Steamship companies should be required to file with the Interstate Commerce Commission all contracts entered into between themselves and with the railways relative to through transportation of merchandise. Such contracts would show whether certain ports or places were suffering from discrimination. If discrimination were present the improper contract could be dissolved.

If the Interstate Commerce Commission is to accomplish fully the wise purpose for which it was created it should be given general supervisory authority over steamship companies forming a part of a through rate. Some of the benefits flowing from wise supervision which would reach both the carriers and the shippers have already been indicated. Benefits would at the same time accrue to various departments charged with the administration of government. Thus not only would carriers and shippers be put upon a fair and equal basis, but a fertile source of material, necessarily in the hands of a supervisory body, would also be readily accessible on which, among other things, to base standards of transportation costs.

The first objection, and the one advocated with greatest pertinacity, offered to this program is, that it is impossible to file with the Commission an ocean rate as part of a through rate. This contention is based upon the assumption that ocean rates are not stable, but changing from hour to hour and from day to day. No one will deny that this contention is reasonably true as to purely ocean commerce. But no one knows better than a steamship man how altogether specious is the claim that through rates are constantly fluctuating, and for the following reasons: (1) The rate at which much of our through export and import merchandise moves is now fixed annually by contracts between ocean carrier and shipper. (2) Furthermore, as already pointed out, it ordinarily takes at least from fifteen to thirty days to transport flour, provisions, oil cake, etc., from the point of origin to the seaboard. (3) The plea of necessity of offering "Fill up❞ rates to obtain cargo falls flat when applied to through traffic.

The plea that it is necessary to offer a low rate to a large shipper and a high rate to a small shipper in order to obtain merchandise for transportation, has been exploded so far as railways are concerned. Equality of railroad rates to shippers is to-day recognized as an accomplished fact. Why not equality of steamship rates as well?

under the control of the Interstate Commerce Commission. They welcome the protection and stability which obedience to the Act to Regulate Commerce affords. Their rates are open to all. Access to their services is denied to none. If the proposed extension of the Commission's power becomes an accomplished fact, the benefits now enjoyed by the railroads alone will then be equally shared by the transoceanic carrier. Transportation facilities of every sort will be denied to none and the benefits of wise legislation wili be made permanent.

The most gratifying result of the commercial legislation of the United States is the fact that there is now a fair chance for the inland producer and shipper, however great or small he may be. The giant corporation cannot now crush out its humble rival through the willing or unwilling connivance of the railway. Under present conditions the giant corporation holds the same advantage over the small shipper when both are engaged in the export trade, as it did twenty years ago when both were engaged only in the domestic trade. Our laws should therefore be amended so as to bring about equality throughout the whole field of our commerce.

PART FOUR

The State and the Nation as Units

of Control

FEDERAL USURPATIONS

BY HON. JOHN SHARP WILLIAMS,
MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM MISSISSIPPI.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
BY HON. THEODORE E. BURTON,
MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM OHIO.

THE NATION SHOULD SUPERINTEND ALL CARRIERS BY HON. C. M. HOUGH,

JUDGE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, NEW YORK CITY.

RAILWAY REGULATION IN TEXAS

BY HON. JAMES L. SLAYDEN,
MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM TEXAS.

CORPORATION REGULATION BY STATE AND NATION BY HON. HENRY M. HOYT,

SOLICITOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D. C.

NO COMBINATION WITHOUT REGULATION

BY TALCOTT WILLIAMS, LL.D.,

PHILADELPHIA.