204 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



his years of experience in dealing with those problems, is more liable 

 to solve a service question than a railroad commissioner is because he 

 is just as anxious as the railroad commissioner is, to secure that reason- 

 able service. At the same time, we are trying now, and will continue 

 to try with all of our might and main, to remedy these conditions, 

 because I know what a bad service means, and I know how that becomes 

 more important to any given shipper than the rates on that particular 

 haul. 



But there is another phase of those questions where our interests are 

 not in common, and there is no use trying to evade the point, because 

 it does exist. Judge McPherson said yesterday, according to the papers, 

 that we ought to quit fighting for better rates; that it is a matter of 

 service solely, or chiefly, that you are interested in; that the rates are 

 not unreasonable. That brings up the other side of that problem. If you 

 are making cattle and hogs, you want to make a good quality of cattle 

 and hogs; it is to your own and the consumer's interest that you 

 should. In that respect, your interests and the consumer's are exactly the 

 same. But when it comes to paying for those cattle and hogs, your in- 

 terests and the consumer's are directly opposed to each other, and there 

 is no use trying to beat around the bush. It is to the interests of the 

 carriers to do this service well, and to get as much as they reasonably can 

 out of it, so that it doesn't hurt business generally. It may seem to you 

 that I have given too much attention to interstate matters, but when I 

 call your attention to the statement of Mr Davis last night, that over 90 

 per cent of the business is interstate, you can perhaps see the reason why 

 a great deal of attention ought to be given to interstate matters. As to 

 interstate matters, I am not a judge, but a prosecutor, and therefore I 

 may take the attitude of an advocate as to interstate matters. I will 

 co-operate with Mr. Whitenton and Mr. Davis and these other railroad 

 men any day to make it impossible for the railroad commission to be 

 both prosecutor and judge. It is a bad combination; it unconsciously 

 biases the judgment of a man. If we are continually lawing with each 

 other in court, neither one of us would like to see the other side on the 

 bench in a case where the other's interests were involved. I am perfectly 

 willing to change that, but so long as the law remains as it is today, I 

 feel it is my duty to attend to that 90 per cent of the business, until the 

 commerce counsel department gets thoroughly developed. When that day 

 comes — and it ought to come shortly — I think the commerce counsel 

 should attend to all interstate matters, and the state commission be re- 

 lieved of those duties. At the present moment, anybody who tells you 

 that our interstate rates are right is not telling you the truth. You 

 people are anxious to build up Iowa, aren't you? You are not just rais- 

 ing cattle and hogs; you want to see cities develop here and factories 

 come to this state; and one of the finest things about the Corn Belt As- 

 sociation is the fact that you do discuss these big, broad questions. One 

 essential to the building up of factories in this state is an equitable ad- 

 justment of freight rates. 



I was down here at Keokuk, trying a case before the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission the other day, and I had Mr. Hugh L. Cooper on the 



