Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-12-08

carrier must be enforced. For some
time after the enactment Of the act to
regulate commerce 1t remained moot
ed question whether that act conferred
upon the interstate commerce commits
sion the power after 1t had found a
rate to be unreasonable to
declare what thereafter should prinla
facie be the reasonable maximum rate
for the transportation in dispute. The
supreme court finally resolved that
question in the negative, SO that as the
law now stands the commission simply
possesses the bare power TO denounce q
particular rate as unreasonable. While
am Of the opinion that at present 1t
would be undesirable il it were not i'm
practicable finally to clothe the COM
mission with general authority to fix
railroad rates, I do believe that as a
fair security to shippers the commits
sion should be vested with the power
where given rate has been challenged
and after full bearing found to be un-
reasonable to decide, subject to judi
cial review, what shall be a reasonable
rate to take its place, the ruling of the
commission to take effect Immediately
and to obtain unless and until 1t Is re-
,versed 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 superyi-
sion is the only alternative to an in
crease of the present evils on the one
hand or a still more radical policy on
the other. In my judgment the most
important legislative net now needed
MS regards the regulation of corpora
tions is this net to confer on the inter-
state commerce commission the power
to revise rates and regulations, the re-
vised rate to at once go into effect and
to stay in 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
strict observance Of the interstate COM
msrce act. oi5s
City of Washington.
In pursuing the set plan to make the
city OF Washington an example to 9TH
er American municipalities several
points should be kept in mind by the
legislators. In the first place, the peo-
pie Of this country should clearly I'M
derstand that no amount of industrial
prosperity and, above all, no leadership
in international industrial competition
can in any way atone for the sapping
Of the vitality of those who are usually
spoken of as the working classes. The
farmers, the mechanics, the skilled and
unskilled laborers, the small shopkeep.
ers, make up the bulk of the popula.
tion Of any country, and upon their
well being, generation after generation,
the well being Of the country and the
race depends. Rapid development in
wealth and industrial leadership is a
good thing, but only IL it goes hand in
hand with Improvement and not de-
terioration, physical and moral The
oyercrowding Of cities and the draining
Of country districts are unhealthy and
even dangerous symptoms in our mod
ern life. We should not permit over
crowding in cities. In certain Euro.
pean cities it is provided by law that
the population Of towns shall not be
allowed to exceed a very limited den
sity for a given area, SO that the in
crease in density must be continually
pushed back into n broad zone around
the center of the town, this zone having
great avenues or parks within it. The
death rate statistics show terrible in.
crease in mortality, and especially In
! infant mortality, in overcrowded tene
ments. The poorest families in tenement
houses live in one room, and it appears
that in these one room tenements the
average death rate for a number Of
! given cities at home and abroad is
i about twice what it is in two room
f! tenement, four times what it is in /;
three room tenement and eight times
| what it Is in tenement consisting o.
four rooms or over. These figures vary
1 somewhat for different cities, but they
approximate in each city those giver
1 above; and in all cases the increase al
mortality, and especially Of infan
mortality, with the decrease in til,
number Of rooms used by the family
and with the consequent overcrowding
/ is startling. The slum exacts a heay,
total Of death from those who dwell
therein, and this is the case not merel,
in the great crowded slums Of higl
4 buildings in New York and Chicago
but in the alley Sums of Washington
In Washington people cannot afford t
ignore the harm that this causes. NJ
! Christian and civilized community cal
afford to show happy go lucky lacl
of concern for the youth of today, 70
If SO the community will have to pc,
a terrible penalty Of financial burdel
1 and social degradation in the tomor
row. There should be severe child la
bor and factory inspection laws. 1t i
very desirable that married womel
should not work in factories. Th
prime duty Of the man is to work, t
be the breadwinner. The prime dut,
of the woman is to be the mother TIL
housewife. All questions of tariff an,
finance sink into utter insignificanc
when compared with the tremendous