6i. 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



;ditoic^s %Mlt^ 



A COMMISSION IX DIFFICULTIES. 



rilllE synopsis which has been 

 -L given to the press of the Thir- 

 teenth Annual Report of the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission is not 

 encouraging reading for those who 

 like to believe in legislation as an 

 infallible panacea for all public and 

 social ills. The tone of the docu- 

 ment indeed is very far from being 

 one of triumph. The note struck 

 in the very first paragraph is the 

 need for more legislation to save the 

 copious legislation already passed 

 from proving ineffectual and abor- 

 tive. "Whether it is that Congress 

 does not vrish to make the vrork 

 of the commission successful, or 

 whether it has begun to have a wise 

 distrust of its own powers, we can 

 not say ; but the commissioners com- 

 plain bitterly of its inaction. We 

 can not do better than quote their 

 own words : " The reasons for the 

 failure of the law to accomplish the 

 puii50ses for which it was enacted 

 have been so frequently and fully set 

 forth that repetition can not add to 

 their force or make them better un- 

 derstood. It is sufficient to say that 

 the existing situation and the de- 

 velopments of the past year render 

 more imperative than ever before 

 the necessity for speedy and suit- 

 able legislation. We therefore re- 

 new the recommendations hereto- 

 fore made, and earnestly urge their 

 early consideration and adoption." 



As the document proceeds, we 

 see the good commissioners at war 

 with the wicked railways, and it is 

 impossible to resist the conclusion 

 that, on the whole, the wicked rail- 

 ways have the best of it. The com- 

 missioners admit that certain cases 

 which have come before the courts 

 have been decided against them, and 

 in favor of the railways; but they 



are far from disclosing the full ex- 

 tent of the discouragement, not to 

 say mortification, they receive. The 

 business of the commission is to in- 

 terfere between the railways and 

 their customers — the public — in the 

 interest of the latter. The railways 

 naturally consider this a rather one- 

 sided function, and are not extreme- 

 ly zealous to aid in its performance. 

 They have their own troubles with 

 the public, and have no commission 

 to come to their assistance. Every- 

 body is after cheap railway rates, 

 just as everybody is after cheap 

 goods; and the means sometimes 

 resorted to to get reductions would 

 at least hold their own for astute- 

 ness with any that could be con- 

 cocted in a traffic office for the rais- 

 ing of rates. We give the commis- 

 sioners full credit for doing their 

 best to protect the interests of the 

 public, but we can not help doubt- 

 ing whether, on the whole, the pub- 

 lic has derived much benefit from 

 their efforts. In fact, we are strong- 

 ly inclined to the opinion that the 

 whole idea of the commission is 

 simply a legislative blunder. 



The railways undoubtedly pos- 

 sess great powers which theoretic- 

 ally there is nothing to prevent 

 their abusing to almost any extent. 

 But what is theoretically possible is 

 not always practically possible. The 

 President of the United States pos- 

 sesses great powers, which theoret- 

 ically he might abuse to any extent ; 

 so does the Queen of England; so 

 do many other potentates. But of 

 all the evil that is theoretically pos- 

 sible, how much is carried out in 

 practice ? All kinds of things might 

 happen if people were fools enough 

 to do all the harm that it is in their 

 power to do. The great saving fact 

 is that it is not possible to go very 



