Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1905 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capitol. Special Correspondence to The Democrat: A report is current in Washington, and has been sent out by a number of correspondents, that an agreement has been reached among the members of the Senate committee on Interstate Commerce regarding the form of railway legislation which shall be enacted at the next session of Congress and it is added that the President has given his sanction to the programme. It is claimed that a bill is to be framed which shall merely extend the provisions of the Elkins anti-rebate law, prevent discrimnation of every character as between shippers and even remedy the grave inequalities now arrived at by the use of private cars, that is, cars owned by special companies like the Armour refrigerating compampany, et al. t tt

No confirmation of this report can be obtained and as a whole it appears to be without foundation. That the members of the Senate committee, the Republican members, at least, may have reached such an agreement is entirely possible. The railroads are insistent that the only legislation which effects their industry shall be confined to the further prevention of rebates, in whatever form they are now given. That is natural as rebates mean a diminution of railway profits. This explains, too, why Senator Elkins fathered the rebate law which bears his name, no line of which he ever drew It is probably treasonable to say it, but the fact is that Philander Knox, then Attorney General, now Senator from Pennsylvania, drew the Elkins anti-rebate law as it stands on the statutes, and Senator Elkins’ only connection with it lay in the fact that he was chairman of the committee which reported it to the Senate. t t t The improbable part of the current report is that the President has given his sanction to the pro--Bram8 ram me outlined. It is not likely iat the committee, assuming that it has determined upon a proCipme, has been able to submit | the President who, ever since the committee held its first meet-

ing, has been industriously engaged in chasing bears and bobcats through the rocky fastness of Colorado? Or is it probable that the President, even had the committee succeeded in trespassing in his vacation to the extent of sending its plan to him, would have considered it between hunts, so to speak, and forwarded bis approval to Washington by wireless telegraphy, or telepathy, without even consulting his Attorney General or other members of bis cabinet? It must be remembered that the President, in his last message to Congress, specifically recommended that the power to adjudge the equity of railway rates complained of and the further power to fix an assumed just rate be conferred on the Interstate Commerce Commission. Certainly there is no good ground for the assumption that Mr. Roosevelt has already determined to swallow his specific recommendation and accept the suggestions of Senator Elkins’ committee t t t There is no doubt that an extension of the principle of the anti-rebate law would accomplish great good. It would go a long way toward destroying the powers of the trusts, etc. One of the most prominent railway men in the country recently assured your correspondent that every dollar invested in private cars paid the companies so investing a profit of not less than 87| per cent. He said that the railway companies were powerless to resist the demands of the owners of private cars. They were always immense concerns which contributed so largely to the traffic of any line on which they were located that a complete withdrawal of their shipments would seriously affect the profits of the railway. They demand that the railways pay them for the use of their cars and the railway which pays the highest price gets their business. This, of course, serves the owner of the cars just as well as would a rebate on the freight rate. It gives them a lower net rate than any of their competitors and enables them to drive all competitors from the field. And yet the existing law does not touch this form of discrimination because it cannot legally be construed as a rebate. In so far as the proposed law would go, it would do good, but it would not go nearly as far as President Roosevelt has insisted that it shall go. And while it is entirely possible that the President may be induced to accept this as all be can obtain, there is not the slightest reason for believing that he has already agreed to do so. t t t

A group of Repulican statesmen were talking politics on a street corner in Washington today. “What are the chances of your sending us a tariff bill?” asked one Senator. "Very poor,” replied one of the Representatives present. "Why,” said the Senator, “if we don’t do something for the people who are demanding tariff readjustment it will mean a Democratio majority in the next House as sure as sin.” "I know that,” replied the Representative, “but what are we going to do about it? New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio command the first three seats on the Ways and Means committee. Those three States derive more profit from the tariff than all the western States put together and nothing short of a cyclone would make Payne, Dalzell and Grosvenor move a step in a direction which might lead to a reeduction of the profits of their constituents.” t t t “St nator, what are the schedules which call for a reduction?” asked your correspondent. “Steel,” replied all three men in one breath. Then one of them told how the Steel Trust was selling steel plates to foreign ship-builders, "delivered on the Clyde,” for $24 a ton, while the American shipbuilder had to pay in the city of Cleveland $32 a ton. “You can’t build up a merchant marine with subsidies in the face of such conditions as that,” he added. Then another spoke up and related that American railroads were laboring at a smilar disadvantage because of the Steel Trust. "Our American roads,” he said, “have to pay

between 16 and f 7 more for every ton of steel rails they lay than their Canadian competitors, just north of the line. The Canadian roads are charging lower freight rates and making more profit and are spending thousands of dollars every year to induce American farmers to take up land along their lines.” Sterling clothing is simply the best that money can buy. The best evidence, we never hear a complaint. Chicago Bargain Stork,