Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-10-10
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HILL ON RAILROAD LEGISLATION

l.. $50 = " . D., .EslFss 81.
I'LL ON RAILROAD LEGISLATION
James J. Hill, perhaps the leading
on transportation in this
declares in a letter touch
ng the matter of improved water
Ways, that the popular impression
hat the railroads oppose waterways
S because of their fear that water
transportation will curtail railroad
business, is erroneous. Mr.. Hill says,
md with truth. that there is business
enough in this country for all the
systems of transportation that can be
developed, and that rail and water
go hand in hand. The
more materials hauled on waterways
he more there will be for the rail-
roads to do In supplying new INDUS
tries that are built up, new fields
that are titled, new avenues of bust
ness and prosperity. In connection
with his letter touching water trans.
Mr.. Hill takes occasion to
point out some interesting matters OF
railroad concern, and says:
"The average man, familiar
only with. what has been done
in his own state, has little con-
ception of the aggregate results
of the last few years in frenzied
railroad legislation. Within the
last few years rs states have en-
acted car service laws; % have
regulated train service and con-
nections; % have fixed maximum
passenger rates; 8 have enacted
maximum freight rates; SO have
regulated the general corporate
affairs of common carriers. Yet
In the - years before this only
" 4 statutes were added to the list
of those prescribing maximum
rates and fares. While in these
last five years, Is state railroad
commissions have either been
created or received large extern
sions of power, it is in the field
outside of this that legislative ac-
tivity has been most pronounced
and destructive. Within that
short period SO states have en-
acted a total Of 3s4 laws regulat-
ing railroads within their juris-
diction, and nearly all of these
$ laws have been enacted. without
Investigation or knowledge of
their effect. = ", 's-s5.:s.s,sgs.
/" 1t is perhaps needless for me
4. to say that, If this were to con-
tinue, the future of railroad
transportation would end in the
destruction of the business of the
nation. Fortunately, we have
reason to believe that saner
counsels will prevail. Already
the touch Of misfortune has con-
WINGED many of the suicidal fol-
Iy of destroying the interest,
which, next after. the cultivation
of the soil, is most important in
the. whole country. This carni-
val Of legislative wrecking has
also demonstrated the necessity
of submitting federal for local
legislation. In practice, 1t ts
evident that the through rate
can never be more than the
sum of the locals; and that these
added together, will constitute
the. through rate, although the
II interstate commerce commission
may have declared a higher rate
reasonable and ordered it into
effect. There can be but one au
thority over the railroads. Nc
subject can serve two masters
The greater cannot yield to the
less; nor the interstate traffic
which constitutes from 50 to or
per cent of the total over large
portions of the country accepf
directions from the comparative
" triding percentage Of STATE
business
Regular authority there mus
be. No railroad can object t,