Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1908-05-19

i ASSsSA Il
After his return from a meeting of
his executive committee the associate
editor of Wallace's Farmer, who repre-
sented the Corn Belt Meat Producers
association, talked the matter over
with Governor Cummins, who most
cordially approved OF the movement.
Appeal to Hepburn and Dolliver.
In the winter of 1904-5 Judge
Cowan wrote out his conceptions Of
the amendment that should be enacted
went over it carefully with an editor
OF Wallace's Farmer, and gave us a
copy OF the proposed amendment in
manuscript form. He also went over
the matter carefully with the presi-
! dent early in 1905 and with different
members of congress. He made little
progress. Congress was hostile. There
were no men active for this legislation
among the Iowa delegation at that
Time. Some were vigorously opposed;
some did not know what it meant,
and did not seem to care to know
Colonel Hepburn, chairman of the
mousse committee on Interstate COM
merce,resolutely stood in the way of
any legislation of this kind. 1t was
for this reason that we addressed
him our second open letter of jan
nary 20, 1905. In this letter was a
paragraph referring to Senator Dol
liver, in which it was intimated that
even he, who one moment seemed to
be on the side of the people and the
other against them, was beginning to
realize that the people of Iowa would
no longer be satisfied with the attitude
OF their senators and representatives
IN congress. In the late summer or
| fall of 1905 Senator Dolliver came to
our office early one afternoon, and in
preliminary conversation referred
to this paragraph and expressed him
self as aggrieved. He said that he
was IN favor of the legislation which
the people needed and wanted, and al
ways had been. We told him there
was nothing in his public utterances
or legislative career TO show it. This
led to long conversation, which
lasted in fact till after o'clock There
was some very frank talking done.
| We endeavored to make very plain
to the senator the absolute need of
an amendment to the interstate COM
merce law, which would give the COM
mission real power. We outlined to
him the action taken by the different
stock raisers' associations of all west
ern states, and also the work Judge
Cowan had been doing before the in
terstate commerce commission and
the work he had been trying to do in
congress. We tried to impress it upon
him as his particular duty to cham
plon this measure in the senate, and
expressed our belief that with the sup
| port that could be furnished him by
the stock growing interests of the en-
| tire west he would be able to secure
it's enactment, pledging him our un-
qualified support in this movement.
| We urged upon him that this was his
great opportunity. The conclusion of
the matter was that when he left our
office that evening Senator Dolliver
consented to see Judge Cowan and go
over the matter with him when con-
gress met in the fall Of 1905 and at his
request we arranged with Judge
| Cowan to call on him
So great had been the effect of the
agitation the United States over that
when congress met various bills were
presented in the house and senate.
One of these, offered early in the
session, was by Colonel Hepburn. We
regarded this as a bad bill and not
at all in harmony with the bill recon-
mended by the president in his mes
sage to congress. The presidents
recommendation was that the commits
sion be given authority to revise
rates, ''the revised rate to go at once
into effect and stay in effect, unless
and until the court Of review reversed
it, Colonel Hepburn's bill provided
that it should take effect sixty days
afterwards, and gave the fullest re-
view power to the court
The Esch- Townsend bill was finally
reported and passed the house with
practical unanimity, but evidently
with the understanding that it was to
be defeated in the senate In an ad-
dress before the Corn Belt Meat Pro-
ducers' association, February 90 1905,
Governor Cummins, while regarding
this bill as step in the right direc-
tion and as something better than
nothing, criticised very severely, cer-
tain prominent features. He told the
farmers that they were alive, and to
stay alive He told them that the
law would not do them any good un.
less they had the right men on the
interstate commerce commission, and
Wouiu lloC luSu uO IlSlIl ally ROOQ un.
less they should devote to the science
of government the same high intelli-
gence and the same persistent loyalty
they devoted to their families and af-
fairs.
DoIiver and the Rate Bill.
In the same address in speaking on
the subject of competition, he said:
DO you suppose the capital of this
country would lie inert. abundance of
it as there is, if anyone who desired
to do so could go into business? They
can not get in, and that is the reason
we are standing firmly for the exten.
sion Of the power of the interstate
commerce commission not only to fix
rates, but to prescribe regulations"
In the meantime Senator Dolliver
and Judge Cowan were perfecting the
bill, the story of which can be told
by quotation from a letter from
Judge Cowan, which we received in
July, 1906, in response to a letter
congratulating him upon the passage
Of the law. In this letter Judge Cow
an save.