The sun., 1919-07-19
TROUBLES DUE
TO POLITICS.
A Plea 70 Replace the Interstate Com
merce Commission by Body which
Shall Be Independent Of Outside
Influences and Have More Power.

merce Commission by q Body which
Shall Be Independent Of Outside
Influences and Have More Power.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN--Sir. There
Is no desire to criticise personally any
member of the Interstate Commerce
Commission. past or present. Most of
its members since its organization, a
third of a century ago, have been hard
working and jealous men, and not the
least interesting fact is that dtplng all
that time the personal integrity OF no
member of the commission has been pri-
vately or publicly assailed.
At times throughout the country the
commission has been criticised as in
competent as individually and collec-
lively inefficient, and its methods and
means of handling the great railroad
problems have been denounced by COM
mercial bodies as tardy in the extreme,
with business injured by tho neglect Of
the commission to render decisions with
in anything like a reasonable period.
The commission has been subjected
to drastic comments on the part Of rail-
road executives, railroad employees,
bankers, shippers, security holders and
by all sorts and conditions of men hay
ing direct, indirect and even remote
connections with railroad matters.
In many quarters the commission has
been charged explicitly with having
strangled and starved the great railroad
systems of the United States, collectively
the greatest railroad system in the world
The present and the past reduced earn
lngs OF the railroads, the plight in which
nearly a million security holders Of the
railroads md themselves through Sc
verely reduced dividends, the unconscion-
able, distressing service in many parts
Of the country - anything. everything
that has been and Is bad with the rail-
roads has been largely piled. shunted
and pitched upon the commission; this
before Government operation. since
which time the responsibility for this
dreadful state of affairs has been about
equally divided.
1t may be set down as a copper riv-
eted fact. however, that all the troubles
Of the railroads of the country coming
through the administration of the In
ter6tate Commerce Commission from the
hour Of its inception to the present mo-
mont have been due to the fact that
the commission is nothing more than a
political body. enveloped by a political
system, and II IL this system which has
destroyed the efficiency OF the commits
sion. which In turn has acted 80 disas-
trously upon the railroads Of the coun-
try 1t may be added also that no men,
Der of this commission has been ap-
pointed since its organization except to
! represent a political obligation or hope.
The commission. in word, has been
and is dominated by politics, not by
fundamental economic railroad princi-
piles.
There Is plenty OF comment to demon
strate that the members Of the commits
sion have not been free agents. but have
been fearful of offending a political
power or powers. How often il II heard
in Washington and how often has the
testimony been given before Senate and
House committees that the commission.
having given a higher rate decision. has
been lectured. even threatened, by men,
bers OF the House and by members of
the Senate with an investigation Of its
acts. And why were these threats
made? Because almost every decision
advancing freight or passenger rates has
! aroused the shippers and other constit-
uents OF members of the House Of Rep
resentatives and the United States Sen
ate to complain of and to resent the
/ advanced rates and to declare that their
/ representatives should see to II that the
Interstate Commerce Commission should
| not grant further advances
No matter about the financial condi-
tion of the railroads. no matter how
necessary these advances were. no mat
ter how the service of the public suf-
! fered for lack Of them. the shippers and
| other constituents were utterly opposed
to paying anything like an adequate sum
for adequate service. and the politicians
took up the cudgels against the commits
! sion. Indeed. In the case of the per
| cent rate advance several years age
| Senator Newlands. then the head Of the
Interstate Commerce Committee of the
! Senate, was practically swamped with
letters and kilograms from his constit-
vents protesting against the action OF
the commission. and to the last day OF
his life he told OF the abuse showered
upon him for that advance. The same
story could be told of scores more OF
| the members of the House Of Repre-
sentatives and the United States Senate
| At this very moment members of the
| House and members OF the Senate are
beseeching the Interstate Commerce
Commission to reduce freight and pas
senger rates which were decreed as abb
solutely essential by former Director