United States. Interstate Commerce Commission

Government investigations have revealed that many railroads have been violating portions of the interstate commerce act with regards to rebates and monopolies, and a number of railroad executives will be called upon to testify before the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is anticipated that testimony will show that the passage of the Elkins law did not stop the practice of paying rebates, but simply changed the form they took. This article presents additional analysis of what is expected to be presented to the commission, as well as the anticipated witnesses to be called.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-09

Creator(s)

Unknown

The author of this editorial suggests that if the evidence presented regarding the railways matches what it is said to be, then it will shed a great deal of light on the question of railway freight rates. The need to use private cars to carry certain types of goods has led to railroads giving special rates and concessions to these companies in order to secure traffic, ultimately giving private-car companies a great deal of power.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-10

Creator(s)

Unknown

Colonel Archibald Hopkins briefly summarizes the qualifications of his brother, Amos L. Hopkins, which make him suitable for a position on the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-12

Creator(s)

Hopkins, Archibald, 1842-1926

The matter of the ice trust prosecution in Toledo, Ohio, referenced by Harry B. Kirtland has been referred to the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-16

Creator(s)

Presidential Office Staff

This act states that corporations must file contracts affecting interstate or international trade with the Interstate Commerce Commission, which then has the ability to determine if those contracts represent an unreasonable restraint of trade. The commission will also create an index of such contracts, as well as the companies, which will be available to the public. Companies will also be required to periodically update the information they have on file with the Commissioner of Corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-06

Creator(s)

United States. Congress

John Callan O’Laughlin sees no improvement in the Republican political situation and shares his thoughts on various issues with Theodore Roosevelt. He discusses the insurgents’ relationship with President William H. Taft and his recent appointments to the Supreme Court and other administrative agencies. Taft swung around to the tariff commission plan, recognizing it as an important issue for the upcoming campaign. O’Laughlin does not think the ship subsidy bill will pass, although there is an appropriation for constructing fortifications for the Panama Canal. The national committee will not meet next month. The administration knows Taft’s renomination depends upon Roosevelt’s approval or his refusal to be nominated. The Japan question is “muddled,” and there are various “pin pricks which cannot but be harmful” to the countries’ relationship. O’Laughlin disagrees with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge about Senator William Lorimer’s case and asks Roosevelt for a statement on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-12-31

Creator(s)

O'Laughlin, John Callan, 1873-1949

This newspaper article examines President of the Standard Oil Company in Indiana James A. Moffett’s defense of the company’s actions in Illinois as well as Commissioner Herbert K. Knox’s rebuttal. The author believes that Moffett’s defense was not disproved by Knox and thinks a higher court will rule in this manner.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-17

Creator(s)

Unknown

The Department of Justice will not prosecute the merger of two New England railroad lines due largely to the intervention of Charles S. Mellen, president of one of the lines in question. Mellen, whom the article calls a “close personal friend” of President Roosevelt’s, met with the president privately to assure him the merger does not violate the Sherman Act and to push for expediting the investigation in the interest of allowing business to continue as necessary. Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission Charles A. Prouty has already come out in favor of the merger as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

President of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company Charles S. Mellen has met with President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad’s merger with another New England Line. Mellen argues that such investigations are embarrassing to businesses, hinder railroad development, and ought to be completed as quickly as possible once begun. Roosevelt has agreed to finish this investigation, but any companies that violate the Sherman Act will still be prosecuted.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

Charles S. Mellen has asked President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger. The article notes this request comes the day after the defeat of Henry Melville Whitney, who had been in favor of the merger, in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

The understanding of the Interstate Commerce Commission is that the Sherman Antitrust Act does not apply to railroads, although without input from the Supreme Court on the matter they are unwilling to state so definitively. In any event, the particular matter of the merger of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company with the Boston and Maine Railroad is not a violation of the act.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-08

Creator(s)

Unknown

The Lexington Leader prints Secretary of War William H. Taft’s speech at the Lexington, Kentucky auditorium in its entirety. He discusses at length the question of race and its relation to political participation. Taft details the differences between President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan and appeals to Kentuckian Democrats to evaluate their party alliance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-22

Creator(s)

Unknown

Senator Bourne congratulates President Roosevelt on his Provincetown speech, “one of the ablest you have ever delivered.” He shares his thoughts about corporate management and ownership, and makes suggestions regarding railroad stocks.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-23

Creator(s)

Bourne, Jonathan, 1855-1940

William Loeb acknowledges the receipt of letters from General Hale. On the direction of President Roosevelt, he reports that Franklin K. Lane has been appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and that Roosevelt does not think he can appoint another person from western states. If Roosevelt were going to remodel the commission it might be possible, but he does not think he can, as there are many members he wishes to reappoint.

Collection

Denver Public Library

Creation Date

1906-07-16

Creator(s)

Loeb, William, 1866-1937

Memorandum defending the government’s handling of the alleged coal combination and enforcement of the Sherman Act.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-21

Creator(s)

Unknown

Edward A. Alexander writes to Arthur Brisbane, providing an outline concerning the classification of freight by railroad-appointed committees and legal proceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission and U.S. Courts to break up the current system of classifying freight.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-09

Creator(s)

Alexander, Edward A., 1873-1948

Third draft of a letter with handwritten edits. President Roosevelt formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination. He then reviews several campaign issues and the achievements of his administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

A note about how the Sherman Anti-Trust Law should be amended to permit traffic agreements between the railroads and the railroad corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Uncle Sam implores a man labeled “ISCC,” sitting on a railroad bridge, to throw a life preserver labeled “Permission to Raise Freight Rates” to a man labeled “The Railroads” drowning in a river labeled “Increased Fixed Charges.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-06-25

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Theodore Roosevelt stands on a hill in the background, as two large bears labeled “Interstate Commerce Commission” and “Federal Courts” break up a crowd of Wall Street capitalists and stock market manipulators, causing them to scatter in all directions. The men include Charles S. Mellen, William K. Vanderbilt, Henry Huttleston Rogers, J. Pierpont Morgan, James J. Hill, George Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller, James McCrea, William H. Newman, Edward Henry Harriman, and Joseph Benson Foraker.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-05-08