The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-22
RAILROAD BILL IS
BEFORE SENATORS
Entire Time Given Over to Dis
cussion OF Traffic Agree
inents.
DIVERSITY OF OPINION
Cunlmins Occupies Day Fighting
Against Mutual Rate
Arrangements.

| Washington, D. c., April 2l,---Traftic
| agreements consumed the entire time
| given by the Senate to-day to the
! railroad bill and were under consider
alton when the Senate adjourned. SEN
| ator Cummins held the floor through
| out the sitting. He spoke against the
! section permitting such agreements
| and against the Crawford substitute
| for 1t.
Declaring his intention to denounce
| any Legislation which nullified the anti
! trust law as this provision did he said
| that the ultimate purpose of the legis-
| lation was to allow the railroads to
| fix their own rates without first sub
hitting them to the Interstate Com
| merce Commission. Without the estab-
| lishments of rates any traffic agree
ment must be vague and shadowy and
of little effect. / was hard enough for
the common people to stand against
the aggressions of one railroad; to
stand against those of ten or twenty
or thirty would be more difficult still,
lie said. l the rates were not to be
approved in advance by the commits
sion then there would be no substi-
tute for the antitrust act, and that, he
said. was the difference between the
Crawford amendment and his own. II
was not true. as had been stated. that
President Roosevelt had advised the
unconditional repeal of the antitrust
law. nor that the Interstate Commerce
Question mt Issue.
The question at Issue he said, rs,
Shall the agreed rates of the railroad
companies go into effect without the
approval of the commission"
Mr. Crawford, interrupting, said that
for the commission 10 pass in advance
upon agreements would be a physical
impossibility, because of the great
number of such agreements.
Mr.. Aldrich also Interrupted. He as
cd
amendment, the rates that might be
specified in an agreement went
into effect IS did individual rates, and
did not go into effect by reason of
Mr.. Crawford said this was not his
Understanding, but that his opinion
was that the provision would require
approval of the agreement before the
rates took effect.
Mr.. Aldrch said that by none of the
propositions of the bill could rate
be fixed by an agreement because all
of the rates must be subject to the
| other rates. You propose by indirec-
tion to give the commission the right
| 10 indefinitely suspend rates-to sus-
pend them forever if so desired"
Replying. Mr. Cummins said that his
! complaint was against the permission
| to the railroads TO enter into agree
ments that may become effective with
/ out the previous approval of the COM
/
In such agreements. he argued. there
was no opportunity for individual in
| itiative. The two classes of rates
| could not be placed on the same level,
and he urged that If the antitrust
| laws was TO be repealed a better rem
| edy must be found than that provided
| by the bill as 1T stood.
CumInins Persists.
Mr.. Aldrich replied that In enter
ing into agreements the railroad did
not make rates; no rates could be effec-
tive until filed, as they must be by the
Individual roads, Mr. Cummins persist
ed in his contention that harm was
done in entering into an agreement in
the first place.
Mr.. Ellsins declared Mr.. Cummins's
contention for approval of rates in adj
vance TO be Impractical and absurd
He said that from 5000 to 10000 peo
Pile were now employed by the rail-
road companies in establishing rates,
and declared that the Interstate Com
merce Commission must have as great
a force of experts in order to carry
out Mr.. Cumminss idea.
81 am not ready to stand here and
destroy the entire freight traffic struc-
-ture of the railroads" he said "and
do not believe that the people demand
that we should do so" He said he
did not want the antitrust law re-
pealed, but that he did desire to as
sist in relieving the executive officials
of the embarrassment they find them
selves under in enforcing the law.