The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-08
RAILROAD BILL Is SENT TO
CONFERENCE AFTER FIGHT
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ~

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rate increases and make them effective
30 days after the passing of the bill unless
| the commission is vested with authority
| to suspend them as soon as they are
| filed he recommended that the bill should
be amended SO as to make Its ninth
section effective when the bill passes To
| meet the suggestion of the President the
Lenroot motion was to concur in the SEN
ate bill with an amendment by which the
ninth section should become effective at
| once, the remainder of the measure with
III 60 days.
Defeat of Insurgents
Two hours debate preceded the defeat
of the democrats and insurgents. Chair
man Mann made an intense and spirited
speech in favor of conference He ridi-
culed the Senate bill, charged 1t with
being full of jokers and defects. and re-
ferred to some of it's provisions as funny
enough to make mule SMILE" 1t con-
tanned no Observation-Disclosures feature; the
House bill has very good one. The
| Shively amendment, by which shippers to
| whom incorrect rates were quoted, might
collect damages from the railroads, was,
| he declared, a joker which would open
| the way to all sorts of rebates and dis
| ordinations.
This provision not only opened the
doors to rebates-it removed the whole
| side of the house." Another feature of
| the Senate bill, he claimed, would allow
| the courts to pass upon the reasonable
ness of rates instead of leaving that to
the commission. He regarded the Senate
| amendment seeking to make common car
riers out of telephone and telegraph COM
panies as ineffective. The Senate bill also
failed to provide for the control of stock
| Nd iccu II MT fha y; 80
into conference, he concluded, because he
thought a better bill than either the Sem
ate or House forms could be procured.
and he knew a poorer bill than the
Senate bill could not be the result.
| LenroOt's Argument
| Mr.. Lenroot did not insist that the Sen
| ate bill is perfect and admitted that some
| OF the criticism of Mr. Mann was we'll
founded,s but thought similar criticism
| could be made Of some features of the
House bill. While the House bill might be
preferable to the one passed by the Sem
| ate, that was not the question. The
question for each member to determine
was whether 1t was reasonable to believe
that the Senate bill is better than any
bill that could emerge from an Aldrch
| conference.
| IT fear" said Mr.. Lenroot, that unless
we adopt the Senate bill and settle the
| matter now the~conferees on the other
| side will concede the striking-out of val
| liable features of the Senate bill and that
our own conferees will be compelled to
concede some of the most valuable fea-
lures of the House BILL"
| Mr. Adamson OF Georgia made a ring
| ing speech in favor of blocking the at
| tempt to send the bill to conference. He
did not intend to glorify either the &C.
| ton of the Senate or that of the House.
He regarded the whole plan of the re-
publican regulars az Ubiquitous and had
voted against the legislation. If the SEN
ate bill had come along as an original
| proposition he would vote against It,
But" he declared, I'VE have to choose
between two evils, a fair Senate bill or a
miserable conference bill, between the
devil and the deep blue sea, and l prefer
the lesser of these evils"
"Grandstand Play"
| Mr. Adamson referred to the President s
conferences with the railway presidents as
a. 'grandstand play" Mr. Handy Of Geor-
9ia accused the republican majority Of
| the Senate with being full of dark
| tricks" and warned the House not to risk
! the chance of conference controlled by
| Senators Aldrich and Ellxins. He init
| mated that the conference at the White
| House was one in which the railways had
framed the Issue so as to force this bill
into conference through the appeal OF
! the President for an amendment making
the suspension section Immediately effec-
| tive. If the republicans of the Senate
were 30 full of tricks as to incorporate
the jokers referred to by Chairman
| Mann, then the House should not trust
| the Senate conferees with anything
| more
Strong speeches in favor OF concur
renee were made by Cooper of Wiscon-
| sin, Hitchcock of Nebraska and Bartlett
| Of Georgia. Mr. Cooper took issue with
/ the contention of Mr.. Mann trr- 49,
Senate phone and telegraph amendment
n would prove efficient. Mf. rl.,..sc.
! charged Mr.. Mann with frivolous dis.