the Commission grants permission for its change. The railroads cannot
lower it any more than they can raise it.

The advantages of the absolute rate are many. In the first place, where
the absolute rate is established, there can be no discrimination,
because the rate is known, it can neither be raised nor lowered, and the
railroads have no opportunity to favor one shipper at the expense of
another.

In the second place, the shipper is guaranteed a stability of rate
schedules which is deemed necessary for settled business conditions. The
merchant, for example, includes transportation charges in the cost price
of the goods in which he deals. But if the transportation charges on the
same class of goods are subject to frequent change, the merchant can
never tell when his competitor is to be given the advantage of a sudden
lowering in freight rates. This uncertainty unsettles business. The
merchant holds that transportation rates should be just as stable as
tariff rates. On this account, the merchant advocates fixed rates and
stability of schedules as against maximum rates and constantly shifting
schedules.

The supporters of the Stetson bill, then, backed the shipping and
merchant classes; while the supporters of the Wright bill backed the
contentions of the transportation companies.

The Campbell and the Stetson bills had been originally referred to the
Senate Judiciary Committee, while the Wright bill had been referred to
the Senate Committee on Corporations. For the first few weeks of the
session, no particular note had been taken of the Wright bill, attention
being centered on the amendment of the Stetson bill.