Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-07
RAILROADS
WILLING TO
OBEY LA WS
INTERSTATE COMMISSIONS
MANDATES OBSERVED
Report for 1907 Shows Relief Has Been
Granted to Hundreds Of Shippers.
FavorItlsm and Dlscrirnl-
nations Decrease

| WASHINGTON, Jan. 6.--More signifl-
cant and important than any other
statement In the twenty-first annual re-
port OF the interstate commerce commits
| sion, which was transmitted today to
congress. is that relating to the attitude
of railway officials toward the new rail-
road law.
In discussion Of the operation OF the
act the commission says;
1 by railway managers almost without
exception the amended law has been
accepted in good faith. and they exhibit
for the most part a sincere and earnest
disposition to conform their methods to
its requirements"
| The commission adds that II was not
expected that reforms could be brought
about without difficulty or delay" but
| 1t is unquestionably the fact that great
progress has been made and that fur
| Their Improvement Is clearly assured. To
gratifying extent there has been re.
adjustment of rates and of abuses by
the carriers themselves. Methods aid
usages of one sort and another which
operated to Individual advantage have
| been voluntarily stopped and 1t is not
| too much to say that there is now a
freedom from forbidden Discrimination
which is actual and general TO degrees
never before approached.
Favoritlsm Ceases
AS this process goes on. as favorit.sn
ceases to be even suspected, the indirect,
but no less certain. benefits of the law
will become more and more apparent.
The amended act has been In force
little more than sixteen months, and the
committee points out that considerable
part Of its time during the last year has
been occupied IN giving advertisement
to publications of the law for the guild
ance of both shippers and carriers.
An incidental respect in which the
quality Of treatment has been promoted
is in such matters as switching, terminal
demurrage, reconsignment, elevation and
other charges making up the aggregate
cost Of transportation. Respecting these
matters the report says:
ct is this general and marked I'M
provement in transportation conditions
that the committee observes with special
qualification. The amended law with
it's enforceable remedies, the wider rec
ognition Of its fundamental justice, the
quickened sense OF public obligation on
the part Of railway managers. the clear
err perception by shippers of all classes
that any individual advantage Is moral
iy as well as legally indefensible, and the
augmented influence of the commission
resulting from its increased authority
have all combined to materially dimin-
sh offensive practices of every sort and
to signally promote the purposes for
which the law was enacted"
Facilities Inadequate
Since the new rate law became effec-
tive on Oct "a, 1906. the commission has
granted relief in the form of corrective
orders in many cases.
Upon Nov. 4, 1907. the commission rem
dered decisions IN los contested cases UNI
der the act. In forty-five OF these orders
were made against the defendant car
riers. In forty-hve the complaints were
dismissed and in the remaining fifteen
no orders were made. In every instance
except one the orders were complied
with promptly. In the exceptional case
the Delaware, Lackawanna 81 Western
railroad carried the order into the
United States courts but pending a de-
clsion by the courts is complying with
the order of the commission.
Two important suggestions pre- dis
cussed at length in the report,Sth one
being the matter of advances In rates
(which the commission is wholly with
out power to prevent" and the other the
dreadful destruction OF life In railway
accidents, which are not now the sub
ject of official investigation under fed
eral authority"
Considering the advance in rates
which rests entirely with the railway"
under the law, the commission suggests
that when such advance is attacked in a
formal complaint the commission be
given authority by legislation to sus-
pend the operation of the advanced rate
until the matter shall have been heard
and determined finally.
Respecting the important subjects OF
congested traffic and car shortages, the
commission says the whole problem
may be said to be due to the fact that
the facilities Of the carriers have not
kept pace with the commercial growth
of the country"
One prominent railroad president esti-
mates that during the period from 1895
to 1905 the traffic offered for carriage
duties increased 10 per cent, while dur
ing the same period the instrumentalitles
for handling this traffic Increased only
20 per cent.
Many Cases Relieved
TT may be conservatively stated that
the inadeauacy Of transportation facili-
ties is little less than alarming, that It's
continuation may place an arbitrary
limit upon the future productivity of the
land and that the solution of the differ
ent financial and political problems In
volved is worthy the most earnest
thought and effort of all who believe in
the full development of our country and
the largest opportunity for its people"
The work of the commission has In
| creased enormously in the past year.
During the year 276 hearings were held
! in various parts of the country against
/ seyenty-three in 1906 and at the hearings
IS 600 folios Of testimony were taken, and
this indicates an increase of about $50
per cent.
The hearings consumed the time of
the commission of special examiners
from two hours to eighteen days. and
several of the hearings consumed little
short of q week each.
In the course of the year the commits
sion received 43S2 informal complaints, an
increase of over 400 per cent over the
previous year. Reparation was awarded
| informally to shippers in SCI cases. the
aggregate amount OF the claims being
500. zoo. The increase of the corre~
spondence of the commission during the
year was about rs per cent.
Under an act of congress the commis-
sion has awarded eight bronze medals OF
honor to persons who at grave peril to
themselves saved, or attempted to save,
| lives on the lines of interstate carriers.
METHODIST CHURCH SOUTH