Show ri AT LAST I The Senate Tackles the InterState Inter-State Commerce Bill SENATOR CULLOH FiVOBS IT lie Dwells Partlcnlary on the Long and Short Hnnl Section House Proceeding Etc I SENATE 1 J WASHINGTON January 10The Senate Sen-ate at 1 oclock pm took up the InterState Inter-State corflmeree bill and Mr Beck took the floor with a speech in favor of the conference report Un motion of Dawes the House amendments to i the Senate bill to proi vide lands for Indians in severally were nonconcurred in and the conference was asked At 2 oclock Bpck having concluded his remarks on the interSte bill Oul lom took the floor He said he would confine his attention at this time to an explanation of the fourth section long and short hauls in respect to which there seemed to be much misunderstanding misunder-standing I After a remonstrance from the Minneapolis Min-neapolis Board of Trade the Senate then proceeded to the consideration of the interstate commerce bill and was addressed by Mr Beckin favor of the adoption of the conference report Mr Cullom addressed the senate in favor of the conference jeport confining confin-ing his remarks principally jtoy the fourth section as to long and short hauls This section he said simply undertakes to lay down in specific terms the rule or principle which sr have always contended is already in effect contained in other provisions of the bill The first requirement of the bill on tho subject of rates is found in the first section and is that all j rates shall be reasonable and just This is in effect a declaration that under similar circumstances and conditions a greater sum shall not be charged for shorter thanfor longer distance dis-tance because under sUch circumstances circum-stances it would not be reasonable arid just to mako such a charge The next I requirement of the bill that effects the question is found in the first part of the third section which forbids the I giving of an undue or unreasonable I preference of advantage to any particular par-ticular locality This is likewise a declaration that a greater 871m shall not be charged for a shorter than for a longer haul under similar circumstances and conditions because such charge would be making or giving of an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to one particular locality or would subject some other particular locality to in undueor unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage The Senator quoted the iciurth fection in full As I understand under-stand it this section as it now stands simply nrohibits a railroad lorporation from charging a greater aggregate sum not a higher rate for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line l in I the same direction aud under sub tantially similar circumstances and conditions when the shorter is included within the longer distance There is no other prohibition made in positive terms The declaration that this shall not be construed as authorizing authoriz-ing any common carrier within the terms of this act to charge and receive as great a compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance does not in terms prohibit the charges of as much c jr a shorter as for a longer distancs but imply withholds the legislative sanction sanc-tion from the making of such a charge This qualifying clause negatives the in lerences that might possibly be drawn rom the language of the section without those words namely that an equal charge for a shorter ilibtince 13 authorized by inference rb cal > only a greater charge is prohibited The qualification there toe leaves the question of whether equ J amount can be charged for a snorter distance to be determined bv the provisions of the bill to which I have l already referred requiring all charges to be reasonable forbidding giving of an unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular locality The reqUirement of the fourth see non then en is that between shipments j t tfl3 nme kllld d1ltctlODs in the same 1tCt1uns over thc same line and l1ade undft hon < L I n wu uuaIlY similar cir ClllUtaaces and conditions n5 a greater mm shall not be charged for a shorter thslI f 11 longer haul when the sherter cOJpi a pltrt of the thelonger llJt bet the higher haul j rate shall not be flbsrgeil per mile but that aafcrvia = um iiiall not he a ch rater TIp Chalge S ° antatious that is matto placed are upon the prohi and they very signiticlln t U Lot bc They overlooked require tnat in > um that determIning the may be charged for a a shorter compared ftfuirement with a longer distance must be made hind frtlletween of property 8hipUleuts ° f like ecoudh Under substantially similar rcuUlstallces and conditions IhirdOvcr the same lines PlJurth In the same direction tJ Fntb When the shorter is included 1ithin the longer di r distance > to be applied llnce hen the act in hire the charge any glcn Case to mea ally distance ns e that may be made fur istei ce nil compared with a longer limitations to must be taken aCCount tu a eaq and they must all apply not all of them tfiree or four them but ltmitation5 do The lirst fourth and fifth lmItatlOns not appear to call for any but third tue second and I underitand tnay need some explanation As them the hqnces and n words circum bns that 3ldltlons mean condi the cirCums govern railway traffic and trsusrorted cIrcumstances Under which It IS are full of To mJ mind these words IJend all the tnanin They compre I tlons thatmay CtrculUltanc aIid co ° di I rte ueh as jnstify the der ces t 1 oaP1li alld compeLition with other Water routes thevolu iarftOtr of K e and oints the busincss at ditferen ell unci dlffernce in rminals ex cost of service te ords in each cal Used were the SaUte cir cumstances and conditions ingenious railway men would be able to show that the circumstances and conditions were never exactly the same in any two cases and they might also be aple to show that they were not similar if that was the word used Bat the words substantially similar impart enough latitude to the comparison to enable the courts to exercise sound discretion dis-cretion and common sense in passing upon cases that may arise So far as anyone railroad company is concerned therefore the sum which it may charge for a haul from one end Of its road to the other end becomes the maximum amount it can charge for any shorter haul over that road in the same direction and under similar circumstances cir-cumstances and conditions when a shorter distance is included within a longer but the question that seems to trouble those who object to the section as it stands is whether the maximum thus fixed tis the amount which the railway company charges upohship ments originating at a and destined to points on its own line or whether the maximum is which it accepts as its share of turoush rate upon shipments ship-ments passing over the road which originates or-iginates it or are destined to joints on another road It seems clear to uie that there can be but one answer to that question In the first place the measure iof charge that may be made for shorter distance is the sum that is charged for a longer distance over the same line and under substantially similar circumstances and conditions The rates fixed by a railroad company between points upon its own road are clearly rates upon one line of in the terms of theJjiUlThe line The railroad company can make and control con-trol rates upon its own road md the sections sec-tions say that in making such rates the short haul principle shall be observed The railroad company cannot control rates over the road of another company but when two or more companies unite on making joint rates bvef their respective re-spective roads theybecohie1 in the eye of this bill one line and this sections section-s ys that the short haul principle must be o servedjp making rates over that line the twd or more roads composing it being within the meaning of this section thesame line So far as such joint ratesare concerned he word railroad rail-road is used throughout the bill and the word line is used only in this section and the courts will be bound to assume that the word line I means something different from the word railroad or itwould pot have been used in this one instance where the word railroad would naturally have been used if something different had not been intended The word line means a railroad ora combination of railroads It means a r9uts Section 7 of tOe bill requires the carriage carri-age of freight to be rated as one continuous carriage from the place of shipment to the destination1 and this could not be done in the case ox shipment ship-ment over the connecting road if the word used in this section was railroad instead of line The joint through rates which are made by two or more railroadjcompanies between points upon their respective roads are made over an entirely different and distinct line from that over winch anyone any-one of the companies individually makes rates and they are alao made under different circumstances and conditions from these which govern and determine the rates over a single railroad The two transactions are separate and distinct neither being necessarily governed by the other Furthermore the making of joint through rates is specifically recognized by the bill in the section I requiring publicity of rates and nowhere in the bill can anv thing be found in relation to a division di-vision of the joint rate by the connecting i connect-ing roads I am satisfiad therefore that the only construction is warranted war-ranted by the language of thesection is the one I have give a it and that instead in-stead of requiring the rates to be measured meas-ured by the per centagc of the through rate which the road accepts or of requiring re-quiring through rates over connecting loads 10 be an aggregation of the local rates over each roadr as some hive claimed the section as it stands simply requires that each railroad company shall observe the short haul principle as to its own rates and thatthe same principle shall also be observed by a combination railroad as to the joint through rates between the points upon their roads agreed upon bysuch combination com-bination Mr George objected the interpretation interpreta-tion put upon the words under like circumstances cir-cumstances and conditions by Mr Cullom He did not belieye that it waS the true legitimate interpretation In reply to question by Mr Aldrich Mr Harris Tennessee undertook to explain and def bd the fourth section of thebill There was he said four distinct and independent lines ot railroad between tsan jJJrancisco and New York Tuese became one line by a contract and agreement between them If they charged 100 a car from San Francisco to New York that was the maximum r te which they could charge from U den or Omaha to New York Mr AldrichThen they couldcharge > 93 a car from O den or Oman or Buftilol Mr Harris There is no reason to be found in this bill why they may not charge from any intermediate point up to the maximum of the through charge except that the charge must be reasonable Mr blanford argned against the bill He said that it e idcd not only to prevent competition by railroads butt but-t exhibited a tendency to foster waterways water-ways to the prejudice of the railroad interests If the object were to enhance en-hance the water lines at the expense of the railroads he didnt know how the bill could be framed to secure such an object better than this bill The railway business was legitimate there could be no justification for depriving the owners of railroads of control oft of-t their property The bill seemed to him clearly in violation of the rights of property and of the rights of labor to receive compensation for services performed It was also l a discouragement discourage-ment to that class or investment In regard to the long and short haul section sec-tion he argued that waterand pther I competition sometimes made absolutely abso-lutely necessary to charge more forip termediate business than for through business All the overland lines of rail roal 1 find theirrstes very largely con I trolLd and influeiicd by the routes by J the way of the Isthmus Panama and of Cape Horn Meeting that competition competi-tion and being willing to accept a small profit where a larger cannot be had they had to carry along the line be tween the two extreme points the pam character of freight less rates than it is carried from the east to the west or from the west to the east to intermediate inter-mediate paces Thus because of competition com-petition freight going from New York to San Francisco may pass over the various lines of railroad making the through line for perhaps half their regular rates Bay from New York to I Buffalo from Buffalo tj Chicago from Chicago to Omaha from Omaha to Salt I Lake and so oil to the destination on the Pacific Coast No profit is so small as to be despised The business is done at that rate rather than not do it at all Take a more marked illustration The i Southern Pacific road strikes the i Atlantic waters ata much less distance than any of its more northern competitors compe-titors It has a line of easy gradients comparatively and it competes not only with its northern rivals but more particularly with Cape Horn and the Isthmus of Panama routes because oj its shorterline and easy gradients In this companion itoften takes freight between the two ioceam as low as0 while it takes freight half way for say 20 a ton a mOst reasonable ratef for the hunted local business of that country Now if it only makes a dollar net on the freight from San Francisco Fran-cisco to New Orleans at 10 it is ifiad tOmake that dollar where it can get no more but a ton of freight going to El Paso something over half the distance WUf pay 30 a ton Aow if frei htat10 in New Orleans pays 1 profit freight going a lessdistance o El raso would pay as much profit twentyone tons going through to New Orleans and the rates charged Jo lu Paso are but fair as is shown by the gross earnings and 4gross expenses of the road leaving but a small net profit The shorter distance is not charged anymore any-more because of the less ratO for longer distance Indeed the longer distance helps the railroad company to maintain itself while without tfaathelp perhaps they could not do a shorter bus ii ss at all Is this Congress prepared to say that small earnings shall be despised 1 That they shall not be secured when a greater cannot be had Are they prepared pre-pared to deny to individual shippers I and communities the benefit Of their more favorable location whether made so because of the geography and topography topo-graphy of the country or by artificial n I means Adjourned + H tJ Th Speaker laid before the House a 1 Communication from the Secretary of the Treasury in reply tq3 resolution asking for an interpretation of the tariff laws respecting the duties on fish Referred ferred Under the cal of States the following bills and resolutions were introduced and referred The bi 11 making an appropriation for an investigation of the peculiarities of the formation and structure of the I earths crust > By Mr Oates Alabama Making ten I years residence of aliens a prerequisite to naturalization By Markham CaliforniaFQr the protection of the forest lands of the United States in California By Morrow California by refines To enable the Secretary of the Treasury Treas-ury to acquire and extinguish outstanding out-standing titles of property occupied by the Treasury Department in San Francisco Fran-cisco oy By Cobb Indiana A resolution granting the public lands committee power to call up any day after morning morn-ing hour bills for forfeiture of laud grants to prevent speculation in public lands and to reserve public lands for bona fide settlers By Morrill KansasTo place lumber lum-ber and salt on the free list and to reduce re-duce the duty on sugar By Peters Kansas Authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to erect public pub-lic buildings not to exceed in cost 50000 each in any town or city in which the gross receipts to government from any office exceed 10000 By Mefnman New YorkForthe purchase of John Erricsons Destroyer and ten enlarged steel vessels of the same type for defending the harbors of the United States By Gifford Arizona Grantingthe right of way tothe United States Railroad Rail-road Company from a point Ont the Canadian boundary to a point on the Mexican boundary j 1 f v Mr Morrison Illinois from the committee com-mittee of rules reported a resolution setting anart Wednesday and Thurs day next tor thejconsideration of the business reported from the committee on judiciary Agreed to This order includes the EdmundsTucker anti polygamy bill The floor was then given to tho District Dis-trict of Columbia committee and after the passage of several district measures the House adjourned I j L |