The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1921-12-02
ABUSES, OLD AND NEW

Z WHEN congress adjourned. several bills were pending before the
w interstate commerce commission seeking to amend the trans
W portation law s. as TO restore a free hand in rate-making in in
trastate jurisdiction to the various state railroad and public service
power to annul inira state rates held to be discriminatory. 1t was
under this general power that the commission recently made its rl
Nevada.
service and more equitable rates and that the country as a whole viii
be better served by the carriers with rate regulating powers eoncen-
trated in single power instead of in fortyeght state railroad com
missions, each trying to get the best II can Tor its home communities.
While So per cent of traffic is interstate, reckless juggling with the
remainder; the intra-state business might easily upset the whole
structure, and in fact it did do So for a time. or until the supreme
courts Shreveport and Minnesota decisions swept away the abuses
Congress wrote the courts decisions into the transportation act.
Now some Of the members of congress re seeking TO have the
new powers vested in the interstate commerce commission annuled.
Railroad operation. for the best interests of the country as a whole.
ought never again TO be subjected to the vagaries of fory-eght state
bodies each striving for local advantages. Whether or not it will be
so hampered depends in large measure upon the wisdom of the inter
state commerce commission and the vision of railroad management.
The state railroad commission and similar bodies under various
names were created in response TO a just demand for protection
against abuses in railroad operation; mainly in rate making. II was
not against high crimes and vast c9nspiracies that the public arose in
protest; IL was in protest against little tyrannies. The railroad man
agements did not heed the warnings until the storm had broken. The
nation did not want excessive regulation. 1t wanted justice. But
under demagogic leadership, regulation went to the limit of excesses
IN unwise local regulatory powers. Everybody was hurt. New Mex
leo did not become a state until after the wave OF local regulation had
spent itself That is the only reason this state escaped the folly Of
other states The reaction had set in. 1t required ten years more
for this reaesion to eliminate IN Capitalization OF the ratemaking
power 1t was hastened, probably ten years, by the experiences of the
Senator Cspper of Kansas is now leading the fight for restora-
ton Of the states power 10 regulate intra state rates. His demand is
remarkable state statistcian of Kansas l. correct there is certainly
justice in the Kansas complaint. Unless the faulty rate making al
20 lead the fight for return to the old conditions, when it was every
state for itself and the devil take the national rate fabric.
II is most often a minor matter, like the high passenger rates
charged in this and other thinly populated western states which
have been upheld by the interstate commerce commission, which lead
TO agitstions that often go to unwse and disastrous extremes.
New Mexico, up to this time, has steered clear of destructive reg
ulatory activities. 1t is much easier to start this sort of thing than
to stop it. The railroads crossing these thnly populated states should
join with the people in seeking passenger rates that are in harmony
with rates in other states they serve. This course would be at once
the just course and the wise business policy in the long run. Doubt
less the New Mexico passenger rates can he justified BY local passen-
ger traffic income figures. Figures, however, seldom control or
greatly influence popular demands