Show A PRACTICAL STUDY OF THE RATE QUESTION whatever evils now exist in the management of the railways now of them Is at commensurate with the barm which must result from bestow ins the power to fix railway rates upon the interstate commerce commission this Is the conclusion which pro fessor hugo R meyer draws from twelve years of the working of government control of railway rate in foreign countries and of the becis ions of the interstate commercio Com merco corn mission under the existing act to regu lato commerce in the united states he supports this conclusion in a ver interesting book of nearly five hundred pages which the macmullan compan is just bringing out under the title government regulation of rates the first quarter of the book is devoted to a study of the workings oc government regulation in germany professor explains that one ot the principal reasons leading th prussian government to take over the own enship of its railways was the corn plaint of discrimination in favor of competitive points which is one ot the arguments put forward for govern ment regulator regu laton of rates in this country in germany however the remedy has proved to bo far worse than tho cure to professor meyer the conflicts between various producing centers intent on securing or preserving advantages in relation to common markets has thrown the question 0 railway rates into politics in many instances important legislative measures for example the commercial treaty with russia nave been passed only by paying the price of in rates to politically sections b the country that the fixing of rates on a distance basis which seems to be inevitable in government regulation has hamper cd the industrial development ct ger many professor meyer chows is var ous ways notably by the fact that a heavy and bulky freight Is transported by water instead of fly rail and that it is possible to ship grain economically by rail only miles the situation that would prevail in the united states if a grain growing district were unable to market its crops unless ii happened to be within miles of a consuming market or upon a navigable waterway certainly would not appeal to the citizens of our great wheat and corn growing states of the middle wes in france where a system of state regulation of rates is in vogue profet sor meyer finds that tho railways are far behind those of the united states in meeting the demands of trade rate are maintained at a high level through the governments fear of a of its revenue from canal tolls if rai rates were reduced and competition is regulated by canal boats of ton capacity st petersburg oct 15 the ratification fi of the treaty of peace is formally announced this morning in the official messenger which says that its operation began yesterday the text of the treaty is not given |