Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-05-08
Special to the Silver Belt.


 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 5.-The prolonged discussion in the senate over the administration railroad rate bill has brought out protests by the "progres- sives' against the proposal of Sena tor Crawford of South Dakota to per init new rates to go into effect without the examination and sanction of the interstate commerce commission. Sen ator Borah, one of the ablest of tho in surgents, during the course of the de- bate, said:
 CT want to call attention very brief Iy to the struggle which has been made in this country Co bring the railroads under the terms of the antitrust law It has been one of the longest and most earnestly contested pieces of liti- gation that has taken place in regard to the sherman antitrust law. In ls92, under Mir Harrison 's administration, an action was brought against the freight association, enjoining them from putting into operation a contract which presumably was something of the nature of contract which could be made under this amendment. That lit igation was in the courts for five years The railroads contended for precisely the contention which is being made here-that the Sherman law did not app ply, or should not apply to the rail roads for the reason that the effects which resulted from combination be- tween the railroads as to rates were not so injurious and the evil was not so great as in the case of an industrial combination. When we examine these two sections we will find that we are taking away all the protection which the court threw about the people in this decision. l maintain, without fear of successful contradiction, that when the amendment offered by the senator from South Dakota, is adopted if it is, we will occupy precisely the same position which would have been occu- pied by the railroads should the deci sion in the freight case have been in their favor, l maintain further that if that decision Had been in their favor, there never would have been a North ern Securities ease nor necessity for #. All they wanted to do. all they de- sire to do to control the rates and charges, could have been accomplished by that form of agreement which was submitted to the court in the freight case, and which could be made under the amendment offered by the senator from South Dakota.
 ''Mr. President, it is a matter of ec. onomic history that the Standard oil trust, the beef trust and other trusts could never have been built up, with the illimitable power which they pos. sess today, without the power, influence and favoritism of the great corporations which we are now proposing to take from under the operations of the anti trust law. It is an unquestionabe fact that when you take from under, the op- erations of this law the great carriers of the industrial and manufactured goods of this country you are putting iuo the hands of the Standard Oil trust and the beef trust a power which will be beyond the courts to control. That is the reason l say that, aside from the amendments offered, there is a con trolling reason why we should not in any way limit the influence, the scope, and the power of the sherman anti trust law.
 ''The great question which is. await ing for determination of the supreme court now is whether or not the Stan dard Oil company is subject to the con trol of the courts and laws of this cOun- try. Yet when they pass upon that