Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-06

may make money solely. but that they may
| effectively serve those from whom they de-
| rive their power.
I Publicity. and not secrecy. will win here
| after. and laws be construed by their in
| tent and not by their letter. otherwise pub
| lie utilities will be owned and operated by
| the public which created them, even though
| the service be less efficient and the result
| less satisfactory from financial stand
| point"
| Bureau of Corporations.
| The Bureau of Corporations has made
/ careful preliminary investigation of many
important corporations. 1t will make a spe-
| cial report on the beef industry.
The policy of the Bureau is to accomplish
| the purposes of its creation by cooperation
| not antagonism by making constructive
| legisla ton. not destructive prosecution, the
| immediate object of it's inquiries; by con-
| serVatiYe investigation of law and fact, and
| by refusal to issue incomplete and hence
| necessarily Inaccurate reports. It's policy
! being thus one of open inuuiry> into and
| not attacks upon business the Bureau has
peen able to gain not only the confidence,
| put, better still, the cooperation of men
| engaged in legitimate business
| Inc 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 publicatio 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 VIII have all facts ex-
| cept such as would give to another corpora
ton information which would injure the
/ legitimate business of q competitor and de-
| stroy the incentive for individual superiority
| and thrift.
| The Bureau has also made exhaustive ex-
aminatons into the legal condition under
4 nrat 70 hI1c no ic vi n1 n
| the various states; into all judicial decisions
| on the subject; and into the various sys-
| TENS of corporate taxation in use. / call
| special attention to the report of the chief
| of the Bureau; and l earnestly ask that the
| Congress carefully consider 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 It's
application. 1t involves a multitude OF
| transactions among the people of the differ
ent states and between American companies
| and foreign governments. l urge that the
| Congress carefully consider whether the
| power of the Bureau of Corporations can
| not constitutionally be extended to cover
| interstate transactions in insurance
| Above all else, we must strive to keep the
| highways of commerce open 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 the legisla-
| ton of the Fifty-eighth Congress which de-
| clares 1t to be unlawful for any person or
| corporation to offer, grant, give, solicit, &C
| cept or receive any rebate, concession or
| discrimination in respect to the transporta-
| ton 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
| nrbliSbpd the carrier must he enforced
| For some time after the enactment of the
| act to regulate commerce 1t remained a
| mooted question whether that act confer
| red upon the interstate commerce COM
| mission the power, after it had found a
| challenged rate to be unreasonable, to de-
| clare 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 particular rate as un-
| reasonable. While am of the opinion that
| at present 1t would be undesirable, If 1t
| were not impracticable, finally to clothe
| the commission with general authority to
| fix railroad 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 unreasonable, to
| decide, subject to judicial 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
| It is reversed by the court of review. The
| government must in increasing degree su-
pervise 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 radi-
| cal policy the other In my Judgment
| the most important legislative act now
| needed as regards the regulation of corpo-
| rations 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.
| Steamship companies engaged in inter-
| state commerce and protected in our coast
wise trade should be held to a strict OBJ
| servance of the interstate commerce act
The City Of Washington.
In pursuing the set plan to make the
city of Washington an example to other
American municipalities several points
should be kept in mind by the legislators.
In the first place, the people of this coun-
try should clearly understand 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 shopkeepers,
| make up the Dulk or the pOpuiatlon or any
| country; and upon their well-being, genera
ton after generation. the well-being Of the
| country and the race depends. Rapid de-
| velopment In wealth and Industrial leader
| ship is q good thing. but only If 1t goes
hand in hand with Improvement. and not
deterioration, physical and moral. The
overcrowding Of cities and the draining of
country districts are unhealthy and even
| dangerous symptoms in our modern life.
We should not permit overcrowding In
| cities In certain European cities 1t is
provided by law that the population OF
towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very
limited density for a given area. so that
the increase in density must be continually
pushed back into a broad zone around the
center of the town, this zone having great
avenues or parks within 1t. The death
| rate statistics show a terrible increase In
| mortality, and especially in infant NOR
tality, in overcrowded tenements. The poor
est families in tenement houses live in one
| ROOM and 1t appears that In these one
room tenenents the average death rate for
a number of given cities at home and
| abroad Is about twice what 1t Is In a two
| room tenement, four times what 1t Is In a
| three-room tenement, and eight times what
| II Ia in a tenement consisting Of four rooms
| or over These figures vary somewhat for
| different cities, but they approximate In
each city those given above; and In al
cases the increase of mortality. and es.
pecially of infant mortality, with the de.
| crease In the number of rooms used by the
family and with the consequent overcrowd.