The Bourbon news., 1904-12-09

e~tNc diuOHS capitalists ana wage workers
alike; feeling OF respect on the part Of
each man for the rights Of others; a feel
ing or broad community of interest, not
merely of capitalists among themselves,
and OF wage workers among themselves,
! but OF capitalists and wage workers in their
relations to each other, and Of both in their
relations to their fellows who with them
make up the body polite There are many
captains of industry, many labor leaders,
| who realize this
Bureau Of Corporations.
The bureau OF corporations has made
| careful preliminary investigation Of many
important corporations. 1t will make a
special report on the beef industry
The policy Of the bureau is to accomplish
the purposes Of its creation by cooperation
| not antagontsm; by making constructive
legislation, not destructive prosecution.
the immediate object OF it's 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
l CPCOAd1 Will dllOIQ the COIQ-
| 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, 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 un-
| 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 earn
estly ask that the congress carefully con-
slider the report and recommendations of
the commissioner on this subject.
| The business of insurance vitally 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. 1 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 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
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 IL
remained mooted question whether that
act conferred upon the interstate COM
merce commission the power, after it had
| found 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
pOSSCSS the DdIc pOWeE 10 QenOunce a
particular rate as unreasonable. While 1
am of the opinion that at present it
would be undesirable, if it were not i'm
practicable, finally to clothe the commits
| sion with general authority to fix rail-
| road rates, l 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 full hearing found to be unreason-
| able, to decide, subject to judicial re-
view, what shall be reasonable rate to
| take its place; the ruling of the COM
| mission to take effect Immediately, and
| to obtain unless and until il 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 it.
Department Of Agriculture.
| The department. Of agriculture has grown
| into an educational institution with a fac
ulty of 1000 specialists making research
into all the sciences of production. The
| congress appropriates, directly and indi-
rectly, $6,000,000 annually to carry on this
work. 1t 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 arc
the leaders. The farmer had no oppor-
| tunity for special training until the con-
gress made provision for it 40 years ago.
During these years progress has been made
and teachers have been prepared. Over