The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-03
THE HERDREpUBLcA SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. TUESDAY, MAY 1910
RAIL ROAD BILL IN
DANGER OF DEFEAT


fCOnfiuuc0 FROM rage One.t
that the result with the full member
ship present could not be foretoid-
From a message received from some
of the absentees, 1t was evident the reg
ular Republicans would meet with
reversal on the next vote, for, under
the Senate rules. vote easily could be
delayed until the arrival of the alb
sentees. After the vote Saturday, Sen
ator Cummins Immediately offered an
other amendment to accomplish the
same purpose as that which had just
been voted down.
As the pending Cummins amendment
is offered as a substitute for the Ell
kins- Crawford provision no motion can
sidetrack this provision 1t must De
disposed of before any other step can
be taken That is, the administration
senators believe they have the whip
hand of their opponents The Repuo-
lican leaders discovered there were GER
tain members who preferred the Cum
minis to the Elkins-Crawford amend
ment but were opposed to the entire
traffic agreement section
An Agreement Made.
These senators did not hesitate to en-
ter into an agreement with the regular
Republicans to vote against the Cum
Minis provision in return for an agree
ment to eliminate the section altogeth-
er If the administration senators are
correct in the poll they took, the Cum
minis amendment would be lost by the
narrow margin of one or two votes and
for the victory the administration
agrees to pay the price of striking out
the whole section.
1t is agreed Section IL must be aban-
doned also. 1t is not certain that even
Sections 13. Ii and Is, which provide
for federal regulation of the issuance OIL
securities of railroads. can be saved.
The agreement reached today does not
cover these sections
oh I1k.- of "a SQnGfQ a nd CPVpr-
al adjacent committee rooms occupied
by leaders, have not beenthe scenes of so
much jockeying over legislation since
the making of the famous Allison com
promise" to the Hepburn rate law four
years ago. AS in that case, the radical
move taken by those in charge OF the
bill came like a bolt from the blue
That the administration had not
enough votes to carry out its program
was not generally suspected.
Throughout the day efforts Were
made to effect an agreement between
those who favored the CumminS amend
ment and those who supported the FL
kins-C Crawford provision. The first
would require all traffic agreements
and changes of rates to be approved
by the interstate commerce commission
before taking effect. The latter would
make traffic agreements lawful under
the sherman law, but would not require
that rates made by railroads should be
submitted to the commission In ad-
vance.
Would Not Yield
The insurgents were unyielding. They
believed victory was within their grasp
After the adjournment of the Senate,
Senator Cummins was called into the
final conference. He was asked If the
insurgents could not get together on
some provision less obnoxious to the
majority of the Republicans than the
pending Cummins amendment. Mr.
airas- fG cd
he would agree to the adoption of some
provision insuring substantially the
same thing, but he did not think his In
surgent colleagues would accept any
thing other than a straight out propo-
sition compelling railroads to obtain
approval of the commission before put
ting rates into effect
When Senator Cummins came out OF
Senator AIdrich's room. he said:
We are not compromising. We think
we have the votes to adopt any amend
ment.'
1t was apparent he had not been told
of the plan to eliminate Section q. and
did not suspect any such intention or
the part of those having the bill in
charge He Joined Senators Clapp, Dol
liver and LaFollette, who had waited IL
the corridor to learn the result of the
conference A neWSpaperman who
joined this group of insurgents was
told by all they were confident of win
ming.
Harmony was not complete in tn,
conference of the Senate leaders. Sen
ator Flint was not willing that Section
be stricken out. At the same time
he was opposed to giving railroads full
power to raise rates without approval
of the commission. and made IL clear
that on final vote he would act agains'
his associates. and support the Cum
Minis rather than the Crawford Elkin:
amendment
III,
provision. and the railroads increas,
their rates. as they must do" declared
Mr.. Flint, 1T will be charged that The
increases were due to the removal OF
tiOn of the provisions of the Sherman
law. If the Cummins provision /:
adopted it VIII be physically impossib bis
for the interstate commerce commission
to pass upon the great volume of new
rates presented. l believe the railroad;
| should be permitted to make traffi,
| agreements, but they should be prOhib
/ tied from making any change in exis.
| ting rates without the approval of the
commission"
Mr.. Flint proposed as a compromise
that traffic agreements be permitted
| and the commission should give bIan-
| ket approval of existing rates. but
| that no new rates should be put IL
| force until they had been approved
/ His proposition did not meet with the
/
/ participating in the conference, anC
| it was apparent also the insurgent:
would not accept it. Mr.. Flint ther
i withdrew from the conference
| Several senators were asked tonight
to what they attributed the failure Il
| get enough votes todopt the Elkins
/ era wford amendment.
They were almost unanimous in th'
/ expression that it could be charged
directly to the fear that If rates were
raised by the railroads, the people
would say the repeal of the Sherman
antitrust law in it's application t
| railroads was responsible.
| PROFESSIONALLY the possible politica
effect of the adoption of that section
frightened away some OF the earl.
| supporters of the provision.
/ Senator Root was noticeably an
noyed at the outcome of the confer
ence When asked what caused TIL
change of front in connection witt
section Z, he said:
Case of Cold Feet.
"Cold feet. Some of those VIII,
ought to support the bill were afrai,
| of the political effect"
The action of railroads in the West
ern Trunk Line association in filing