River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-12-08

rights The congress will have all facts
| except such as would give to another cor
| poration information which would injure
| the legitimate business Of 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. I call special attention to the report
of the chief of the bureau; and l 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. It involves a
| multitude of transactions among the peo-
pie of the different states and between
American companies and foreign govern
| ments. I 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 1t is neces-
sary to put 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 it 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
a 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 it
remained a mooted question whether that
act conferred upon the interstate COM
merce commission the power, after it had
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 that
question in the negative, so that as the
law now stands the commission simply
possess the bare power to denounce a
particular rate as unreasonable. While I
am of the opinion that at present 1t
would be undesirable, If it were not i'm
practicable, finally to clothe the commits
sion with general authority to fix rail-
road rates, I do believe that, as fair
security to shippers, the commission
should be vested with the power, where
a given rate has been challenged and
after full hearing found to be unreason-
able, to decide, subject to judicial re-
view what shall be a reasonable rate to
take It's place; the ruling of the COM
mission to take effect Immediately, and
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 alterna-
tive to an increase of the present evils
on the one hand or a still more radical
policy on the other. In my judgment the
most important legislative act now need
ed as regards the regulation of corpora
tions Is this act to confer on the inter-
state commerce commission the power to
revise rates and regulations, the revised
rate to at once go into effect, and to stay
in effect unless and until the court Of re-
view reverses 1t.
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. The
congress appropriates, directly and indi-
rectly, 100000 annually to carry on this
work. It reaches every state and territory
in the union and the islands of the sea late
ly come under our flag. Cooperation is had
with the state experiment stations, and
with many other institutions and individ-
uals. The world Is carefully searched for
new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses
vegetables, trees and shrubs, suitable to
various localities in our country; and
marked benefit to our producers has re-
suited.
The activities OF our age in lines of re-
search have reached the tillers Of the soil
and inspired them with ambition to know
more of the principles that govern the
forces of nature with which they have to
deal. Nearly half of the people of this
country devote their energies to growing
things from the soil. Until recent date
little has been done to prepare these mil
lions for their life work. In most lines Of
human activity college trained men are
| the leaders. The farmer had no oppor-
| tunity for special training until the con-
| gress made provision for 1t 40 years ago.
| During these years progress has been made
| and teachers have been prepared. Over
| 5000 students are in attendance at our state
| agricultural colleges. The federal govern
ment expends $10,000,0 900 annually toward
| this education and for research in Wash
| ingtou and in the several states and terri
tories. The department OF agriculture has
given facilities for postgraduate work to
500 young men during the last seven years,
| preparing them for advanced lines of work
in the department and in the state institu-
| TONS
The soils OF the country are getting at
tention from the farmers standpoint, and
| interesting results are following. We
have duplicates of the soils that grow the
| wrapper tobacco in Sumatra and the
| filler tobacco in Cuba. 1t will be only
question of time when the large
| amounts paid to these countries will be
paid to our own people. The reclamation
| of alkal lands is progressing, to give OBJ
| ject lessons to our people in methods by
which worthless lands may be made
| productive.
Irrigation.
| During the two and a half years that
| have elapsed since the passage of the
reclamation act rapid progress has been
made in the surveys and examinations of
| the opportunities for reclamation in the
| Is states and three territories of the arid
west. Construction has already been be-
| gun on the largest and most important
| of the irrigation works, and plans are be-
| ing completed for works which will util-
| iZe the funds now available. The opera
/ tions are being carried on by the recla-
nation service, corps of engineers Sc
| lected through competitive civil-service
| examinations. This corps includes ex-
perienced consulting and constructing
| engineers as well as various experts in
mechanical and legal matters, and is COM
| posed largely of men who have spent
most of their lives in practical affairs
| connected with irrigation. The larger
| problems have been solved and it now
remains to execute with care, economy
| and thoroughness the work which has
| been laid out. All important details are
| being carefully considered by boards of
| consulting engineers, selected for their
| thorough knowledge and practical ex-
perience. Each project is taken up on
| the ground by competent men and viewed