AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 848, 21 June 1910, Page 5

AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

MR. TAITS BILL PASSED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. New York, June 19. Tho United States Senate and Houso of Representatives have adopted the Joint Conference's report on the' Railroad Bill. President Taft has signed the Bill, which now becomes law. AN IMPORTANT MEASURE. The Railroad Bill is the most important, of Mr. Tai't's measures. It'provides for the creation of a Court of Commerce to try cases arising out of the orders_ of the Interstate Commerce Commission, grants the Commission tho right to investigate railway rates on its _ own initiative instead of on appeal, institutes new rules in regard to the consolidation of competing lines, permits the conclusion, under strict supervision, of rate agreements, and regulates tho capitalisation of railway companies. The measure has been bitterly assailed by the progressive Republicans, partly on the ground that some of its provisions aro useless and that others merely strengthen the hands of tho companies whoso tendencies aro extra-legal. The resentment of the . "insurgents" is heightened by tho. fact that the Bill is drawn up by the Administration and not by Congress. "Never was there such Federal' usurpation, even in the timo of Mr. Roosevelt," said Mr. Cummins, who led the opposition to Bill.