Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-05

form of 1901 known as the "shelter
plank platform Whatever that plat
form may We after all it is not an evi.
| dence of the governors activity for
the amendment of the interstate CON-
merce law so as to give the commits
sion power to fix rates. 1t was a
demand for legislation to prevent rail
way Determinations and the only man
in Cedar Rapids at that time of any
public prominence, who did not have
/, 1T called to his attention before the
convention adopted it, was the tire
less candidate who finally got the
| nomination. 1t was approved by Sena-
tor Allison, by Governor Shaw and a
multitude Of others prominent in the
! leadership Of the party at the time,
and the interesting thing about it, if
1t is to be used as an evidence of tho
governors activity, as against my in.
dolence, it was written at the mid
night hour in my bedroom at the
house of Col. William P. Brady, by
| my neighbor and next friend, Mr.. Geo.
e. Roberts.
1t can hardly be called an express
sion of popular agitation because as
matter Of fact it was nearly 4
year before the public seems to have
read it and to have discovered in 1t
one Of the poisons that has brought
on our troubles. The next evidence
given of the governors bold and fear
less leadership on this question is the
fact that Senator Trewin of ALBANIA.
kee, introduced into the state senate
in 1902, a joint resolution in the
nature of a memorial for the passage
of what was called the Nelson-C Cor
liss bill then pending in congress.
TreWin Attack Ought to Be DstastefuI.
The average mind can see how that
Legislative record might be used to
indicate that the attack now being
made in the Fifth congressional
district on Mr. Trewin ought to be-
distasteful to all honest men, but 1t
requires a peculiar grade of intelli-
gence to find in that joint resolution
an evidence of the fact that the gov
ernor was going up and down the
United States demanding such legis-
lation. The Nelson Corliss bill, and
other bills Of similar import, which
have been pending in the senate were
ct that very time the subject of con-
tlnuous discussion in the committee Of
interstate commerce OF which was a
member. Many members were in
favor of, giving the interstate com
merce commission the power to fix
rates, if at the same time the rail
ways were given the right to "pool"
their traffic, but there were a num-
Der Of old fashioned people on the
committee, and l was one of them,
who had then and have now a good
deal of repugnance about the whole
scheme Of railway pooling" l may
be wrong about it, may change my
views about it, but l remember
distinctly that it was impossible to
get the Nelson and Corliss or any
other bill reported by the committee
because more than majority of it's
membership insisted that pooling
ought not to be legalized. When the
matter was hopelessly tied up so far
as the committee was concerned, and
congress was almost ready to adjourn,
the leader of the senate, as they al.
ways term Senator Allison, took the
matter up and upon his suggestion
when he insisted that law should
| be framed in accordance with the
Iowa. which had received his approval
az SCudi RdplOo, LuC
! took to form such law.
They laid before the department OF
justice full statement OF what was
desired and the attorney general and
one of the greatest American lawyers
Philander G. Knox, prepared the act
of 1903, which afterward became
known and somewhat distrusted un
der the name of the 'Elkins Law" so
called because of Mr.. Elkins being the
chairman of the committee which re-
ported it.
Mr.. Cummns Before the Interstate
Commerce Committee.
Mr.. Cummins himself testified when
he appeared before the interstate
commerce committee in 1905 that that
law, which his followers in Iowa were
deriding and belittling, was effective
and needed no further amendment
On page 2049 of the third volume OF
the Senate Hearings, this record oc
Cured:
| Q. Do you thin kthe law as II
now stands on the statute books is
about as efficient and strong as can
be drawn to prevent determinations
and rebates?
|
II have heard it said that it was
necessary to change the law in order
to meet certain devices that have
been resorted to in recent times.
do not concur in that view. believe
the law meets and covers them now.
If the governor was agitating the
people of Iowa during the previous
ten years, what was he agitating them
about? Was it because the American
railroad rates were extortionate, that
the railroads were then depressing the
people by excessive charges? Tha,
can hardly be so because in the man
uscript of the remarks which he read
to the committee among the frs,
things he said was: THAT it was al
attractive and gratifying fact that
railway rates were lower as a whole
in this country than any other" Was
1t the Iowa rates on the chief articles
which we send out of the state, oul
farm products, that had been excitine
the governors courageous Leadership
of public opinion. l can hardly thinl
so. He was expressly asked that ques
ton when he was before the inter
state commerce committee as the rec