The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-03
In Minority Report Sena- tors Show that Admins trations Interstate Com merce Is Backward
 Step
Evil of Stock Watering Will Not Be Prevented, and Combinations Now For ;. bidden by Law Will Be Allowed-Only Railroads
 Included, Instead of All
Common Carriers.
Especial from United Press )

Washington, March 3--A broadside against the. administrators Inter State Commerce Bill as reported from the Committee on Interstate Com merce was fired today by Senators Cu1nmins, Republica, Iowa,) and 1 Clapp Republican, Minnesota.)
 Tn a minority report the two seha- tors condemn the measure unsparingly They make the startling statement that the bill prevents neither the com. bination nor the over-capitalizatfon of railroads and is declared to be inef- fectiVe for these evils.
 "Ql-It is confined to railroad cor porations whereas it ought to include all corporations common carriers sub l ject to the act.
 "C2)-The inhibition as to the issu- ance of both stock and bonds is limit 'Cs)There is nothing to prevent a holding corporation from issuing all issue.
 as4e43-Fhe privileges extended in re- organizations and consultations have practically no limit.
 "(5)-There is no regulation concern ing the capitalization of the increasing values of existing property or of earn tending Or improving property. '(6)-It is expressly provided that, although, every provision of the law be violated in the issuance of stocks and bonds, they shall nevertheless be valid in the hands of innocent purchasers This in itself makes the proposed amendment substantially valueless.
 Section 121 of the bill as reported from the committee said the two Senators, tsbegins with the lauda1ble attempt to prove the consolidation or combination of railroad lines which di- rect1y and substantially compete with each other; but before it reaches it's end it not only nu1lifieS the prohibition with which it started out, but actually hack if if O become a part of the law it is our opinion that consultations and com binations could be lawfully effected that are now forbidden. It does not include express, telephone or telegraph companies, and suburban or inter-ur- ban electric passenger railway corpor- ations are declared not to be railroad corporations. Any electric passenger railway company could purchase, in so far as this bill would effect the trans action, all the railways sin the United States and combine them into a single corporation.
 As to the section relating to com binations and the issue of stocks and bonds the Senators say:
 We believe that however commend able the motive which inspired the writer of this section the abuse of over it without abatement.
 t'We are of the opinion,'' says the report, "that the bill reported by the committee, while it has some excellent provisions, is as whole not an ad- vance in the regulation of interstate commerce but a long step backward
 As to the commerce court recited by the bill, the report sets forth:
 tsThe court and the expenditures it involves are wholly unnecessary.
 t'It seems to us fundamentally wrong to create court whose sole work will be the trial of railway eases. It is far better for the country that all such controversies shall be disposed of by the regularly constituted judicial tri buna1s.''
 They move to strike the court creat- ing sections from the bill.
 ssThe most objectionable and harm full feature of the bill under considera- ton is found in the departure from the existing methods of defending suits brought by common carriers to set aside, annu1, enjoin or suspend the or ders of the Interstate Commerce Commission
 ssSection of the bill repeats the an- ti-trust law with respect to agreements between common carriers specifying the classifications of freight and the rates fares. charges for transporta- ton of passengers and freight and ex- pressIy legalizeS them. Tt is obvious that this provision will destroy the las vestige of competition between carriers as to rates
 The inevitabeI consequence must be an increase iE rates.''
 They recommend that the Interstate Commerce Commission be given the power to prescribe a relation between rates