Ogden Weekly Standard | 1905-10-06 | Page 5 | Roosevelt is Dead in Earnes, He Says

t congressman townsend mas a conference with president on railroad rate legislation and makes public his views washington oct 4 president elfr is dead in earnest on the question of railroad rate legislation and as busl as determined as ever that railway regulations shall be enacted looking to federal supervision of the freight rate situation this statement was made today by representative townsend of michigan one of the authors of the so called railroad rate bill representative townsend called today to talk over the general subject with the president of the necessity for making changes in the measure which he and mr esch proposed last winter mr townsend did not have opportunity port unity to go fully into the subject with the president today but the president requested him to call again tomorrow 1 I have no authority to represent the presidents views as to railroad rates said mr townsend but I 1 can say th b now the same views in principle as he expressed in his message last december the crux ot the athole matter is not that the commission should fix rates but that it should have the power to substitute a reasonable rate for one found on investigation vesti gation to be unjust without such authority the evils complained of could not be reached have any suggestions been made of changes in the esch townsend measure some changes may bo made replied mr townsend but they will be for the purpose of making the bill clearer on certain points it is tn i ended of course to include in the regulations private cars refrigerator cars and terminal charges we thought they were covered by our measure but in order that there may bo no question about them they will be included in the bill in a definite way one thing Is quite certain there will ye no na of the scope of the bill nor modification of the principles involved mr townsend said it was expected ahat ahe senate committee on interstate commerce would prepare and report a measure to regulate railroad freight rates while ho did not have a definite idea as to the scope ot the senate measure he regarded it aa doubtful whether tho members of the senate committee would agree with senator foraker that the proposition involved only a question of methods