Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-10-19
After Pleasing Recognition Of Part the State Has Played the Ns
Great Eyents--R Roosevelt Launches Out Upon an Earnest
Plea for Preservation Of the Forests NJ
Extraordinary Development Of Industries During the Past Cnuy.
Railroads Must be Controlled BY Government Necessity for Change Of
Laws to Conserve Rights Of the People Nh

the same power Of fealty to an idsel
but will also show the efficiency inthe
ranks OF industrial life that e{eir
fathers, the Confederate veter&ns
showed that they possessed In the
ranks Of war, the industrial futuJe Of
this great and typically Amejl leau
Commonwealth IL assured.
The extraordinary development oi
industrialism during the last half etn.
tury has been due TO several causes,
but above all to the revolution Ii The
methods Of transportation and cogn-
munication: that Is. to steam and 10
electricity, to the railroad and the tel
egraph.
When this government was foun4ed
commerce was carried on by essential.
ly the same instruments that r11d
been in use not only among civillked
but among barbarian. nations. er
since history dawned; that Is. 4 b.
wheeled vehicles drawn by aniuQys.
by pack trains, and by sailing gAips
and row boats On land this m1t
that commerce went in slow, cum
berous, and expensive fashion over
highways open to Ill. Normally tMfse
highways could not compete with W1-
ter transportation, il such was feAGjr
BILE between the connecting points.
All this has been changed by tlIe
development Of the railroads. GayS
on the ocean or on lakes 10 large; ~
TO be practically inland seas, tram
port by water has wholly lost It's Oi4
position Of superiority over transport
by hand, Hhils sinsteaa * tn, ,cla -
ways open 70 everyone on The. sabse
terms. but or . very limited useful.
ness, we have new highways-rail.
roads-which are owned by private
corporations, and which are practical
ly of unlimited, instead Of limited,
usefulness. The old laws and old GUS
toms which were adequate and pro.
per to meet the old conditions need
radical REIMBURSEMENT In order to meet
these new conditions The cardinal
features Ia these changed conditloas
are, first, the fact that the new high
way. the railway, Is, from the CON-
mercial standpoint, Of Infinitely
greater Importance in our Industrial
life than was the old highway, the
wagon road; and, second, that this
new highway, the railway. Is II the
hands Of private owners, whereas the
old highway. the wagon road, was IN
the hands OF the state. The manage
ment Of the new highway, the rail.
road, or rather of the intricate web
Of railrOad lines which cover the conn.
try, Is a task infinitely more dificult,
more delicate. and more important,
than the primdtively easy task Of ac-
Quiring or keeping in order the old
highway: 60 TIT there is properly NO
analogy whatever between the two
cases. do noG believe in government
of anything which can with
propriety be left In private hands, and
in particular should most strenu-
ously object to government ownership
Of railroads. Dnt / believe with equal
firmness that It is out Of the question
for the government not to exercise q
supervisory and regulatory right over
the railroads; for 1t Is vital to the
well-being of the public that they
should be managed in spirit Of fair
ness and Justice toward all the pub
lie. Actual experience has shown that
1t is not possible to leave the railroads
uncontrolled. Such a system. or rath-
or such lack Of system. is fertile in
abuses of every kind. and puts pre-.
MUM uron unscrrpulous and ruthless
cunning in railroad management: for
there are some big shippers and some
railroad managers who are always
willing to take unfair advantage of
their weaker competitors, and they
thereby force other big shippers and
big railroad men who would like 10
do decently into similar acts of wrong
and injustice. nnder penalty OF being
left behind In the race for success.
Government supervision is needed
quite as much In the interest of the
big shipper and OF the railroad man
who want TO do right as In the inter
est Of the small shipper and the con
sumer.
Experience has shown that the pres
ent laws are defective and need
Concluded on Page Four.)