The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-13

utated by public control in some form.
IL touches the public welfare at too many
points to be left uncontrolled by no com
slderatlons superior to the profits of the
corporations or the caprices of their
managers. At the same time the inn
menSe bulk shows also the difficulty of
wise or effective supervision and the in
calculable harm alike to the carriers and
the public if that supervision were done
by ulSkilfull or hostile hands.
MEDDLING IN POLITICS.
One Of the greatest evils of the present
system is the proneness of these corpor-
ations to intervene in politics. Realizing
that government by the people is only
possible when the government rs kept
untouched by the power of great money
ed combinations, there is nothing which
arouses public Indignation more than the
almost unconcealed interference of these
corporations in the nomination and cleo
tion of Legislators, congressman, Gov
ernors and United States Senators. Their
contributions to Presidential campaign
funds is National scandal. Worse than
all is their influence in the appointment
of the life judiciary of the Federal Gov
ernment and recent evidence given before
the Industrial Commission shows that
they are not above -tampering with the
nomination and election of State judges
chosen by the people.
1t is not for such purposes as these
that corporations are chartered. Their
interference in such matters is not to adj
vance but to thwart the public interest.
Such expenditures of effort and Of money
are not made without expectation of
most adequate returns. They are not
necessarily made in behalf of either polit-
ical party, for the late Jay Gould cyni-
cally expressed the truth when he said
that lin IL Democratic district he was a
democrat and in Republican district a
Republican, but in every one Il railroad
man" This interference in the nomina
tion and election of public officials fati-
CUES popular Indignation even more than
the Hobbies maintained in Congress and
State legislatures, to affect legislation
and is a great lever towards forcing d
demand for government ownership of
railroads.
DISCRlMI NATION IN RATES.
The greatest of evils attendant upon
the present system, viewed from Il ii
nhncial standpoint, greater than eXces-
sive rates, and more difficult to repreSS
because secret, is discrimination in rates.
BY this means individuals and even cities
can be destroyed and others built up by
their destruction. The Standard Oil Co.
which forced the railways to carry its
products at 80 cents per barrel while
compelling them not only TO charge all
others 80 cents per barrel, but even to
nay theeHtra 30 cents paid by its rivals
into the Standard Oil Treasury, is a
sample of the methods of these modern
highwaymcn, the trusts. The Standard
Oil Company is shown to have received
from the railroads $10,000O00 bonus by
this means in IS months. Other corpor-
ations have followed the same methods
until small manufacturers have been
crushed out and equality of opportunity
which was the boast of eur institutions
has become non-eXistent.
The crucial question for solution is
whether the interference of great cor
porations in politics and their secret dis
elimination i'll rates, whereby trusts are
created and sustained can be suppressed
without resort to government ownership
These evils must be eliminated. The hope
Of America lies in the very fact that
our people will not submit TO such abuses
much longer.
How shall you suppress these dis
ordinations? Mr.. Depew recently stat
ed that certain large establishments could
ship goods from Chicago to New York at
81 cents per 100 pounds while others
had to pay % cents difference of $50
per car load, or ON a shipment of ten cal
loads per day discrimination OF II quar-
ter of million dollars per year; and w.
II. Vanderbilt testified before the Hep
burn Commission that all large shippers
get rebates if they asked for them, How
can any individual or any town stand up
against the destructive power of such
determinations!
Can they be stopped by voluntary
agreements, however solemn between
railroad managers? Hear what Presi-
dent ingalls, told you at your last conven-
tion. He said: Men managing large
corporations, who would trust their OPP
ponent with their pocket books with un-
told thousands in it, will hardy trust his
agreement for the maintenance of tar
ifs while they are i'll the room together.
Good faith seems to have departed from
the railroad world so far as traffic
agreements are concerned" If these
managers will not trust one another how
can the public be expected to have much
faith in them!
CRUSHING OUT THE WEAK.
The Interstate Commerce Commission
seems to agree entirely with President
Ingalls, for they say lin their 1899 report
1.-The situation has become intolerable,
both from the standpoint of the public
and of the carriers. Tariffs are disre-
garded, determinations constantly occur,
the price at which transportation can be
obtained is fiuctuating and uncertain.
Railroad managers are distrustful of
each other and shippers all the while in
doubt as to the rates secured by their
competitors. The volume of traffic is SO
unusual as to frequently exceed the ca
pacity of equipment, yet the contest for
tonnage seems never relaxed. Enormous
sums are spent in purchasing business
and secret rates accorded far below the
standard of public charges" This is
unanswerabe proof that those charges
are too high and that the general public
is yictimized The report goes on THE
general public gets little benefit from
these reductions, for concessions are
mainly confined to the heavier shippers.
All this augments the advantage of large