NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
News Worth Remembering THE passage of the railroad rate hill by the Senate on June 3, is reported to have given the President much satisfaction. While he does not approve of all (he provisions of...
...The indictment found by the Chicago grand jury against Lee O'Neill Browne for alleged bribing of a Democratic member of the legislature was sustained on June 1 by the court in an exhaustive opinion and it seems probable that the Democratic minority leader soon will have to stand trial...
...It has been amended by providing that the proposed law shall not be construed as enlarging the jurisdiction now possessed by the courts to review and set aside the orders of the commission...
...The state Senate has adopted a resolution providing for the submission of the question to popular vote...
...At Jackson, Michi--gan, Mr...
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...Evidence has also been given tending to confirm and strengthen the state's case against State Senator John Broderick, accused of bribing a fellow legislator to vote for Lorimer...
...It has been so amended as to allow interested parties to intervene in the court of commerce and prosecute or defend the orders of the commission made in their behalf...
...Miners Resume Work The miners of Texas have returned to work...
...Taft appointed Charles D. Norton of Chicago, assistant secretary of the treasury, as his own secretary, to succeed Fred Carpenter...
...He denied that he had been aware of the frauds and laid the responsibility for the frauds to Henry O. Have-meyer, former head of the company, who is now dead...
...Improvements Made "Against the combined opposition of the administration and the railroads the progressive Republicans and Democrats have succeeded in eliminating many of the most harmful provisions of the bill as proposed, and in writing into it much that is of substantial benefit to the public...
...1, 1910, or of any rate which the railroads may seek to increase after the passage of this act, the burden of proof to show that the increased rate is just and reasonable is placed upon the common carrier...
...Norton will bear the same relations toward the President as those which existed between Mr...
...In Iowa Senator Cummins is assisting, at the time this is written, to defeat Congressmen Smith and Hull for renomination...
...It has been amended by requiring five days' notice to the commission and opportunity for hearing before a temporary restraining order shall be issued in any case by the court of commerce...
...The court some time ago upheld the constitutionality of the original provision but has materially limited its application...
...It authorized the commission to control classification and issue orders based upon investigations made on its own initiative...
...Firemen Get Higher Pay The federal arbitration board, appointed under the Erdman law, last week handed down its decision in the dispute between 27,000 locomotive firemen employed on forty-nine western roads and their employers...
...The decision was based on the increased and high cost of living and the additional work and responsibility caused by the expansion of transportation work" and the heavier types of engines now in use...
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...It ousted the interstate commerce commission as the party in interest on all appeals from its orders and substituted the United States, giving the Attorney General exclusive control of all appeals, with full authority to prosecute or discontinue at his pleasure...
...Progressive Amendments Killed Before passing the bill a large number of amendments were considered by the Senate...
...It was amended so as to prevent the making of a lower rate for a longer than for a shorter distance for the purpose of destroying water competition...
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...The privilege conferred upon the railroads of appearing before the court of commerce with a prepared case and securing in advance a decree as to whether their proposed action was unlawful has been stricken from the bill...
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...It attempted to create in the commerce court the broad power to review and set aside the findings of the commission upon grounds other than those involving jurisdiction and constitutional questions...
...Taft devoted his attention to a laudation of the past accomplishments and the ability and integrity of the Republican party and outlined what he believes will be the next great issue which it must face...
...La Follette's amendment providing that the whole court and not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall appoint members of the Court of Commerce, was also lost, as was his proposal to give the Interstate Commerce Commission better equipment by dividing the country into four districts, each to be under the jurisdiction of a sub-commission...
...Loeb—that he will in reality be "assistant President...
...It was amended so as to make it unlawful for any common carrier to disclose or permit to be acquired by any person or corporation other than the shipper, without the consent of the shipper, any information concerning the nature, kind, quantity, destination or routing of any property delivered to the common carrier for interstate transportation...
...Senator La Follette's physical valuation amendment was lost by a close vote, as was Senator Bailey's amendment intended to force the Supreme Court again to pass on the provision of the Hepburn bill prohibiting railroads from carrying commodities manufactured, mined or produced by themselves or subsidiary and allied corporations...
...Several amendments were accepted prohibiting railroads from crushing and stifling water competition by means of unfair rates...
...Their demand for higher wages was granted by the operators after a short suspension of work.—The railroads of Illinois have made efforts to hasten a settlement of the dispute between miners and operators of that state which is likely to cost them dear because of the rapidly dwindling supply of coal available for their use...
...He said: "All I can say is that the issue that is being framed, as it seems to me, is the issue with respect to the institution of private property...
...It authorized the commission to suspend a proposed new rate for a period of sixty days...
...Roosevelt and Mr...
...There is a general impression that unless the committee agrees on a measure containing certain progressive provisions, the bill will be defeated in one or both of the houses when the final vote is taken...
...It created a new court open to the railroads to enjoin the orders of the interstate commerce commission...
...He said: For the Public "As this bill was drafted by the Attorney General, recommended by the President, and reported by the committee on interstate commerce to the Senate, it contained only four provisions which, by any fair construction, could be construed as conferring any public favor, which provisions were: "1...
...Meanwhile a dispatch of June 4 from Washington states that the government will soon take action to dissolve the sugar trust for violation of the Sherman law, in monopolizing the industry, and suppressing competition...
...It proposed, under cover of a proposition to prohibit any railroad from acquiring any stock in another and substantially competing road—a proposition perfectly harmless, because directly and substantially competing roads have already been consolidated in ownership and control—to legalize crimes heretofore committed in the acquisition by one interstate road of the control of other competing interstate roads, followed by a further provision to legalize and provide for the completion of railroad consolidations heretofore unlawfully entered upon...
...A dispatch of the 5th from Pittsburg states that Congressman John Dalzell of the Thirteenth District has secured re-nomination over his progressive opponent by a very small majority...
...Norton Succeeds Carpenter Before leaving Washington, Mr...
...Speaking before the students of Bryn Mawr college on commencement day, the President declared his belief in college educa-cation for women, regarding higher education as fitting women for both home and business life...
...That was what the bill proposed to do for the public...
...After "Men Higher Up" In Illinois no great sensation occurred last week in connection with the grand jury investigations of corruption in the last senatorial election...
...It was amended so that in any case involving the reasonableness of a rate increased after Jan...
...It proposed to legalize agreements between railroads to fix rates and classifications, giving the commission no authority whatever with respect to such agreements, thus annuling the antitrust law as to railroads...
...News Notes The lower house of the Louisiana general assembly has ratified the proposed federal income tax...
...There are those who charge to that institution the corporate abuses, the greed and the corruption that grow out of those abuses, the unequal distribution of property, the poverty of some and the undue wealth of others, and, therefore, say we will have none of it and we must have a new rule of distribution that for want of a better name we shall oall socialism.'* He said that the Republican party believes in legislation restricting and regulating the use of private property...
...La Follette Makes Analysis Just before the final vote was taken on the bill, Senator La Follette, who had been delegated to speak for all of the progressive senators, made a statement to the Senate in which he outlined what the bill does for the public, what it gives to the railroads and in what ways it has been improved during consideration...
...It gave the railroads the privilege of appearing before the court of commerce with a prepared case, securing in advance a decree as to whether their proposed action was unlawful, giving the court the widest discretion to interpret the law and estop the court from thereafter raising any question as to the transaction...
...Under the pretense of controlling capitalization it gave legislative sanction to all existing railroad capitalization, fictitious and otherwise, and provided various schemes of stock watering through legalized mergers and financial operations...
...It was amended so as to require carriers engaged in interstate commerce to maintain an office in Washington or an agent, upon whom service can be made in all actions and proceedings before the interstate commerce commission and in the court of commerce...
...Rudolph Spreckels of San Francisco has announced his intention of forming a nation-wide anti-corruption and good government organization...
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...It has been amended by a provision which permits appeals to the Supreme Court from interlocutory orders by the Court of Commerce...
...It shifts the burden in regard to these rates from the complainant to the railway company...
...By the decision, which was given out on May 4, the men are granted increases in wages averaging about ten per cent...
...The three sections which pretended a control of railroad capitalization, but in truth and in fact legalized all of the fraudulent capitalization existing in railroad organization at the present time, and prepared the way for various schemes of stock watering through legalizing mergers and financial operations, have been stricken from the bill...
...The case will come again before the highest court next winter when a full bench is expected to pass upon it...
...In the aggregate the increase will add $3,000,000 annually to the pay roll for firemen on western railroads...
...The provision legalizing agreements between railroads to fix rates and classifications, a plain sanction of rate-making by combination, repealing as to railroads the anti-trust law, has been stricken from the bill...
...Taft Discusses Socialism At Ada, Ohio, the President denounced newspaper and magazine "muckrakers," who rely for their circulation upon vicious and unfounded attacks upon the character and motives of public men, and predicted that this class and kind of journalism would soon disappear...
...It is stated that the Department of Justice has a stronger case against the American Sugar Refining company than it had against the Standard Oil Company...
...It denied to shippers, communities, associations, corporations, firms and individuals interested in defending orders of the commission made in their behalf, any right to appear on appeal and aid in sustaining the orders involving their interests...
...It provided penalties for incorrect statements of rates by the railroad company...
...State's Attorney Burke, who is conducting the Springfield investigation, has found a number of clues in connection with the killing of a "fish bill" at the last session of the legislature, which seem likely to show where the money came from which was used to bribe legislators to vote for Lori-mer...
...It was amended so as to require the interstate commerce commission once in each six month s to analyze classifications and tariffs and show 'the changes in through rates on all staple commodities between the principal producing and consuming sections of the United States,' and to make a report to Congress thereof...
...F/or the Railroads In describing what the bill proposed for the railroads, he said: "It was most generous in conferring favor upon the railroads...
...The men, early in the spring, asked for an increase of 12.5 per cent, over the old wages and for a time it seemed that' a strike was inevitable...
...Taft's speech on socialism was answered by Victor Berger of Milwaukee, at Philadelphia, who said that socialism was merely a new form of civilization following capitalism, as capitalism followed feudalism, and that the Republican party, being the creation of capitalism, must oppose socialism...
...It expressly denied the interstate commerce commission any right to appear in the court of commerce or the Supreme Court, by its attorneys, and defend its orders, a right which it had always exercised under existing law...
...It was amended so as to provide that no injunctional order suspending or restraining the enforcement of any state statute by restraining the action of any officer of a state in the enforcement of such statute shall be issued or granted by the federal Circuit or District courts upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of the statute unless there shall be a hearing thereon before three judges, and unless a majority shall concur in granting such injunction...
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...Corporation* in the Limelight The United States Supreme Court on May 31 ordered a rear-gument of the case testing the constitutionality of the corporation tax law...
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...In the meanwhile, the government will continue enforcing the statute, and in case it is declared unconstitutional will make refunds to the corporations.—Announcement was made on June 1 that a gigantic consolidation of steel companies of Canada had been effected, which will compete with the United States Steel Corporation and attempt to secure a monopoly of the steel business of Canada.—A federal grand jury of Chicago has begun an investigation of the Elgin butter board for the purpose of ascertaining whether that organization conducts its business in violation of the anti-trust law.—Charles R. Heike, secretary of the American Sugar Refining Company, who is on trial in New York City for alleged complicity in the weighing frauds by which the government was robbed of over $2,000,000 in duties, took the stand in his own defense last week...
...One confession has already been made which shows that a large sum was raised for the purpose of defeating the "fish bill...
...Newlands* proposed amendment instructing the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate the inter-corporate holdings of railroad stocks was rejected...
...Senator La Follette's proposed amendment prohibiting the appointment of any judge to a place on the commerce court who is financially or otherwise interested in any common carrier provoked sharp criticism from Senators Heyburn, Gallinger and Carter...
...It is Knifl thai Mr...
...It was amended so as to bring telephone and telegraph companies engaged in the transmission of interstate messages under the supervision of the interstate commerce commission...
...While he does not approve of all (he provisions of the House and Senate bills and will probably exert pressure on the conference committee to strike out those that are obnoxious to him, it is expected that the committee will reach an agreement within a few weeks...
...It authorized the commission to establish through rates and authorized the shipper to route his shipments...
...The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 50 to 12, all the Republicans and six Democrats voting for the measure...
...It has been so amended that in cases and proceedings in the court of commerce and in the Supreme Court upon appeal from the orders of the commission, the Attorney General shall not dispose of or discontinue such suit or proceeding over the objection of the interstate commerce commission or interested party...
...It provided that a judge of the court of commerce upon an ex-parte showing and without any notice whatever to the commission could issue a temporary injunction restraining the enforcement of the commission's order reducing rates...
...This provision should put an end to practices of railroads by which they have deprived seaports and lake ports of their natural advantages...
...It provided no appeal from an interlocutory order or decree by the court of commerce granting or continuing an injunction restraining the enforcement of orders of the interstate commerce commission...
...It extended the railroad's authority to increase and enforce unreasonable transportation charges by withholding authority for a valuation of railroad property, declared to be necessary by the Supreme Court, and urged by the interstate commerce act as absolutely essential not only to the determination of reasonable rates, but to the protection of investors in railway securities...
...It has been amended by a provision authorizing the commission to employ counsel and to appear in the Court of Commerce and defend its orders under such rules as the court may prescribe...
Vol. 2 • June 1910 • No. 23
