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Show WORK TO AGREE ON RAILROAD MEASURE Question of B-ato Making Authority Only Matter Bemaining to Be Settled by Cocfereees. WASHINGTON', March 6. Conferees of the senate ami houe on the admin-i-tration railroad control bill worked until late tonight to draft a final agreement. Only one important question, ques-tion, the rate-making authority, remained re-mained to be settled. In lieu of the house provision .Giving .Giv-ing the president rate-making authority author-ity and tlie senate plan authorizing the president to initiate rates subject to the approval of the interstate commerce com-merce commission, the conferees took up a compromise which would empower em-power the president to appear by representative rep-resentative before tlie commission m the suggestion of rates needed to increase in-crease the carriers' revenues. Another question before the conference confer-ence was the matter of state regulation and taxation of the railroads while under federal control. The conferees had previously settled the dispute over the period of federal operation br fixing it at twenty-one months after the war instead of two years, as proposed in the house bill and eighteen months by the senate. Allowance of compensation to the carriers, car-riers, based on net operating income for the three years ended June 30, 1917, also has been agreed to, as well as a provision placing all short lines within the federal system. There was no disagreement on the provision appropriating ap-propriating $300,000,000 as a revolving fund for the use of the director general. |