Show our ur govern government f m ent how it operates by wlliam william bruckart PROBLEM OP OF RAILROAD RATES LIM interstate commerce commission T TOE is going to have a tough job on its hands during the next nest few years every one familiar with the problems 0 of f tile the railroads Is agreed that the next several years constitute a period of great readjustment and the companies that own the steam horses aro are no exception so with the railroads clamoring on the one hand for more revenue and reduced d c d operating ng expenses and the shippers demanding lower rates consonant with new values of commodities and organized labor seeking a return to normal wag wages es the commissions situation Is one not to be en envied vied this question ot of rates Is one that Is especially worrisome the statutes under which the commission operates requires that the freight trel glit and passenger rates be just andrea that means of course that both the shippers and tile carriers must be considered and it takes a good umpire to satisfy the players on both teams the commission has a whole bagful fu I 1 of powers to use in n its ts jurisdiction over railroad rates its own deft netlon of its authority is complicated pit theory beyond ernsteins Ein steins theory the comm commission isslyn has jurisdiction it reads upon complaint or in a proceeding instituted upon its own initiative and after full hearing to determine and prescribe reasonable rates regulations and practices including minimum and maximum and minimum rates and also minimum and maximum and minimum proportional rates to and from ports and to award reparations to injured shippers it Is authorized to require carriers to establish through routes and joint rates and it may act summarily in itself establishing through routes when in its opinion an emergency exists many more lines could be quoted to show that tho the commission has power to do the things it thinks best for all of the interests served but to get down to cases a railroad desires to increase a rate which it charges for transporting from st louis to denver the law requires that it must file the new schedule of rates with the commission and if the commission gains lin an intimation or has an idea about what ought to be charged for hauling cob over that distance it can suspend the schedule filed by the railroad that means it Is inoperative the purpose Is to give the commission a chance to look into the reasonableness ot of the charge congress however did not give permission for an indefinite suspension s of the rates in q question it proscribed prescribed that the suspension could not be for longer than days which seems quite long enough tor for any investigation yet set many investigations are not completed in that time and the questioned charge becomes operative As a counter bal ance the law provides that while the rate may become operative the commis commission slon may require the carriers involved to keep a separate account of money received as a result of the increase until a decision Is had if the commission eventually dentes denies the increase then the carriers have to refund the money representing the increase that it has collected it was back in 1010 1910 that congress expanded the comm commissions power to give it jurisdiction over every phase of rate making the mann elkins act laid down a set of rules governing through routes and rates switch connections long and short hauls baula providing that there shall be no 0 discrimination against the ab short ort hauls in favor of the traffic for long distances general freight classifications and a host ot of other matters then in 1017 and again in 1020 when the transportation act was passed more power was given between these two laws there was very little left which the railroads could call anil their own for example if the commission considers that conditions warrant it an order may be issued causing one carrier to transfer some of its equipment to another for use of course the user pays a rental but the commissions order can hardly be defeated it can tell a carrier when I 1 it t las has enough equipment such a as s locomotives or it can say its supply of 0 rolling stock la Is insufficient and tt it m must buy more and it can and does doea lay ay down donn the rules under which tt it may sell bonds or other securities w with ith which to obtain funds for financing its requirements in addition to all of 0 these the commission was directed by the transportation atlon act to prepare a plan for or consolidation I 1 on as soon as possible s ibi 0 of a all I 1 I 1 railroad properties in the uni united t ed states into a limited number of sy systems stems at the same time the railroads are authorized to accomplish such consolidations notwithstanding the statutes pro formation ot of trusts the has prepared such a glnn it proposes to have only four major rail systems in the th eastern halt half of the country but the carriers have not rushed in in to sign up they have found a lot of thin things a they do not like about the program C Q 1032 We western stora newspaper paper union |