Show HOUSE washington jan 30 members ol of the house evinced a general interest in the rate bill through today than on any topic of legislation for some time the debate throughout was listened to attentively and many questions ques tlona were asked of the different speak speakers eza to bring out either ob obscure points in the measure or evils complained of which no attempt had been made fa b include in the ball bill the debate was opened by mr townsend of michigan an extensive argument on the general subject and short criticism directed to those who had opposed railroad anite legislation mr adamson of georgia geargia representing tho the minority followed in commendation of the measure and hi praise of president Roosevel ts stand on the question which he said the minority were availing themselves of in the present instance mr hinshaw of nebraska cepi depicted ted the benefit the legislation would do to the grett greit trans country and INI mr r richardson of alabama discussed as a democrat things done and left undone in the measure questions addressed to the various speakers by mr sherly of kentucky and mr littlefield of maine indicated that there is to be some opposition to the bill at least in debate the feature seemingly most to attack is as to just what will be the authority of the interstate commerce commission under the bill to differentials different iala in rates between betwee nj competing cities of localities cali calit ties les As his closing sentence mr air townsend asserted that the railroads had consi consistently stenly and persistently opposed every device J fey r the safety of the public and its it employed emp loyes and also that it had maintained a rich and powerful lobby to oppose tate legislation mr air adamson ga who Is in control of the time t ime 0 of debate on the demo cratic side ide followed mr townsend townsand ile he said the democrats had labored since the courts revealed the we weakness RIC of the inter state commerce law to ta amond amand its defects ile he criticized criticised the republican platform of 1904 asserting that it was unquestionably intend ed to assure the corporations that the work of regulating them had been complete and they need not apprehend any further legislation and it was no doubt so understood by the corpora eions explaining the result of the election tion on that platform mr adamson said Bet between wn the millions who stayed away from the polls because cleve lands crowd procured the nomination of parker and the hundreds of thousands who remained at home because bryan supported the ticket after the nomination four million people made the mistake of failing to lotof on elee elec tion day thereby failing to ratify oui platform declarations and elect our candidate but continued mr air Aa adamson amson if the result was claimed by anybody a as a victory against railroad regulation the president elect Is undoubtedly tile the ablest as well vell as the most honest and fearless lie republican publican president we ever had promptly disabused dis abused their minds by taking a position perhaps ns as advanced in favor of our platform declaration on the subject in which our own candidate could have done had he been elected emphatically and repeatedly peat edly demanding substantially the very legislation asked for in our two platforms and emphatically denying the declaration that enough has haa been done we would havo have been idiots and traitors had we declined his powerful aid declared mr air adamson As a minority member of the interstate and foreign commerce committee mr richardson alabama said that while there was a distinct difference between the position of the majority and the minority on the committee the unanimous report on the bill was war a distinct demonstration of patriotism the debate for tha day closed at when the house adjourned until 12 tomorrow |