The heart of the railroad problem: The history of railway discrimination in the United States, the chief efforts at control and the remedies proposed, with hints from other countriesParsons, Frank
History
The heart of the railroad problem: The history of railway discrimination in the United States, the chief efforts at control and the remedies proposed, with hints from other countries
Parsons, Frank
Railroads -- Freight -- Rates -- United States; Railroads and state -- United States
President Tuttle agrees with the Commission on this point. In his
testimony to the Senate Committee, 1905, he said that the company’s
books would not show rebates, etc., “unless they wanted them to. I
will say to you frankly that if a company intended to evade the law by
giving rebates and commissions they would find some way of so covering
them up that all the experts on the face of the earth could not find
them. If you assume at the beginning that the railroad management is
deliberately going into violations of the law it is not going to make
records of those things which can ever be found out.” (Sen. Com. 1905,
p. 952.) But President Tuttle said: “There is ample opportunity to
ascertain if rebates exist. There are always opportunities. The
competitive shipper knows about it. There is always enough of the
loose end hanging out somewhere so that if the Interstate Commerce
Commission or whoever is authorized to move in those matters will take
the time to proceed upon the lines of information that they can always
get they will be easily ferreted out and punished. I do not think
there is any evidence that the Interstate Commerce Commission has
tried to enforce the Elkins Law.” (Same, p. 951.) Shippers have,
however, often stated that they felt sure some concession was being
made to their rivals, but they could not tell what, and in many cases
there is simply a vague suspicion; no one knows whether others are
paying the tariff rates or not. And railroad men have admitted, as in
the B. & A. case, that no shipper knew what rates others were getting.
Footnote 400:
Sen. Com. 1905, p. 3644.
Footnote 401:
Out of 37 passenger cases (20 rate cases and 17 miscellaneous) the
decision was favorable to the complainant in 9; and in 316 freight
cases the decision was for the complainant in 185 cases. In 70 of the
freight cases the complaint was of excessive charges (half of them
charging discrimination also, or relative excess as well as absolute
excess); 119 related to charges relatively unreasonable; 52 concerned
long and short haul abuses; 20 unreasonable classification, 8 unfair
distribution of cars, 41 miscellaneous. Ninety-six of the 316 freight
cases were dismissed, 13 settled while pending, 4 left without a
general statement and no order, and 17 held for further action. Nearly
90 percent of all the cases, passenger and freight, related directly
to some form of discrimination, and indirectly discrimination of some
sort was an element in practically every case.
Footnote 402:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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