In his message of December, 1904, President Roosevelt urged Congress to give the Interstate Commission power “to revise rates and regulations, the revised rate to go into effect at once and to stay in effect, unless and until the court of review reverses it.” He laid especial emphasis upon the necessity of stopping rebates and unjust discriminations, saying: “Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete stop to all rebates.” In his message of December, 1905, the President alters his recommendation to the granting of power to fix a “maximum reasonable rate, the decision to go into effect within a reasonable time and to obtain from thence onward, subject to review by the courts.” In case a “favorite shipper is given too low a rate,” the President says, “the Commission would have the right to fix this already established minimum rate as the maximum; and it would need only one or two such decisions by the Commission to cure railroad companies of the practice of giving improper minimum rates.” (See below, recommendations of the New York Board of Trade, from which, perhaps, the President took this suggestion.) The President says the law should make it clear that unfair commissions and fictitious damages, free passes, reduced passenger rates and payments of brokerage, are illegal; and that it might be wise “to confer on the Government the right of civil action against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value of the rebate; this would help stop what is really blackmail. Elevator allowances should also be stopped. “All private car-lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the like should be expressly put under the supervision of the Interstate Commission or some similar body.... Neither private cars nor industrial railroads, nor spur-tracks should be utilized as devices for securing preferential rates. A rebate in icing charges or in mileage or in a division of the rate for refrigerating charges is just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way.... No lower rate should apply on goods imported than actually obtains on domestic goods from the American seaboard to destination except in cases where water competition is the controlling influence. “There should be publicity of the accounts of common carriers.... Books or memoranda should be open to the inspection of the Government.