Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-07-01
SOMEWHAT SURPRISING Ed.
ToRlAL.

over the editorial pages of q large
bundle Of exchanges. commenced 70
read a somewhat lengthy editorial
below the Introductory paragraph:
Before he had read more than half OF
the editorial he began to admire its
truthful and forceful statements; and
naturally, concluded that the paper
from which he was reading was DEM
ocratic In politics, and that the edi-
Etor must. be a stalwart, scholarly
democrat. The reader, Of this state
ment cap well understand how the
writer was surprised when he found
that he was reading from thesedi-
torial page OF the Dubuque Times:
Journal, an editorial quoted APPROX
Einglyt from the Sioux City Tribune,
under the head lire, .A Red Letter
Day for Common People! Verify
these are red letter days for the
common people. The following is
the editorial in question:
The supreme court lot the United
States made yesterday famous. 1t.
put g. final stamp Of d~isapprOyal up-
toh the political scandal OF the com
merce court Its Judgment in the
[InterrMOuntain rate case and. In.
what Isl known as the Pipe line case,
rs practically a judicial finding that
tho Taft! annex, known as the com
tmerce court, was designed to defeat
Etthe regulation of commerce by the!
Interstate commerce commission, &&un-.
fder@the so-called }Cullom Reagen law.
The nation had been driven to
1.-THE enactmentsOf8$t that law more than
la quarter of century ago and had
been fightingsits way with and under
Ethe law for recognition OF national
supremacy during the whole period
since the law was? asenacted. But as
1.-The the power OF the nation was
made manifest and its 5authoritySW
being established, Mr.. Taft proposed
a commerce court to- sit in indg-
|ment -uponsthe acts of the interstate
commerce commission, and such a
court was created and its decisions
quickly showed that it understood
what twas created for. It antag-
SonizedS the interstate commerce com
mission. denied its authority and was
to eliminate 1t as a gov
Monumental force; proceeding to re-
Eestablish the full paramOuntcyso Of the
Etransp Ortation& companies, when the
unrest OF the people, making itself
Gfelt in congress. began a3campaign
|for the elimination! of the Taft court.
The Taft court, however, hung, on
|by crook and turn until the present
|congress refused to appropriate mon
ley to detray its expenses.
standard OH, In spite Of the spec
Eialsenactment Of an amendment to-
the interstate commerce law, and
which put its pipe lines in q class
with the railway lines, denied the
authority Of the government and the
Taft commerce court promptly en-
Joined the enforcement Of an order
against 1t by the Interstate
commerce commission. 1t gave as its
reason that there is not really a
substantial relation between the
Iavowed object OF the Legislation and
the means devised fort attaining
those objects to make the law con-
stitutiOnal.' %-
Yesterdays decision by the SUI,
lpreme court makes, a. pipe line a
common carrier and a Standard Oil
magnata no better than a common.
railroad.
Similarly, when a grandson Of the
insurging Adams family of Massa-
tchusetts moved out to Spokane,
Wash, he saw that 1t was being
treated unjustly and took up the fight
to correct the injustice. He prepar-
ed a great case and the. Interstate
commerce commission issued an or
der that prohibited the railroads from
continuing the grossest part of their.
imposition upon Spokane and other
inter-mountain cities like Denver
and Salt Lake. Then the. commerce
court, Mr.. Tafts pet project for the
projection Of the property OF con-,
servatives' like Morgan and Mellen,
promptly held that the Interstate
commission had no author
ity such as it assumed in its attempt
to prevent the railroads from charg-
ing Spokane people for service they
never rendered to them, viz: charging
them for hauling eastern shipments
from Spokane to Seattle and from
Seattle back to- Spokane. The prac-
.tice was to haul the goods from the