The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-06

pared to explain satisfactorily wha
| advantage will accrue to the public il
| they are given their desires; for they
are permitted to exist not that they
| may make money solely, but that they
may effectively serve those from whom
they derive their power.
Publicity, and not secrecy, will wiz
hereafter, and laws be construed by
their intent and not by their letter
otherwise public utilities will be own
ed and operated by the public which
created them, even though the service
be less efficient and the result less sat
isfactory from a financial standpoint
The bureau of corporations has
made careful preliminary investiga-
1t will make a special report on the
beef industry.
Bureau of Corporations.
The policy of the bureau is to &C
complish the purposes of its creation
by cooperation, not antagonism; by
destructive prosecution, the immediate
object of its inquiries; by conservative
investigation of law and fact. and by
refusal to issue Incomplete and hence
policy being thus one of open inquiry
into and not attack upon, business,
the bureau has been able to gain not
only the confidence, but. better still,
the cooperation of men engaged in
legitimate business.
The bureau offers to the congress
the means of getting at the cost of
production of our various great staples
of commerce.
OF necessity the careful investiga-
ton of special corporations will afford
the commissioner knowledge of GER
tain business facts, the publication of
which might be an improper in
fringement of private rights. The
method of making public the results
of these investigations affords, under
the law. means for the protection
of private rights. The congress will
have all facts except such as would
give to another corporation informa-
ton which would injura the legitimate
business of a competitor and destroy
the incentive for individual superiority
and thrift.
tive examinations into the legal con-
dition under which corporate business
is carried on in the various states;
into all judicial decisions on the SUBJ
corporate taxation in use. I call spe-
cia1 attention to the report of the
chief of the bureau; and I earnestly
ask that the congress carefully con-
slider the report and recommendations
of the commissioner on this subject.
Insurance.
The business of insurance vitality
affects the great mass of the people
of the United States and is national
and not local in its application. 1t in
wolves a multitude of actions
the people of the different
states and between American COM
panies and foreign governments. I
urge that the congress carefully con-
slider whether the power of the bu-
reau of corporations cannot constitu-
tionally be extended to cover inter-
state transactions in insurance.
Rebates.
Above all else. we must strive to !
keep the highways of commerce open
to all on equal terms; and to do this
Il is necessary to put a complete stop /
10 all rebates Whether the shipper |
Or the railroad is to blame makes no |
the rebate must be stop
ped, the abuses of the private car and
private terminal track and side track |
Station of the Fifty-efghth congress
which declares it to be unlawful for
my person or corporation to offer,
grant, give, solicit, accept, of receive
ion in respect of the transportation of
thy property in interstate or foreign
commerce whereby such property
hall by any device whatever be trans
n the tariffs published by the carrier
must be enforced For some time
Lfter the enactment of the act to
egulate commerce it remained a +
erred upon the interstate commerce
commission the power, after it had
ound a challenged rate to be unrea-
enable, to declare what thereafter
hould, prina facie, be the reasonable
maximum rate for the transportation
n dispute. The supreme court finally
esolved that question in the negative,
o that as the law now stands the COM
mission simply possess the bare power
o denounce a particular rate as I'M
easonable. While I am OF the opin- {
on that at present it would be unde- '
irable, if it were not fmpractfcabfe.
nally to clothe the commission with
eneral authority to fix railroad rates,
hippers. the commission should be {
ested with the power, where a given {
ate has been challenged and after
I'LL hearing found to be unreasonable,
. decide, subject to judicial review, l
hat shall be reasonable rate to take S
81 place; the ruling of the commission {
D take effect imm ediately, and to OBJ
ain unless and until it is reversed by
ne court of review. The government I
lust in increasing degree supervise a
nd regulate the workings of the rail-
'ays engaged in interstate commerce;
nd such increased supervision is the
My alternative to an increase of the g
resent evils on the one hand or a I
ill more radical policy on the other. a
4 my judgment the most important Z
.gislative act now needed as regards
re regulation of corporations is this G
ct to confer on the interstate COM T
lfssion the power to revise rates and O
equations, the revised rate to at once II
0 into effect. and to stay in effect I'M 5
SIS and until the court of review re- ii
arses it.
Steamship companies engaged in in I
.rstate commerce and protected in
III coastwise trade. should be held to I
strict observance of the interstate ?
1mmerce act. !,
City of Washington.
In pursuing the set plan to make the g
ty of Washington an example to e
her American municipalities several C
oints should be kept in mind by the v
gislators. In the first place. the o
aople of this country should clearly V
n darStarnd that No amount Of indus q