Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-04

away the right Of appeal to the su
preme court from such an injunction.
It proposed to limit the period II
which the commission could suspend
changes in rate to sixty days, a periot
which everybody knew to be alto
gether insufficient.
It proposed to take away from the
commission the power to establish
through rates between steam railways
and electric railways, thereby subject
ing the latter to the arbitrary will OF
the former.
1t proposed to repeal the antitrust
law with respect to the merger ano
consolidation of railways, and to SUB
stitute for it the unreviewable dis
erection of the commerce court exer
cised in an ex parte proceeding.
It is proposed. in effect, to value the
existing capitalization OF railway com
panies. and the regulation. with regard
to the future issuance OF stocks ana
bonds was attended by a series OF OK
ceptions which practically legalizes
every known method OF overcapltallza'
ton.
It proposed to create a useless and
expensive court Of commerce to do the
work which the circuit court now does.
am glad to be able to say that
with the exception of the court OF com
merce. every one of these proposals
found their way to the graveyard OF
legislative heresy and reaction, ana
there I hope they will lie buried for
ever.
All that was good Of the bill was
carefully preserved. and all that was
bad was either wholly rejected or ma
teriaily modified,
Remade the Bill. .
With the introduction OF the bill
there began such a struggle as has
been rarely witnessed between the
forces of progress and reaction. The
republicans did not get ali
they wanted. nor all they ought TO
have had, but they succeeded In con-
verting measure which In its orig
inal form would have been a long step
into a measure that IS a
gratifying step forward.
We earnestly contended that no In
creases in rates should hereafter go
into effect until approved by the com.
This seems fair and just, IN
asmuch as the carriers made the
rates that are now in force, and 1t may,
therefore, be assumed that they are
We failed in that effort but as a sub
stitute for it, it was provided that the
commission can suspend new rates for
a period of ten months, and that IN all
hearings as to the reasonableness OF
rates, the burden Of proof shall rest
upon the railway companies.
We insisted that no injunction re-
an order of the commission
should be issued without notice, and
that there should be the right OF ap-
real from any such injunction, me
bill was so amended.
We contended that the shipper who
had complained to the interstate COM
merce commission and had won his
case, should have the right to appear
in any suit that was brought by the
companies to annul his VIC
tory. It is now in the law.
We urged that no greater jurisdlc-
ton over the interstate commerce
should be conferred upon
the commerce court than is now ex-
ercised by the circuit courts, and the
bill was so amended.
We kept the antitrust law intact.
We remembered that it had dissolved
two vicious traffic associations: that
it had annihilated the Northern Sc.
clrities company; that it had decreed
the death Of the American Tobacco
company. and finally, had sent the ter
ror Of disintegration into the ranks OF
the Standard Oil company, and we
did not intend to see it's vigor i'm
paired or it's scope narrowed until
better could be enacted in
it's stead.
We attempted with all the strength
we had, to put into the bill a fair and
effectual provision which would have
the issuance Of stocks and
bonds without full compensation, and
that would have rendered impossible
hereafter the exhibitions of dishon-
esty and extravaganza that have so
the world in the last few
years in railroad capitalization.
Wall Street interests.
Certain republicans who are en-
amored with the manipulations OF
Wall street, joining themselves with
certain democrats who found no ALL
thority in the constitution for such
legislation. defeated our amendment.
We are not, however, without hope,
for under the recommendation of the
president a provision was adopted
which will insure an immediate inves-
tigation of the subject. and we may
shortly be more successful in our ef-
forts to regulate railway stocks and
bonds.
Upon the whole. the republican
party is to be congratulated upon the
bill. as it became a law. 1t is step
in the right direction, and ultimately
we will reach the end toward which
all patriots are striving.
trust l will not be accused of any
desire to stir up factional feeling for
saying, as am bound to say. that
had it not been for the progressive re-
publicans in the senate. men who have
been derided throughout the country
as insurgents. the bill would have
passed the senate as 1t came from the
pen Of the attorney general, and the
republican party would have stag
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