Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1887 — INTERSTATE COMMISSION. [ARTICLE]

INTERSTATE COMMISSION.

The Interstate Commerce Commission met at Memphis on the 4th inst., and were occupied all day hearing testimony on behalf of the - Louisville and Nflshvilie ~and Na'hville and Chattanooga Railroad®, and points traversed by those roads. The evidence elicited was not Of a character to raise the conviction in the minds pelthose who followed it closely that a good case had been made out in favor oLthe suspension- of the dong • and ’ short haul' clause. The Commissioners crossexamined witnesses closely. arid in nearly every instance drew from them admissions that weakened the force of their testimony. One Nashville witness disclosed the fact that the Louisville and Nashville Road allowed Nashville Hour mills a rate that enabled them to buy wheat at Detroit, take it to Nashville, convert it into four, and deliver it at points of consumption as cheaply as if it had been made into flour at De troit in the first place without paying tribute to Nashville mills. The Interstate Commerce Commission concluded its two days’ labors at Memphis after hearing evidence from merchants of Memphis, Louisville, Lexington. Little

Rock, and Newport, Ark., to the effect that the enforcement of Section 4 would he disastrous to (he commerce and industries of the points named. Tie Louisville and Nashville, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. liOuis, and the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroads were granted two weeks’ time to file arguments and stat sticxl information in support of their petition for the permanent suspension of Section 4. Representatives of the river inteiesis wire also given leave to present their case in writing. Up to this time forty-four railroad companies have filed w.th the Interstate Commerce Commission formal petitions Asking to be relieved from section 4 of the interstate commerce ' law. Probably as many more have been received anil returned for further information. A much larger number has been received from trade organizations, private corporations, and individuals protesting against the suspension of section 4 in particular cases.

The Interstate Commission received a complaint from Chicago that the Sundayschool workers were cut off from “passes” and freight favors, and asking redress. The reply was that all such questions were in the hands of the railroad companies, and they must construe the law to 6nit themselves until the points under it had been adjudicated. r