The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-06
IT is A SUCCESS.
Railroad Rate Law Is Accepted
in Good Faith
BY the Carriers, Declares the
Commerce Commission.
ABUSES CORRECTED.
CORRECTED.
BY the Railways Themselves in
Many Cases.
Every Order But One Was Com
piled With Promptly.

piled With Promptly.
Washington, Jan. 6.-More significant
and important perhaps than any other
statement in the twenty-first annual
report of the interstate commerce COM
mission which was transmitted today
to congress is that relating to
the attitude of railway officials toward
the new railroad law. In a discussion
of the operation of the act, the COM
mission says:
by railway managers almost with
out exception the amended law has
been accepted in good faith, and they
exhibit for the most part, sincere and
earnest disposition to conform their
methods to it's requirements"
The commission ADDS that it was not
! expected that reforms could be brought
about without difficulty or delay, but
| it is unquestionabiy the fact that great
progress has been made and that fur
ther improvement is clearly assured.
To a gratifying extent, there has been
| readjustment OF rates and correction of
abuses by the carriers themselves.
| Methods and usages of one sort and
another. which operated to individual
advantage have been voluntarily aban-
doned and it is not too much to say
that there is freedom from forbidden
DETERMINATIONS WHICH Is dClQdl dilu
general to a degree never before ap-
preached. As this process goes on.
as special privileges disappear and
favoritism ceases to be even suspected,
| the indirect, but not less certain, bene-
| fits of the law will become more and
more apparent.
| The amended act has been in force
little more than 16 months and the
| commission points out that a consider
! able part of it's time during the past
year has been occupied in giving admin
| istrative construction to the various
| provisions of the law for the guidance
of both shippers and carriers. An in
/ cidental respect in which equality or
| treatment has been promoted is in sucn
matters as switching. terminal demur-
rage reconsignment, elevation and oth-
er charges making up the agsregate
cost of transportation. Respecting
! these matters, the report says:
| General Improvements.
"It Is this general and marked i'm
provement in transportation conditions
that the commission observes with
specfaI qualification. The amended law
with its enforceable remedies, the wider
recognition of its fundamental justice,
the quickened senses of public obl1ga-
ton on the part of railway managers,
the clearer perception by shippers OF all
classes that any individual advantage
is morally as we'll as legally, indefensi-
BILE and the augmented influence of the
commission resulting from its Increased
authority have all combined to mater
ially diminish offensive practices OF eV-
ery sort and to signally promote the
purposes for which the law was
enacted.
"Since the new rate law became ef
fective on October "a, 1906. the commits
sion has granted relief in the form of
corrective orders in many cases. Up
| to November 4, 1907, the commission
rendered decisions in 105 contested cases
under the act. In 45 of these cases Or
ders were made against the defendant
carriers; in As the complaints were dis
missed. and in the remaining 15 no or
ders were made. In every instance ex-
cept one the orders of the commission
were compiled with promptly. In the ex-
ceptional case, the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna & Western railroad carried the
order into the United States courts, but
pending a decision of the courts. is
complying with the order of the COM
mission.
Two important subjects are dis
cussed at length in the report, the one
being the matter of advances in rates
(which the commission is wholly
| without power to prevent" and the
other the dreadful destruction of life
| in railway accidents, which are now
the subject of official investigation un-
the advance in rates, which rests EN-
tirely with the railway" under the
law, the commission suggests thai
when an advance is attacked in for
NAL 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
Congested Traffic.
Respecting the important subjects
of congested traffic and car shortage,
the commission says the whole prob
lem 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 eminent
railroad president has intimated that
during the period from 1895 to 1905,
the traffic offered for carriage in
creased 10 per cent, while during the
same period the instrumentalities for
handling this traffic increased only 20
per cent. The report says:
'It may be conservatively stated
that the inadequacy of transportation
ia cilities is little less than alarming,
that it's continuation may place an
arbitrary limit upon the future pro-
| ductivity of the land and that the solu-
ton of the difficult financial and phys
ical problems involved is worthy the
most earnest thought and effort of all
who believe in the full development
of our country and the largest oppor-
tunity for its people"
The work of the commission has in
creased enormously in the past wear
During the year PIG hearings were
held in various parts of the country
against g in 1906; and at the hearings
$4,000 folios of testimony We're taken.
This indicates an increase of about
$50 per cent. The hearings consumed
the time of the commission of special
eXa aminers from two hours to eighteen.
days and several of the hearings con-
sumed little short of week each In
the course of tho year the commits
sion received 1882 informal com
plants, IN increase of over 400 per
cent over the previous year. Repara-
| tion was awarded informally to sfnip-
! pers in Sol cases. the aggregate
amount of the claims being s1O4,7on
! The increase of the correspondence Of