Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-02-17
LIVESTOCK ASSOCIATION
REGISTERS OBJECTIONS
Texas cattIemen Fear Proposed Meas
ure Would Weaken Interstate Com
merce Law-Do Not Like Special
Court Feature-WouId Shipper Have
Chance to Be Heard?
Especial Correspondence


to many of its features which have
been made to the interstate commerce
committees of senate and house by
Judge S. II. Cowan, of Texas, speaking
as the attorney for the American Ma
tional Livestock Association. This as
ISOLATION represents most of the stock
raisers and stock shippers west of the
Mississippi.
Judge Cowan has submitted brief
covering the objections of the cattle
and stock men to the bill He says he
is fully persuaded the administration
bin will if enacted. be harmful to most
effective administration of the inter-
state commerce law and materially
weaken it in two particulars. One re-
lates to the creation of the proposed
interstate commerce court The other
is the proposal to take the duty from
the commission to defend its orders
and to supervise the preparation and
trials of cases involving the validity Of
its orders. He says those who are ad-
vocating these two features of the ad-
lninistrati ton bill are making a serious
error
Judge Cowan finds many objections
to the creation of a special court. He
denies it would expedite decisions or
that it would effect uniformity of de-
cisions any more than if the present
system We're retained. for he says the
decisions of the supreme court in the
last analysis will govern.
AS to the plan of taking from the
interstate commerce commission the
power to defend its orders in the courts,
he says this would weaken the law SER
iously. as it would mean divided re-
sponsibility.
ITO relieve that body Of the duty of
defending or enforcing its orders" says
Judge Cowan, lis not demanded by
shippers or by the public, and, unless
the railroads want it, who does? What
case has been improperly handled by
the commission"
Let the commission control the liti-
cation as the client for the public. Let
the attorney general represent the COM
mission but according to its judgment"
Judge Cowan contends the depart
ment of justice is and always will be
political department and that it
would greatly detract from the law to
have the question of whether the orders
of the commission were to be pressed
dependent on the wishes of a political
official.
Another defect in the bill. according
TO Judge Cowan, is that the right of the
shipper to be heard in this court is not
guaranteed and is inferentially denied
in the bill.
Judge Cowan is severe in condemna
ton of the provisions of the bill relat-
ing TO traffic agreements. Under the
BILL the railroads are permitted to enter
into these agreements. They are re-
ouired to file them with the commits
sion but the commission is not given
power TO supervise them. except as it
has control over the different rates that
enter into the agreement. Judge Cowan
says:
"A careful analysis of the proposition
to permit agreements on rates between
com peting carriers will show that it
legalizes monopoly and destroys COM
petition
What ought to be provided by law
is no rates, classifications or regula-
tons. by competing lines on competi-
tive business, shall be agreed on unless
and except the schedules be submitted
TO the commission and approved, and
then that while the rates become legal
the agreement shall not be binding on
anyone for any purpose. That is. the
agreem ent should not go beyond agree
ing to submit scale of rates, CLASH
fications. etc, to the commission. which
become legal by being permitted to be
filed, whereupon the agreement ceases.
never having extended beyond the pro-
cess of getting together the schedules
to be filed"
On a number of other points, the bill
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Great quantities of campaign litera-
ture are being poured by the republi-
states where the doctrine Of insurgency
is most rampant. These states include
Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota
Nebras ska Kansas and some of the
other middle western states.
This literature is not such as con-
tains any insurgent trend. Speaker
Cannon's Kansas City speech is being
sent out widely; so is President Taft's
Winona speech. In the senate this week
Senator Hale got the recent New York
speech of President Taft ordered print
ed. This, also, will be widely distrib
uted.
The committee is sending part Of this
literature out under the frank of Rep
rese1tattii,-a Mckinley off Illinois Illinois
chairman of the republican campaign
mana gement.
That the sending out of this literature
is not pleasing to the insurgents in
congress goes almost without saying
They are regarded as attacks on the
tariff attitude of the insurgents
Speaker Cannon's utterances at Kansas
City attacked the insurgents and al
Winona President Taft reflected on the
men who voted against the tariff bill
AS the insurgents look at it, the
sending out of the literature in ques-
ton is intended by the committee man
agement to embarrass them in their
districts. They think it is meant merely
to stir up trouble for them and to give
aid and comfort to the democrats by
heightening the bitterness between
regulars and progressives.
Local Notes From Hubbard.
Special to Times-Republican.
Hubbard, Feb. 1T. w. Strothe1
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