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would have to be controlled, that's all." And when I quoted this to one of the leading members of the Interstate Commission his comment was, "I always said the railroads would own the Commission as soon as it was worth owning."

Even without owning the Commission the railroads can block it pretty effectually by secret practices, extensive forgetfulness on the witness stand, persistent persecution of shippers who make complaint, cunning evasions, and interminable litigation. It is quite likely the proposed regulation will not realize what is hoped for from it, but we cannot predict such failure from English experience as President Hadley does when he says, "The history of English railroad regulation shows that a similar measure, passed under closely analogous circumstances, failed to do the good which its advocates expected. The same failure. is likely to be repeated in the United States." The Hepburn Bill in its scope and directness is very different from anything that England has attempted. It is quite likely that England may try some more vigorous measure than she has yet adopted, but in spite of all her efforts at regulation Mr. W. M. Acworth, the classic railway writer of England from the railway standpoint, corresponding to President Hadley in this country, told me a few months ago that dissatisfaction with the railway situation is so great in England that "9 out of 10 would vote for public ownership of the roads if the question were submitted to-morrow."

The general failure of regulation in England to accomplish what was expected of it, may suggest a broad conclusion as to this country, but a specific conclusion from any parallel to the Hepburn Bill is not possible, because no such parallel has been tried.

President Hadley thinks one hearing is enough, provided it is a hearing before a court, not before the Commission. Like the railroads, President Hadley has no use for the Com

mission. The reason perhaps is the conscious or subconscious appreciation of the fact that rate-making involves a vigorous administrative element, which the Commission has shown a tendency to use with great effectiveness, while a body constituted as a court, by its very nature and traditions, is loath to exercise administrative power or in any way disturb its exercise by the companies except on the clearest kind of proof of the adequacy of the new rate or condition proposed, which cannot in many cases be obtained at all except by bona fide trial of the new rate or regulation, since a rate that is even below the present operating cost may develop traffic enough to give it ample justification. Courts do not like to trust to future proof. If rates do not seem justified on existing facts as shown by accounts presented by the companies, the courts are apt to turn the new rates down without a trial, as the United States Supreme Court did in the Nebraska case when the law of that State fixing rates on local traffic was declared unconstitutional. The companies made the division between through local costs to suit themselves, and the Court not only accepted their figures, but neglected to take into account the fact that lower rates might easily develop new traffic enough to cover the slight additional margin needed even on the companies' own showing.

President Hadley says: "What the United States needs is an act under which the Commission will take part in the making of tariffs and give effect to the public interest in the general questions of railroad management, leaving the specific cases of violation to be stopped or punished by the courts." Very good. But how is the Commission to take part in the making of tariffs? If it is to do any more than to give advice (the efficacy of which is nil when it comes up against the Beef Trust, Standard Oil, or other big private interest), it must have authority, general or particular, to fix rates when the railways do not make them just and reasonable. In England Parliament fixes maximum

rates on the basis of Board of Trade studies, and the commission acts as a court. The plan has not prevented either discrimination or extortion, but has taken the life out of the railways to a large extent. In this country it is proposed to try the plan of letting a public board fix individual maximum rates when injustice is shown. As there is an appeal to the Federal courts and as Hadley declares that the courts insist on retrying questions in their entirety, it would seem that the very system President Hadley advocates would really come into being under the Hepburn Bill, the Commission will have a part in fixing the rates, and violations of law will really be determined by the

courts.

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