rates are to be adjudged as rea-
sonable or unreasonable.
If the voluntary acts of the rail-
ways prove irksome to them, they can
voluntarily cancel their tariffs even
against the protest of the shipper who
has to file formal complaint with the
commission for a hearing on the is
sue. The establishment and cancella-
ton Of tariffs by the railways is an
inexpensive and simple process, while
the litigation imposed on the people is
expensive and tedious, attended with
much uncertainty as to it's outcome.
Commissioner Harlan goes step
further in his definition of the law as
being beyond the control of judicial
authority as having original juris-
diction over interstate rates when vol
unfairly established by the carriers
This definition adds further sovereign
ty to the rate-making powers of the
carriers and narroWs the limit Of the
people for relief.
IAN Illustration Of the operation Of