The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-07

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 win
hereafter, and laws be construed by
their intent and not by their letter.
otherwise public utilities will be owned
and operated by the public which Gre
ated them. even though the service be
less efficient and the result less salts
factory from financial standpoint"
The Bureau of Corporations has
made careful preliminary investigation
of many important corporations. 1t
VIII make q special report on the beef
industry.
The Bureau of Corporations.
The policy of the bureau is to ac-
complish the purposes of it's creation
by cooperation, not antagonism; by
making constructive legislation, not
destructive prosecution, the immediate
object of its Inquiries by conservative
investigation of law and fact, and by
refusal to issue incomplete and hence
necessarily inaccurate reports. Its
policy being thus one of open IN
quiry into, and not attack upon, bus
mess, the bureau has been able TO
gain not only the confidence, but, bet
ter still, the cooperation of men en-
gagged 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 af-
ford the commissioner knowledge of
certain business facts. the publica-
ton of which might be an improper
infringement of private rights. The
method of making public the results
of these Investigations affords. under
the law, a means for the protection of
private rights. The Congress will
have all facts except such as would
give to another corporation Informal
ton which would injure the legitimate
business of a competitor and destroy
the incentive for individual superiority
and thrift.
Reports ON Corporations.
The bureau has also made exhaustive
examinations into the legal condition
under which corporate business is car
ried on in the various states; into all
judicial decisions on the subject; and
into the various systems of corporate
taxation in use. l call special atten-
ton to the report of the chief of the
bureau; and / earnestly ask that the
Congress carefully consider the report
and recommendations of the commits
sioner on this subject.
The business of Insurance vitality af-
fects the great mass of the people of
the United States and is national and
not local in it's application 1t in
wolves a multitude of transactions
among the people of the different
states and between American compa-
niaS and fnraio1 I
that the Congress carefully consider
whether the power of the Bureau of
Corporations can not constitutionally
be extended to cover interstate trans
actions 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
1t is necessary to put a complete stop
to all rebates. Whether the shipper
or the railroad is to blame makes no
difference; the rebate must be stopped,
the abuses of the private car and pri-
waite terminal track and side track sys-
TENS must be stopped, and the legis-
lation of the Flfty-eighth Congress
which declares it to be unlawful for
any person or corporation to offer,
grant, give, solicit, accept, or receive
any rebate. concession, or discrimina-
ton in respect of the transportation of
any property in interstate or foreign
commerce whereby such property shall
by any device whatever be transported
at a less rate than that named in
the tariffs, published by the carrier
must be enforced. For some time after
the enactment of the act to regulate
commerce it remained a mooted ques-
ton whether that act conferred upon
the Interstate Commerce Commission
the power, after it had found a chal-
lenged rate to be unreasonable, to de-
clare what thereafter should, prima
facie, be the reasonable maximum rate
for the transportation in dispute.
The Commissions Powers Limited.
The Supreme Court finally resolved
that question in the negative, so that
as the law now stands the Commits
sion simply possess the bare power to
denounce particular rate as unreal
sonable. While l am of the opinion
that at present it would be undesir-
able, If 1t were not impracticable, final
ly to clothe the commission with gem
eral authority to fix railroad rates,
do believe that, as a fair security to
shippers, the commission should be
vested with the power, where a given
rate has been challenged and after fun
nearing lOunu 10 ne Understandable, TO
decide, subject to judicial review, what
shall be a reasonable rate to take its
place; the ruling of the commission
to take effect Immediately, and to OBJ
tain unless and until 1t is reversed
by the court of review.
Must Increase Supervision.
The government must in increasing
degree supervise and regulate the
workings of the railways engaged In
interstate commerce.; and such increas-
ed supervision is the only alternative
to an increase of the present evils on
the one hand or O still more radical
policy on the other. In my judgment
the most important legislative act now
needed as regards the regulation of
corporations is this act to confer on
the Interstate Commerce Commission
the power to revise rates and regula-
lions, the revised rate to at once go
into effect, and to stay I'm effect unless
and until the court Of review reverses
it.
Steamship companies engaged In in
terstate commerce and protected in our
coastwise trade. should be held TO a
strict observance Of the interstate COM
merce act.