Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-12-20
VINO rea,Ize inns.
Bureau Of Corporations,

Bureau Of Corporations.
The bureau Of corporations has made
careful preliminary investigation of many
important corporations. 1t will make
special report on the heef industry.
The policy of the bureau is to accomplish
the purposes of its 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 inquiry into,
and not attack upon, business, the bureau
has been able to gain not only the conf
dence. 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 investigation OF
special corporations will afford the COM
missioner knowledge of certain business
facts, the publication 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 cor
poration information which would injure
the legitimate business of a competitor and
destroy the incentive for individual supe-
riority and thrift.
The bureau has also made exhaustive
examinations into the legal condition I'M
der which corporate business is carried
on in the various states; into all judicial
decisions on the subject; and into the
various systems of corporate taxation in
use. call special attention to the report
OF the chief of the bureau; and 1 earn
estly ask that the congress carefully con-
slider the report and Recommendations of
the commissioner on this subject.
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 involves a
multitude of transactions among the peo-
pie Of the different states and between
American companies and foreign govern
ments. urge that the congress care
fully consider whether the power of the
bureau of corporations cannot constitu-
tionally be extended to cover interstate
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 it is neces-
sary to put a complete stop to all re-
bates. Whether the shipper or the rail-
road 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 the legislation of the Fifty
eighth congress which declares 1t to be
unlawful for any person or corporation
to offer, grant, give, solicit, accept or
receive any rebate, concession or discrim-
ination in respect of the transportation
OF any property in interstate or foreign
commerce whereby such property shall
by any device whatever be transported at
less rate than that named in the tariffs
published by the carrier must be en-
forced. For some time after the enact
ment of the act to regulate commerce II
remained a mooted question whether that
act conferred upon the interstate com.
merce commission the power, after it hat
found a challenged rate to be unreason
able. to declare what thereafter should
prima facie, be the reasonable maximum
rate for the transportation in dispute
The supreme court finally resolved thai
question in the negative so that as the
law now stands the commission simply
possess the bare power to denounce 6
particular rate as unreasonable. While
am OF the opinion that at present II
would be undesirable, If 1t were not i'm.
practicable, finally to clothe the commits
sion with general authority to fix rail
security to shippers the commission
should be vested with the power, where
q given rate has been challenged anc
after full hearing found to be unreason
able, to decide. subject to judicial re
view, what shall be a reasonable rate tt
take its place: the ruling of the com
mission to take effect Immediately, ant
to obtain unless and until 1t Is reversed
by the court of review. The government
must in increasing degree supervise ani
| regulate the workings of the railways
engaged in interstate commerce.; and sucl
increased supervision is the only alterna
tive to an increase of the present evil
II the hand still radina
policy on the other. In my judgment tn
most Important legislative act now need
| ed as regards the regulation of corpora
| lions Is this act to confer on the inter
state commerce commission the power t.
revise rates and regulations, the revised
rate to at once go into effect, and to sta,
in effect unless and until the court of re
view reverses It.
Department Of Agriculture.
The department Of agriculture has grown
into an educational institution with fac
ulty Of 1000 specialists making research
into all the sciences Of production. IN,
congress appropriates, directly and indi
rectly, S6,000000 annually to carry on thi
work. It reaches every state and territor,
in the union and the islands of the sea late
| ~ come under our flag Cooperation is hat
with the state experiment stations, ant
with many other institutions and individ
uals. The world is carefully searched fo
new varieties Of grains, fruits, grasses
vegetables, trees and shrubs, suitable t,
] various localities in our country; ant
| marked benefit to our producers has re
suited.
The activities Of our age in lines of re-
search have reached the tillers of the sol
and inspired them with ambition to know
more Of the principles that govern tn,
forces Of nature with which they have t.
| deal. Nearly half of the people Of THU
/ country dAvnfA their
| things from the soil. Until recent dat
little has been done to prepare these mil
| lions for their life work. In most lines O
human activity college trained men ar
the leaders. The farmer had no oppor
tunity for special training until the con
Eress made provision for 1t 40 years ago
During these years progress has been mad
| and teachers have been prepared. Owe
| 5000 students are in attendance at our stat,
! agricultural colleges. The federal govern
ment expends $10000,000 annually towar,
this education and for research in Wash
| ington and In the several states and terri
tories. The department of agriculture hal
given facilities for postgraduate work t,
700 young men during the last seven years
preparing them for advanced lines Of worl
IN the department and in the state institu
tions.
Irrigation.
During the two and half years tina
nave elapsed since the passage Of tn
| reclamation act rapid progress has BEEF
made In the surveys and examinations o
the opportunities for reclamation in tn
u states and three territories of the ari,
west. Construction has already been be
gun on the largest and most importan
OF the irrigation works. and plans are be
Ing completed for works which will util
Ice the funds now available. The onera
lions are being carried on by the recla
nation service. a corps of engineers sc
lected through competitive civil-seryic
examinations. This corps includes ex
perienced consulting and constructinl
engineers as well as various experts ii
mechanical and legal matters. and is com
posed largely of men who have spen
most OF their lives In practical affair
connected with irrigation. The larger
problems have been solved and 1t nov