The National tribune., 1910-06-09

The situation has elements Of trouble.
In recent years the railroads have steaa-
faatlY. avoided provoking war with
ergaHizod iabaF, Railroad employees,
wha number hundreds Of Thousands al
stUEdy men; have been generally .da=
Hiandihg higher rates of compensation;
While the great army Of owners OF
railroad securities are clamoring for
2 return On tieiT- investments, Some=
Body must suffer financially in the. coii=
test The railroad employees and the
stockholders, including many thou=
sands Of small holders, are apparently
not aveTse to the general public bear
ing tha burden or higher prices for
transportation But the Government and
the general public are now in the atti=
tude Of Resistance, and it goes without
Saving that it will be a titanic struggle:
The Political Phase.
The political phase of the matter is
naturally attracting quite as much at
tention in Washington as the economic
phases The Winter has been rather
barren of good campaign cards for the
Administration. The suit against the
increased rates of railroads will be pop
ular with the masses. 1t promises to
he good campaign material for the
dominant party. The people who have
been criticising AttorneyGeneral Wick
tISsistiI as Il COZ pDEdllOH dlJOIl6S sii Z
now confronted with his activity in be
half of the consuming public, and must
pause. His friends are naturally elated
and hope he will be able to carry the
litigation thru to a successful finish.
1t is not overlooked that the litiga-
ton now in progress affects immediate
ly the great insurgent section of the
United States. The suit against the 25
railroads in the Western Traffic Asso
citation covers rates in such sections as
Iowa. Illinois, Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin. The Senators and Representatives
from those States are the insurgents
who have been making all the trouble
for the Administration in Congress this
Winter. They are also the men who
have prevented the railroad bill from
passing the Senate and the House in
the form that it was drawn by Attor-
ney-General Wickersham, under the
Presidents direction
The increase in rates, however, will
apply to a very large section of the
country. if the railroad plans are al
lowed to mature. The filings before the
Interstate Commerce Commission al
ready indicate the intention to charge
more for service all the way from
Maine to California and into the South.
In some respects all this is a branch
of the high cost of living problem. AL
tho the investigation of that problem
has been as good as abandoned by
Congress, the railroads demand for
more pay for its services looms large
and promises to be the subject of big
crop Of Congressional speeches before
the end of the session.
The Interstate Commerce Commission.
The agitation brings the Interstate
Commerce Commission into more prom
inence. 1t is rapidly growing to be of
almost departmental importance in Gov
eTnment affairs at Washington. This
condition will be augmented with the
completion of the pending railroad bill,
which gfes the. Commission largely in
creased authority and powers. There
Is already talk about the necessity of
enlarging the Commission, which row
consists of seven members, and ma king
1t large enough, so that its work can
be assigned to Commissioners sitting
in sections Something like that may
come in time. Congress has already
put upon the Commission more work
than it can possibly do. The placing
of telegraph and telephone companies
in interstate business under the Com
mission win alone enormously increase
its duties.
Then the demand for further regu-
lation of railroads is quite insistent, and
especially for a physical valuation of
railroad properties. This may come
some time, and when it does will in
crease greatly the duties of the Conn
mission. The clerical force in its en-
ploy will. before long, be as large as
in any one of half a dozen of the De-
partments at Washington. All this goes
to show what an important subject the
regulation of railroads by Federal Gov
eminent has become and how much
more important il will be before many
years roll by.