New-York tribune., 1910-06-08
THE RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT.

The agreement reached between the
railroads and President Taft rightly
gives general satisfaction. The question
may now lie settled without further
acrimonious discussion. The managers
who have been declaring that their roads
would he ruined if they were to be pre-
vented from raising their rates now con-
cede that they can afford TO wait until
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has passed upon the reasonableneSS of
the proposed advances. which under the
Senate railroad bill may be eleven
months after they are proposed. They
viii have no excuse for the eytravagant
talk in which some Of them have been
indulging lately. and. on the either hand,
the present conciliatory spirit of the
railroads must hush the criticism that
waS gaining in volume.
No further occasion will exist for fan
ming the flames Of anti-railroad feeling.
The Interstate Commerce Commission
will sooner or later reader its opinion on
the debated advances. and its deter
mination. whatever il may lie. will be
accepted aS fair To the railroads and as
affordiug the public sufficient protection
The Tribune remarked the other day
that il would be TO the advantage Of the
railroads if they could refer their pro-
posed changes in rates to the Interstate
Commerce Commission at once. The
railroads appear to have perceived that
advantage and are willing to wait for
il until the pending railroad bill becomes
a law. Wall Street. which was depressed
To a mystifying extent by the news that
the proposed increases had been tenI-
porarily niOined-although il was OBJ
vious that if they were just they would
not be permanently prevented-is now
elated over the news that the plan TO
increase rates has been abandoned. If
not entirely logical Wall Street is Sensi-
BILE and the same thing may be said of
the agreement reached at Washington.
The result is all important victory for
the administration. 1t set out to estab-
lish in the law the principle that adj
vanceS in rates should not 90 into effect
before the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion had had IN opportunity to consider
them and not against the commissions
disapproval if it disapprOved them with
in a reasonable period specified by law.
Events have demonstrated the need of
such a provision Of law, and now. even
before it could be enacted. the railroads
have conceded its reasOnableness and
sensitive registers of public service stock
values express their approval. This vic
tory ofsan administration policy greatly
improves the prospects for the enactment
of the pending railroad bill.
As for the coming inquiry by the IN
terState Commerce Commission into the
reaSona blenesS of rate increases. the rail
roads have less to fear from i. than they
have to'fear from public opinion irritated
by unpopular advances whose fairness
has not been attested hy'any unbiased
authority. BY the new arrangement the
burden of proof regarding the justice 0f
rates is to be shifted from the public to
the railroads. New rates are no longer
10 he assumed 10 be fair until proved to
be unfair. But even that change need not
prevent railroads from I-ceiving just
treatment. Though there is a constant
tendency toward added strictness in leg
iSlatiOn. there is no fault to be found
with the spirit in which laws regarding
public service corporations are enforced.
The coming inquiry by the Interstate
Commerce Commission into the reason
ableneSs of advances will be watched
with interest as the beginning of new
procedure and as disclosing the capacity
of the body to deal with this rather
complicated subject.