Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-12-12

certain conditions The bureau of labor
has done excellent work OF this KIND IN
many different directions | shall shortly
! lay before you in a special message the full
report of the Investigation OF the bureau
of labor into the Colorado mining strike, as
! this is a strike in which certain very evil
| forces which are more or less at work
everywhere under the conditions Of modern
| industrialism, became startlingly prom-
nent.
Corporations.
When we come to deal with great cor
porations the need for the government TO
act directly is far greater than in the case
of labor because great corporations can
become such only by engaging in interstate
commerce, and interstate commerce Is pc
culiarly the field of the general govern
ment 1t is an absurdity to expect to elm
mate the abuses in great corporations by
state action. 1t is difficult to be patent
with an argument that such matters should
be left to the states, because more than one
state pursueS the policy OF creating on easy
terms corporations which are never opef-
ated within that state at ALL but IN IN othef
states whose laws they ignore. the ma
tional government alone can zeal ade-
quately with these great corporations. 10
try to deal with them in an incorporate,
destructive or demagogic spirit Would, IN
all probability mean that nothing whatever
would be accomplished, and, with aDsolute
certainty that if anything were accom-
plished it would be of a harmful nature.
Great corporations are necessary, ana only
men of great and singular mental power
can manage such corporations successfully.
and such men must have great rewards
Rut these corporations should be managed
with due regard to the interest OF the pub
/ lie as a whole. Where this can be gone
under the present laws it must be done
Where these laws come short others snould
! be enacted to supplement them Inc pu-
Ireau of corporations has made careful pre-
| liminary investigation of many important
corporations; It will make a speclal report or
on the beef industry. The policy OF the
bureau is to accomplish the purposes OF It's
creation by cooperation, not antagonlsm )
by making constructive legislation not de-
structive prosecution, the Immediate opJect
of it's inquiries; by conservative lnvestl-
CATION of law and fact, and by feIusal 70
issue incomplete and hence necessarily IN
accurate reports. It's policy being thus one
of open inquiry into, and not attack upon
business, the bureau has been able to gam
not only the confidence, but, better sui,
the cooperation. OF men, engaged IN iestL,-
mate business. The bureau oHers the
means of getting at the cost or production
of our various great staples of commerce.
Insurance.
The bIIsiness Of insurance vitality affects
the great mass of the people of the united
States and is national and not local IN It's
application 1t involves a multitude OF
transactions among the people of the differ
ent states and between American compa-
MES and foreign governments. L urge tnat
the congress carefully consider whether the
power of the bureau of corporations can
not constitutionally be extended TO cover
interstate transactions in insurance
Rebates Denounced.
Above all else, we must strive to keep
the highways of commerce omen to all on
equal terms and to do this it 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 private terminal-track and side-track
systems must be stopped, and legislation OF
the fifty-eighth congress which declares. 1t
to be unlawful for any person or corpora
ton to offer grant, give solicit, accept or
receive any rebate, concession, or d1Scrlm-
ination in respect of the transportation or
any property in interstate or foreign com
merce whereby such property shall by any
device whatever be transported at less
rate than that named in the tariffs pub
Iished by the carrier must be enforced. For
some time after the enactment OF the act
to regulate commerce it remained a mooted
question whether that act conferred upon
the interstate commerce commission the
power, after it had found challenged rate
| to be unreasonable, to declare what there
after should, prima facie, be the reasonable
maximum rate for the transportation in
| dispute. The supreme court finally re-
! solved that question in the negative, so that
as the law now stands the commission SIM
Iply possess the bare power to denounce
particular rate as unreasonable While |
am of the opinion that at present It would
| he undesirable if it were not impractlcaDle,
finally to cIothe the commission, with gen.
eral authority to fix railroad rates, do
believe that fair security to shippers,
the commission shou4u be vested with the
power, where a given rate has been chal-
llenged and after full hearing found
! to be unreasonable, to decide. subject to
judicial review. what shall be a reasonable
rate to take it's place; the ruling OF the
commission to take effect Immediately, ana
to obtain unless and until it is reversed by
the court of review. The government must
in increasing degree supervise and regulate
the workings of the railways engaged IN
interstate commerce and such increased
supervision is the only alternative, to an
increase of the present evils on the one
hand or still more radical policy on the
other In my judgment the most important
legislative act now needed as regards the
Regulation of corporations is TINS act 70
lconfer on the interstate commerce commits
sion the power to revise rates ana fegula-
tons. the revised rate to at once go INTO
| effect. and to stay in effect unless and IN
| til the court of review reverses It.
/ The president urges better sanitary con
lditions in Washington, the making or the
capital a model city in the matter OF
health. school attendance ana aosen n,es AZ 70
degraded conditions Public play GROUNDS,
he SAYS are necessary means for the De
velopment of wholesome citizenship IN moo
ern cities It is important that the work
linaugurated here through voluntary eHofts
should be taken up and extended through
con gressional appropriation OF FUNDS sum
cient to equip and maintain numerous con,
vsent small ha play gwfhon or
rental. 1t is also desirable that small va
cant places be purchased and reserved !, as as
al-park play grounds in denselV setlleu
sections Of the city which now t,I have so no
public open spaces and are destined soon
to be built up solidly All these needs
should be met Immediately To mee5 raem
saving could be made by stopping the
building of streets and leveling of ground
for purposes largely speculative in outlying
parts Of the city.
The Wife Beater.
There are certain offenders. whose Grim
inality takes the shape of brutality and
cruelty towards the weak. who need a sspe-
cial type of punishment. The wife-beater,
for example, is inadenuately punished by DIV
Imprisonment for Imprisonment may often
mean nothing to him, while it may cause
hunger and want to the wife and children 5it,I
who have been the victims of his brutality.
Probably some form of corporal punish.
ment would be the most adequate way OF
meeting this kind of crime.
Agriculture.
The department of agriculture has
mol inc