tion within one year from the date of its passage of a
uniform classification of freight by all the carriers,
subject to the act to regulate commerce, and providing that
if the same be not adopted within the time limited, either
this commission or some other public authority be required
to adopt and enforce a uniform classification."

The present confusion which exists in the classification and rates of
the seventeen hundred railroad organizations of the country makes it
difficult for the commission to do justice to all interests and
localities. With the adoption of a uniform classification it is to be
hoped that in time many of the present inequalities will be adjusted,
especially if an intelligent public sentiment upon the subject of
railroad regulation is maintained. A prominent railroad manager in the
East, whose devotion to corporate interest is only equaled by his
political ambition, has recently made repeated efforts to convince the
people that railroad abuses are things of the past and that, if any such
abuses still linger in isolated districts, they are simply unavoidable
exceptions to the rule which will soon have to yield to the general
spirit of fairness and amity for which, in his opinion, the railroads
have of late been distinguished. He reasons that the law has fulfilled
its mission, that the railroads have reformed, and that it now behooves
the people to relent and to extend to the much persecuted corporations
the hand of friendship and good will. The postprandial eloquence of this
gentleman has often suavely intimated that the repeal of the Interstate
Commerce Act would be the most opportune recognition of restored
confidence.

Still bolder champions of the railroad cause do not hesitate to demand
the repeal of the law. It is not likely that the sophistry of railroad
hirelings will triumph over the practical logic of an intelligent
public. No law, be it ever so wise, can in the space of a few years
correct all the abuses which half a century of unbridled railroad
domination has developed. Yet, since both the friends and the enemies of
the law agree that it has been partially successful in its operation, it
should be continued and improved to keep it in harmony with new
conditions and a progressive public sentiment. It is claimed by railroad
managers that the adoption of a uniform classification will remove the
only vestige of discrimination still left. This is not true, fo