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Show I PRIVATE CAR EVIL4GITATED Stevens Bill Creates I I Sensation. News to Many That Refrigerator Refrig-erator Lines Compete With Small Shippers. St6ps to Be Taken by Congress to Regulate Rates and Define Rights of Companies. WASHINGTON. 15 CL, Jan. 16 Owing to the publicity given It and tho discus-, discus-, I Blon excited among members f I .-ingress. I the conference ai tho While House seems to have had moro Immediate mornl e-I e-I feet thai had been expected 2- Xbe question of the time f"r mi extra p-sfloti is still btlng discussed, although 4 ' it seems that sentiment at least In the j. Houbo Is dowly but surely tending In - the direction of a spring special session, t on the tlieorv that th tooner the tariff a Is out of tho" way the better for business and for the polltloal prospects of wfrn-i. wfrn-i. ben :. Members of House Stirred. L "While it is true that the railroad sltua-IB sltua-IB tlon was not discussed exhaustively v J ih.- W hite ii, .us- conference, the attention I given to tho two subjects by the newspapers news-papers of the country for the last two or k ihrec days lias :;iirre.l up ni''inlTf of ih I House as nothing else could have done. 1 The Interstate Commerce committee ac-I ac-I tuallv has taken up the bill introduced by 8 Representative Stevens of Minnesota, If making proxlslons that the Interstate commerce law apply to private car line owners themselves, to present full reports Of their transactions, and punishing vlo- lntlons of the act by tho same fines that II lire imposed under the original Oullom 1 law The Stevens biil way referr.-d to .' f"ib-f f"ib-f committee, which Includes Mr BtevenS himself. Sherman ot X' w York. Wagner of Pennsylvania, Adamson of Georgia and Shacklcford of MNsourl ' In presenting this subject to the com mitter for Immediate consideration. Representative Rep-resentative Stevens declared recent developments de-velopments seemed to make II absolutely p i . - Fonie :o I ion t" 1 " ' kin it once to break up the power of private car , ) iines b means of which a few private k J corporations seemed in a fair way to conlrol the commerce In the food products ' of the country He referred of course. , to th testimony of Mr fctead of Boston Gross Injustice Cited. I This evidence made a deep Impression k I :i,.'i tie 'M.inl'ti. mmiI upon members of the House generally, because It dealt , I In facts and figures and went Into details "I as to the grows Injustice of permitting ' I owners Of private car lines to monopolize tranaportatlon for the particular benefit i f of their own private business, p None ' Lxnon: taken by thi l , i . r.- .i ' Common i iramlwlor regard-? regard-? f Ing private car lines seemed to be under- i stood by members of Congress, but when ? this P.oston commission man told mem bers of the committee In straightforward ? terms Just how Armour, Swift and other 1 owners of refrigerating lines used their c-xcluslve contracts with railroads t.i crush out small shippers and commission merchants, a positive sensation was cre- ;-.ted in Congress. It was news to many of the statesmen that the big packers had pone Into the business of transporting and selling fruits nnd "garden pass" on their own account. The testimony particularly stirred up Southern men. who think they see In this move of the packers an attempt to control I . bsolutely the fruit business of the South. I which In the early months of tho year H I assumes enormous proportions, and has been growing steadily every season , The result of all this apitatlon preclpl- 11 taled so suddenly by the testimony of one 1 witness was the taking up of tho Slovens HI bin without opposition ind Its reference sj I t" a suh-commlttee which practically is certain to present a report, because Mr Stevens, by acting with the two Demo- yerats from the South, easily ran control the situation. I'nder the bill he Introduced upon the convening of Congress after the holiday I recess nil of the provHlnris of the Inler-I Inler-I state commerce- aci are made to apply "to any common carrier or carriers engaged -J nnd to any person "i pi-rsons In oopart- Qy nershlps. Joint stock associations, or cor porations owning or operating or both owning ami operating private freight cars I or any cars not owned by railroad com-i com-i panles." Under Control of Congress. Mr. Stevens goes farther and speciflcal-I speciflcal-I ly makes privai- car lines common i ir-0f ir-0f riers when engaged in the transaction of H Interstato commerce so as to place them under control of Congress In this way the ''in requires thai 'ii general laws governing the service of railroad companies com-panies are applied to and made a part of the obligation of prlvato car lines I . The moat important feature of tho Ste- i vena bill is section .:. which requires that HJ W every private car line 111 with the Interstate Inter-state Commerce commission Its tariff st le-rlule of mileage ..r pi-r diem r.il, s and Separata schedule for any charges made for facilities, furnished or service performed per-formed on behalf of property transported in private freight cars They--. tariff p'hedub.i are l ipil'-ed I" b posted up. k iuid it is mads a violation of law for pri vate car Urea t.. n I -my rate different In any way lor an- B rvlee than that provided pro-vided for In Its published tariff i' In the following section provision Is w made for full reports from a private r.ir line to tho interstate Commerce commission, commis-sion, giving the exact mileage of every car rate paid by each railroad, the character char-acter "f the rate, and the exact amount a of tho charge for any other service out- Pl side of tho car Itself. U i In Motion 6 thero Is a strong provision forbidding the giving or acceptance of rebates re-bates o r discriminations by a private car line which ur" made subject to all pro- 3 visions now applicable to ordinal y r.Ul- sw I roads. in the concluding section Mr. Stevens N Specifically has rendered private car Unes Ibilile to all penalties described b tho Interstate comm rce law ex ept, of course, the Imprisonment feature, the repeal of g which wiu (he Joker In the Elkins law of . ' |