ing justly. It only forces those who do not want to act fairly and justly to regard the rights of the people.

But, sir, we are told by the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, Governor LONG, that this substitute is mere brutum fulmen, that it will be a dead letter on the statute-book; if so, it will certainly not hurt any railroad, and they and their friends ought not to object to it. Mr. Speaker, I have not heard a single shipper object to this substitute. It comes from the other side, the railroad officials. They opposed it before the committee through able counsel, and not on the ground at all that it would prove to be brutum fulmen. Oh, no, sir! And, sir, the gentleman from Massachusetts Governor LONG is not willing to rely upon this objection, for he attacks one of the main features of the substitute bill, the long and short haul feature, contending that it is unjust; and to prove it he puts two cases-one of hauling freight over the costly bridge at Saint Louis for two miles, and one for hauling freight a mile or two through a costly tunnel. Sir, these are delusive instances and are not practicable objections at all, as every one sees, and which require no argument to show their fallacy. What the people complain of is that railroads charge more for hauling freight fifty miles than a hundred in the same direction, and charging double as much for hauling freight one hundred miles as two and three hundred in the same direction and on roads that cost on an average the same per mile. This is occurring all over the country in the West and South, and it is of this the shippers complain, and have a right to complain, because it is wrong, it is unjust. It is palpable and requires no argument to show its injustice.

But, sir, the gentleman from Massachusetts, Governor LONG, with great complaisance, after denouncing the substitute of General REAGAN, points us to his remedy in the so-called committee bill, the railroad commission feature found in the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth sections of the bill now under consideration. This, in his judgment, is par excellence and is held up by him as the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that is to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. [Laughter and applause.] This railroad commission is to give all the desired relief to the oppressed shippers, the relief from the wrongs that he admits exist. Sir, I want every member to read it and study it carefully. It is very lengthy, it is true, but when you come to analyze it it is simply this: That the President is to appoint three commissioners, one skilled in law, one skilled in railroad matters, and the other skilled, I suppose, in nothing, for the bill does not say—I suppose a sort of figurehead-but all to draw $7,500 apiece, to be provided with an office in Washington, to have free passes over every railroad in the United States and Territories, and to have all their necessary and other expenses paid out of the public Treasury, and two clerks at a salary of $2,500 each. Now, if any poor farmer or shipper has been outraged by a railroad corporation trampling under foot his rights and disregarding the law, then he is to prepare a petition in writing addressed to this commission. If he is fortunate enough to get a board of trade or a United States attorney to examine into the facts and certify that the complaint is well founded, then the commission is to investigate it; and if they find that it is well founded and the petitioner's rights have been outraged and violated, what then? Are they to give judgment for damages? Oh, no, sir! They may communicate the same to the railroad company to afford them an opportunity of making such observation or taking

such action as they (the company) may see fit. This is the language of the bill-section 10, lines 15 to 20, of the bill under consideration. Now, did ever any man outside of Massachusetts hear of such a moral-suasion remedy expressly against a soulless corporation? [Laughter and applause.] Why, sir, it does not even amount to "brutum fulmen," in the gentleman's own language, for there would be some satisfaction in that to the wronged individual; but in this remedy, after all his trouble, he gets nothing.

The gentleman from Massachusetts, Governor LONG, in speaking of the Reagan substitute, after charging that it will be a dead letter, that it is mere brutum fulmen, says, "The people ask for bread and Mr. REAGAN gives them a stone; they ask for fish and he gives them a serpent." Sir, the rights of the people have been outraged for many years; they ask for a remedy commensurate with the evils that are acknowledged to exist, one that will give substantial relief, one that can and will be enforced in the courts of the country by honest judges and honest jurymen, and the gentleman instead of giving them that proposes to give them some of Mrs. Winslow's Massachusetts Soothing Sirup through his railroad commissioners who have no power. [Laughter.] Sir, it will not do-it will not satisfy the demands of the country.

But. sir, let us proceed with this remedy after this courtship between the railroad commissioners and the railroad company. If moral suasion should amount to nothing, then what? Why, in a proper case, says the bill, the commission may issue a notice to the railroad company requiring an answer, and thereupon the commissioners or some one else shall inquire into the facts of the case, and if the company has been found to have violated the law, then what are the commissioners to do? To give judgment upon this twice proved and established outrage? Ah, no! But they are to record their convictions in a book, and within twenty days afterward they are to cause a copy to be furnished to the railroad company, with a notice to cease and desist from such violations of the law, and also a copy to the United States attorney. Then, upon another notice that the company will not desist or refuses, the attorney is to file a petition in the name of the party aggrieved, and the court shall do what? Give a judgment on this long-delayed and twice-proven claim? Ah, no! But the court is then to begin for the first time and inquire into the matter by requiring an answer showing why injunction, &c., should not issue, and upon proof for the third time the court is to act.

Now, why is all this rigmarole in favor of the railroad? Look, Mr. Speaker, at the Reagan substitute and contrast the two. It throws open the courts of the country, gives them jurisdiction at the outset, as in all other cases of violated rights of the citizen injured. Sir, it seems to me that the remedy is full, ample, and complete under the substitute offered by Mr. REAGAN. With all due respect to the gentleman from Massachusetts, for whom I entertain great regard, I think that every section of this bill in reference to the commission and creating one ought to be stricken out and the substitute adopted with some amendment. The tribunals created by the Constitution and the laws, the courts, State and Federal, can give all the relief to the citizens that any one asks for, without any additional expense to the people. There is no necessity for a commission at all-not the slightest.

Mr. Speaker, Congress has fallen into the modern habit of referring too many things to a commission or commissioners. We had our Presidential commission that robbed the people of their victory, and then

we had the tariff commission, and their report proved an abortion, a failure, and amounted to nothing. [Applause on Democratic side.] The railroad commissions, in many if not all of the States have proved inefficient, and now it is proposed to create a new railroad commission of three-we already have a Federal railroad commissioner. I must confess that I see no use in creating this new commission, except to provide three splendid "sinee-curees." It certainly does this. It creates three officers with a salary of $7,500 and free passes on all railroads-all their expenses paid, necessary and other, and little or nothing to do; for surely no one in his senses would ever apply to this commission for relief.

Mr. Speaker, a friend of General Grant's told me that General Grant promised an old friend of his during the war that if ever he had the power he would give him some good position. Long afterward, when General Grant was President, the old man came to Washington and called upon General Grant. After the usual salutations, the old gentleman said: "General, you remember your promise to give me a place?" The General, who never forgot his friends, replied familiarly: 'Yes, Tom, I recollect my promise, and will fulfill it. What place do you want?" The old man hesitated and said: "Well, I don't know exactly, but I want a 'sinee-curee. The General said that was a new office. "What office is that?" The old man said: "It is an office with little or no work attached, and a damned sight of pay." [Much laughter and applause.]

Now, one of the berths provided for in this bill would have just suited him, $7,500, expenses paid, and little or nothing to do, and three of them at that-pretty good "sinee curees," at the expense of the people, and no use or necessity for them whatever. But, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Massachusetts the other day in his able argument told us that these commissioners could make reports and investigate, &c. To give his identical language, he said: "These commissioners would be the eyes, ears, and fingers of Congress in the work of supervision," &c.

Well, sir, with all due respect, I think it would be much better if Congress would do its own “hearing, seeing, and feeling" in regard to the public matters that affect the right of the people. Sir, the great railroad companies brought before the Committee on Commerce during the last session of Congress their witnesses and experts and able lawyers. Their testimony was all taken down and their argument reduced to writing and revised, and the whole of it is already published and in the archives of the Government, and open to the inspection of every member of Congress who wants to see, hear, or feel. This question has been investigated for the last ten years, and I hope that Congress will now act and give the people the proper relief, and not create the new and useless offices of three railroad commissioners.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman who has just taken his seat [Governor STEWART, of Vermont] stated that the great protection to the people would be competition, that they must look to competition between the railroads themselves as a remedy for the evils from which they are suffering, and that you must rely upon moral suasion to produce good results. Another distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, who spoke within the last day or two, stated that no railroad could or would afford to stand up against public opinion in favor of the outrages reported by any board of trade.

I fully agree with the gentleman that competition is of itself a great

remedy for unreasonable charges. Competition will stimulate commerce and afford relief for oppressed industries and to the citizens of the whole country. But these railroad-men have devised a means by which they can and do destroy competition. The railroad corporations, or many of them, have devised a pooling arrangement or system which of itself is calculated to destroy competition, and in the nature of things must destroy it.

That is one of the very evils against which the bill or substitute of my friend from Texas desires to apply a remedy. What is the use, let me ask, to the people of this country if you have seven great trunk lines extending from Saint Louis to the East, if these roads are allowed to pool their freights and divide the profits between them? Where is the healthy competition that my distinguished friend who just took his seat refers to if you allow pooling? Can not and does not every member of this House see that such an arrangement or pooling destroys that healthy competition which is the very life of commerce and the protection of the citizen? That is an evil that the Reagan substitute proposes to remedy. That substitute proposes to make it a penal offense for the roads to pool their freights. One of the main objects of the substitute is to strike down that very pooling system and protect the people from its oppression.

Another object, sir, is to prevent rebates and drawbacks. Why are rebates resorted to? It is to cover up a fraud practiced by the railroads themselves. They know under the common law that they are compelled to charge reasonable rates without discrimination between shippers as common carriers. They understand well enough what their duty is in the premises, but what do they do? They nominally charge all men the same rate for similar service, and in that respect make a literal compliance with the law. But that is not all. They give one man, a friend of the road, a rebate on his freight which they deny to another. They give one man a drawback and refuse it to another, or they give to one community a drawback on shipping rates which is denied to another, and thereby build up one fortune or one locality at the expense of others unjustly. That is one of the outrages that is proposed to be remedied by the substitute of the gentleman from Texas. It proposes to make such proceeding a penal offense, punishable by fine and indictment. But in opposition to that we have the so-called committee bill that furnishes this useless commission, allowing rebates and drawbacks in the third section. Why, they say you shall give the same rebate to all alike. But why give a rebate at all?. If the rebate is wrong why allow it at all? Why allow it in any case?

It is a mere cover for a fraud. If a railroad company charges only just, reasonable, and uniform rates, and does not discriminate, is there any necessity for rebates at all? I repeat, it is simply a cover for the frauds practiced by the railroads upon the shippers of the country, and to enable them to unjustly discriminate.

Another thing that the substitute proposes is to require a schedule of rates to be posted up in some public place in every depot, to enable every man, every farmer or shipper to see what rates are charged, whether they are reasonable or not, and whether he is overcharged beyond the advertised rates. And yet in the face of these just provis ions of that substitute gentlemen contend that the so-called committee bill is the best in every feature. That gives no protection to the citizen or to the shipper. They want by legislative enactment to ask the favor of these railroads to deal justly—to use nothing but moral sua

sion-soothing sirup to be administered by the railroad commission, and leave the shippers to the mercy of railroad corporations. Gentlemen,

it will not do. The so-called committee bill does not give a remedy commensurate with the evils of which the people complain.

As I said before at the beginning of my remarks, and which I repeat, because I see that many members came into the Hall while I was speaking who did not hear my opening statement about the bill under consideration, and I desire the members on this floor to disabuse their minds of the erroneous impression that the bill under consideration is the judgment of a majority of the Committee on Commerce, and I, approved by them, repeat what I then said, that there is but one member of the Committee on Commerce in favor of the pending bill and which has been erroneously called by every gentleman in debate on this floor "the committee bill." It came here, as I have stated before, on an agreement, after spending two months in a vain effort to agree upon a bill, that the bill should be reported but that no member of the committee should be bound to support it, every member reserving the right to offer a substitute for it or an amendment. The real object in reporting the bill was that Judge REAGAN might have an opportunity to bring before the House his substitute, on which he has labored for ten years, in order that we might have a vote upon the substitute in this Congress. That was the whole object, and the bill known as the "committee bill" is before this House without the indorsement of the Committee on Commerce. It stands here without the indorsement of a single committee of this House, and therefore is entitled to no prestige over the substitute offered by the gentleman from Texas. Let gentlemen scrutinize that bill, and I think after mature consideration they will reach the same conclusion that I have, that it merely creates a sinecure and affords no remedy commensurate with the evil for which this legislation is asked by the people.

Mr. Speaker, I desire to append to my remarks the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth sections of the bill known as the committee bill, now under consideration. They are the sections to which I have referred creating and regulating the proposed railroad commission. Such a commission, armed with no power except to draw their salaries and make reports, may be very effective in a land of moral suasion like Massachusetts, but I doubt its efficacy elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, I return my thanks to you and the members of the House for the attention which has been given to me, and shall say no more at present, reserving the remainder of my time. [Loud applause.]

SEC. 8. That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three commissioners, of whom one shall be of experience in the law and one of experience in railroad business, who shall be collectively known as the commission of interstate commerce of the United States, and shall be charged with the duty of carrying into effect the provisions of this act in respect of interstate commerce. One of said commissioners shall hold his office for the term of two years, one for the term of four years, and the other for the term of six years, to be respectively designated by the President, and thereafter said commissioners shall be appointed for the term of six years; and a commissioner appointed to any vacancy shall hold office for the unexpired term. Any one of said commissioners may be removed by the Presidenfor cause, but not otherwise. Said commissioners shall devote their whole time and abilities to the duties of their office, and shall not accept or engage in any office or employment inconsistent with the provisions of this act. If either commissioner, after his appointment, shall be or shall become by inheritance or operation of law pecuniarily interested in any railroad or railroad security, he shall within thirty days divest himself of such interest; and upon his failure to do so, or upon his voluntarily becoming interested in any such railroad or rail