Show chicago feb 7 senator newlands of nevada certainly bearded the lion in Ws den when he attacked the corporate railroad interests at the annual banquet 0 the traffic club of chicago he was the guest of honor as head of the inland waterways commission and was to have spoken upon the subject the co ordination of water and rail transportation the senators ire was aroused by the hits at railroad legislation by the toastmaster aslos W cook general traffic manager for the erie road who referred to the alleged popular belief that everyone seems to know how to run a railroad except a railroad man and that with the mass of recent legislation the time of a traffic man Is ta ken up with a strenuous endeavor to keep out of jail he was followed by E C dallard whom edward H hamman has employed to try to keep his traffic men on miles of railroad in line with the interstate commerce law attorney dillard aurther egged on tho senator from nevada by declaring that there had been of recent times put upon the statute books too many laws subversive of economic principles and harsh toward the enterprise with large capital which had passed beyond the domain of regulation into that ot oppression the denunciation of the policies of railways came 0 a thunderbolt when senator newlands arose to speak and for nearly 30 minutes prominent men commercial and railroad sat as under a spell listening to the impassioned and yet deliberate philippic against corporate oppression I 1 he commercial traffic men wished to applaud but deferred for a long time after seeing the gloomy and astonished toni shed countenances of the railway traffic officials finally their pent up feelings could not longer be restrained and there burst forth in the new banquet hall of the congress hotel a rousing cheer in which a few of the railway men took feeble part continuing senator lowlands Now lands said possibly the legislators may be responsible for the present sad condition and possibly the transportation managers themselves may be responsible for it and possibly both will have to share the responsibility 1 remember that when as a member of the Inte restate commerce committee of the senate that committee waa about to enter into an investigation of the entire subject of transportation with reference to framing a rate law that I 1 met on the threshold of the committee room some of my old friends leaders in the management of traffic men called railway magnates and I 1 gave thom a word of advice which I 1 as sony to say was disregarded I 1 said to them tou arc all men of great energy and enterprise all of you have master ful qualities that entitle to preeminence but this far you have been unaware of the fact that you arc public servants and not public masters the american people are determined that you shall realize your true alon and when you do realize it then tho american people will treat you justly and you ahad better acquiesce in their view and join with us in shaping wise legislation upon this subject for if you io not the people of the united states struggling against servitude as regard it may in that struggle bo guilty of excesses from which you may suffer and which they themselves may regret j my friends what was the contention made was tho acquiescence in the doctrine that these great railway companies were simply public servants who were to obey the decrees of the public the only limitation upon choso whoso power was that they should no legislation of a character oh no 1 I remember well in that great hearing before the interstate commerce committee how impressed I 1 was with the intelligence the capacity the breadth of view and the loyalty of the traffic managers of the country few of the great controllers of transportation appeared before us but their subordinates engaged in the practical business ot meeting demands of sections and communities in the way of trans pollution presented thom solves and offered to us the most masterful ekpo expo ot the entaro ot transportation por tation 1 I want to distinguish between tho great mass of the employed emp loyes of these railroads these men who are now struggling to keep out of jail and tho groat magnates of transportation who think that you invade a right when you insist upon it that they shall not juggle with the securities are held by them in trust in such a way as to secure these enormous and gigantic fortunes 1 I was also impressed with the intelligence and capacity of the shippers who appeared before ua and with their breadth oc view those who did appear before us in the main were friendly with the traffic managers and I 1 expressed some surprise that there should be apparently uch harmony between the shippers and tho traffic managers and it was suggested that possibly the great public the third party was not represented and that possibly by arrangements between great shippers and the traffic man agers things might bo so arranged to oppress the public by securing fortune and profit to the great shippers and so we in congress determined to seo that the great public was represented in legislation and we passed a reasonable bill a moderate bill a bill under which the railroads in the y ear following bad as their gross revenue in this country more than tho year previous and if complaint is made of the action of congress in depreciating the value of railway securities curi ties iny answer is that that depreciation did not come as the result of the action of congress but it came as the result of the outcry of the great railway magnates themselves who throughout the country raised the cry of confiscation that impressed investors everywhere here and abroad and brought upon markets an avalanche of railroad stocks and bonds and the disaster which has been occasioned hag not been fhe result of injustice or op onby congress or by the interstate commerce commission authorized by it as the representative of the great public to see that justice was secured but was the result of unwise action unwise alarm unwise outcry by the railway controllers of the country and a press subservient to them regarding the possible or the realized results at the legislation that had been passed yow my friends there Is no greater or more important question before the country today than that of transportation por tation |