The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-06-10


ton for the PAST twenty-five years.
A Different Proposition.
"There is n great difference between
transportation by railroads and trans.
portation by water. In the first place,
railroads receive from the people,
through their legislatures, franchises
and other valuable privileges and con-
cessions, for which Il is only right and
proper that the government should in
return exercise some control and super
vision over the operations of the rail
roads. Not only are railroads given the
right of eminent domain, through which
valuable rights of way are obtained,
but in addition thereto It is well
established fact that railroads are usu-
ally built with the money realized from
the sale of bonds, and the capital rep
resented by the issuance Of stock con
sists principally Of water. It is there
fore only natural to suppose that in
order to pay not only the interest on
their bonds but dividends to their
stockholders besides that milroads en-
deavor to charge all the traffic villa
bear as freight rates, and ittis for the
purpose of regulating such charges and
protecting the public from any unjust
impositions in the matter Of freight and
passenger rates that the interstate COM
merce law is made to apply.
No Water Monopoly.
"on the other hand, carriers by
water do not receive any such conces-
sions or privileges from the people as
are accorded to railroads, and they have
no exclusive franchises which would
prevent other persons or companies
from entering into competition with
them in the carrying of freight and
passengers. II is needless to repeat
what has been said so often before,
that the ocean is free and open to all,
and no assistance from the government
in the way of franchises or other con-
cessions is required to enable any one
| to enter into the field of transporting
freight and passengers on the ocean
from one port to another.
"For these reasons it would be I'M
just and unfair to apply the jurisdic-
tion of the interstate commerce COM
mission to any company carrying on
the business of transportation by water,
and it would be extremely unjust and
extremely unfair to apply that law to
this Territory only and to exempt all
other parts of the United States from
it's operation.
No Confederation.
elm referring to the proposed amend
ment to the railroad bill which is now
under consideration, I wish, gentlemen,
to particularly call your attention to
the fact that previous to its introduce
ton in congress the amendment was
never submitted to the committee of
the house having the consideration of
| the railroad bill in their hands, and
no petitions were presented asking for
any such legislation, but it was simply
sprung on the house in committee of
the whole and passed before the mem
bers had had time to understand the
situation. Had the introduction of this
amendment been the result of desire
on the part of the merchants of Homo
lulu to have such legislation enacted,
it would, in my estimation, have ap-
peared to much better advantage, but
in view of the manner in which it was
sprung in the house and rushed through
before any one had chance to explain
matters, clearly shows it to have been
the underhanded work of some person
| with desire to satisfy some mag
mary grievance he may have against
the company which it is my privilege
/! to represent ard which would be the
only transportation company affected
by the proposed legislation.
No Benefit to Result
"Now, as to the objects to be gain
ed by extending the interstate com
merce law to water transportation in
Hawaii. Is it going to be the means
of benefting any of you gentlemen in
the securing of lower freight or pas
4 senger ratesl What has been the re,
suit in its application to the railroads
in this Territory Has there been any
appreciable reductions made in freight
or passenger rates by the action of the
| interstate commerce commissioner Why,
only few days ago, a prominent rail
road official told me that since they
had been under the interstate law, he
had informed members of our local leg
isIature, that he would snap his fingers
at any attempt they might make to
regulate their tariffs, and this position,
gentlemen, has been made possible
through the application of the inter
state commerce law. Do you want the
same thing to apply when it comes to
water transportation Such a thing
is unheard of in any other part of the
United States, for the business men
know, that the best regulator of rail
road freight tariffs, is competition by
water transportation companies, and to
hamper them with the regulations of
the Interstate commerce law, would put
an end to the only means in their
| power to keep the great railroad monop-
olies from charging exorbitant tariffs.
The interstate commerce commission
win not do this in spite of all that
is said to the contrary.
Fears for Honolulu.
What the merchants of Honolulu
should look out for, first, last and all
the time, is, to retain the business
they are enjoying at the present time
and try in every way to increase that
business. Speaking as one who is a
Native Son of this city and who takes
pride in its commercial importance and
development, it grieves me greatly to
see anything done that is going to stop
the proQress of Honolulu but gentle