, 1903-02-05
ISSUES OF THE DAY
CRAVE QUESTIONS ABLY DEALT
WITH BIZ DEEP THINKER,
President ingalls, Of the Big Four Rail.
way System Points Out Dangers
Which He Considers Confront the
People of the United States.

railway magnates of America, lIr.
Melville Ezra ingalls,, president of the
Big Four system, advances views
so fundamentally clear and discusses
with such deep thought the great
problems Of the day. as to draw forth
tie highest praise from the Louis
Vile Courier-Journal, in its issue If
Dec. ..
Mr.. ingalls, first points out the dan
ger in the overwhelming political as,
tendency of II party. showing that
the only safe condition is to have two
parties, strong and evenly divided. On
the subject of Expansion" he says:
The great danger as to our foreign
possessions is that. with no colonial
policy we shall drift along until in a
fatal hour we VIII admit these diff
fercnt countries and islands as Ter
ritOries." and then it is easy to make
them States Then where will our
republic be, when Presidents are
elected by votes in Cuba, Porto Rico,
Eawaii and the Philippines? You
may say that this can never be; that
| am supposing an impossibility. but
~ Nv d-SlIt NDu tldI ire udHgt Is
already with us.
Hawaii has been admitted as a
Territory, and if by chance some par
ty in power should conclude that it
needed an electoral vote. it is very
easy to admit IL as a state. and then
your presidential! election may be de-
cided in Honolulu. Do you dream
that IL republic will last under such
a condition as that?
our mistake will be in drifting
along without providing safeguards
against the danger | have alluded to.
We should at once provide by consti-
tutional provisions that no state could
be admitted to this Union unless 1t
vas composed of contiguous and ad-
joining territory. This would cut out
Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the
Philippines. Then we should create
Z system of colonial government-or
a protectorate, as you please-so that
we may hold our trade and commerce
in the Caribbean Sea, OF the Pacific
and in the Orient. For the sake Of
extending u trade, we cannot trifle
with the life of a republic"
Turning from international issues,
Mr.. ingalls, shows how we are Goa.
fronted with a further serious ques-
tion-the struggle between capital
and labor-a struggle brought promi-
nently forward by the organization OF
the most immense trusts and COM
btuations ever known. He says:
Has the danger to labor increased
by the organization of the vast COM
binations of to-day? The trust Is no
new danger. 1t is an aggregation Of
capital under a new name. How to
control it is the question.
Publicity and taxation, all agree,
is one way of controlling and keeping
the trusts within the limits. Let the
full light of day be turned on all their
actions, all their statements and
all their accounts, and provide either
by a franchise or license tax that they
SHALL pay their fair share Of the bur-
Gens of the people. The tariff to a
certain extent is used as a protection
for the corporations, and the great
danger to our institutions Is that
these great ag%gregations OF wealth
may endeavor to control legislation
and do things that smaller bodies
could no attempt"
The Courier-Journal says:
These are pregnant words. They
touch the marrow of the question
treated. Here is another passage
which is full of wise suggestion. Again
we quote:
after all, this danger must b. met,
as all danger In the Republic must be,
and must be overcome by the virtue
of the people. We must, so far as pos.
sible. protect small landholders.
In their hands is the future of the Re-
public. Large ownerships Of land
should be discouraged and pre-.
vented"
Mr.. ingalls, criticises our present sys-
TEN of taxation. and declares for a
franchise tax as one of the fairest
ways of raising yer He goes on:
Il have always believed in an in.
come tax, and have thought that the
decision of our Supreme court against
the constitutionality of such a tax was
one of the most unfortunate occur.
rences of the age. We should have a
tdA oh all lhSOiiSs, large UT small eX-
empting a moderate amount of prop
erty from execution and levy. This
country is so rich that with a fair sys.
TEN of taxation and ono In ex-
penditure, the tax rate will be SO low
that it will not be oppressive, and thus
we will encourage and protect our
small property holders"
Here is Mr.. Ingalls, conclusion:
THE doctrine of state rights is not
a popular one, but l sincerely believe
that we must come back to it IL we
would preserve our government. For
a quarter of q century we have been
drifting toward a strong government
at Washington. Our people rush from
state legislature to congress, from
state courts to United States courts.
Under ore preteNt or another the right
OF the state is broken down, and the
cry is always for a strong government,
forgetting that the more you condense
and crowd into Washington the more
danger OF corruption and wong.
Change this and keep as much at homo
as o can. SO you a watch what is
dcne. Then, indeed. shall we trans.
nit to Dur children this fair heritage
that We received from u fathers"
A NAA.L H.