The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-06
MessaSe of President Roosevelt
 to the Fifty-ninth Congress

" -Sts~TS~-s>srs VI
 , and regulation as will prevent any re- striction of competition from being to
 the dstr,msns 0a the pss,,sss we vii, a1 prevent other abuses In no way con nected' with restriction of competiion i Of these abuses, perhaps the chief. all overcapItaiisation--g itself the ! result of dishonest promotion--because | of the myriad evils 1t brings in It's ten means an imitation that invites business panic; It always conceais the | true relation of the profit earned 10
 the capital actually invested. and U U | which is fertile cause of improper reduction in or limitation of wages 1t damages the small investor, dlscour- I and speculation; while perhaps worst of all is the triokfness aud dishonesty which 1t fmplies-Afor harm to morals
 worse than possible ha5m se ma of politics and business by great dishons est corporations is far worse than any
 actual material evil they do the public. | in some manner which the wisdom of | the Congress may suggest, proper con. trci over the big corporations engaged
 In interstate commerce-that IS, over the great majority of the big corpor-. ations---it will be impossible to deal adequately with these evils.
 ! am we'll aware OI the utffCuihhce Si | the legislation that l am suggesting, and of the need of temperate and eau. l tious action in securing It. should 1 emphaticaily protest against improp. erly radical or nasty action. The frst thing to do is to deal with the great corporations engaged in the business Of interstate transportation. As saio I in my message of December last, the immediate and most pressing need, so far as legislation is concerned, Is the enactment into law of some scheme to secure to the agents of the Govern
 ment such supervision and regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effective ly prevent the imposition of unjust
 % or unrsasonaoae .s n,st rates. stan uss so rs- s
 bates in every shaps and form: This power to regulate rates, like all simi- lar powers over the business world.
 should be exercised with moderation, caution, and self-restraint; but 1t should exist, so that it can be effectfve- ly exercised when the need arises.
 The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be af- firmative and should be given to some administrative body created by the Congress. If given to the present In-
 terstate CoTnraerce Sommission or 2 10 a
 mission, such commission should be
 made unequivocally administrative.
 do not believe in the Government fn-
 terfering with private business more t,s
 the Government undertaking any work
 which can with propriety be left In private hands. But neither do be- lieve in the Government hinching rom
 overseeing any work when it becomes evident that abuses are sure to obtain therein unless there is governmental supervision. It is not my province to indicate the exact terms of the law which should be enacted; but c'sll the attention of the Congress to certain existing conditions with which it Is
 desirable to deal In my 1udgment. | such law should contain Is that con | ferring upon some competent adn1infs~ | trative body the power to decide, upon the case being brought before it, whether a given rate prescribed by 2
 railroad is reasonable and just. and if it is found to be unreasonable and unjust. then, after full investigation Tor the complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate beyond which it shall not be lawful to go--the maximup1 reasonable rate, as 1t Is commonly called--this de-
 sopable time and to obtain from thence
 onward. subject to review by the
 courts. 1t sometimes happens at pres
 ent, not that rate is too high, but
 that a favored shipper is given too
 low a rate. Tn such case the Commis-
 sion would have the right to fix this
 already established minimum rate as
 the maximum; and 1t would need only
 
 mission to cure railroad companies of
 the practice of giving improper mini
 mum rates I call your attention to
 the fact that my proposal Is not to give
 the Commission power to initiate or
 originate rates generally, but to regu-
 late rate already fixed or originated
 by the roads. upon complaint and after
 investigation. A heavy penalty should
 be exacted from any corporation which
 fails to respect an order of the Com
 mission. I regard this power to es-
 tablish a maximum rate as being es-
 sentiai to any scheme of real reform
 in the matter of railway regulation.
 The first necessity Is to secure 1t; and
 unless it granted to the Commission
 there is little use in touching the sub ject at all.
 IIligai transactions often occur un- der the forms of law. It has often oc-
 cured that shipper has been told by of some commodity and then after 1t has been bought an open reduction is
 made in the rate to take effect imme- | diately. the arrangement resulting to | the profit of the one shipper and the one railroad and to the damage of all their competitors; for it, must not be ] forgotten that the big shippers are al
 least as much to biame as any railroad l in the matter of rebates. The law | should make 1t clear so that nobody \ can fail to understand that any kind of commission paid on freight shipments, whether in this form or in the form of | fictitious damages, or of a concession, I a free pass, reduced passenger rate, or payment of brokerage. Is illegal It is | worth while considering whether it | would not be wise to confer on the | Government the right of civil action | against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value o< the rebate; | this would help stop what Is really | blackmaiL Elevator allowances should | be stopped. for they have now grown | to such an extent that they gre demor- a1izing and are used as rebates.
 The best possible regulation of rates would, of course, be that regulakIo Ion i secured by an honest agreement among the railroads themselves to carry out the law. Such a general agreement would, for instance. at once put stop or big railroad to discriminate against or secure advantages over some rival; and such agreement would make the railroads themselves agents for enfOrc- ing the law. The power vested in the
 Goverpment to put stop to agree
 should, in my judgment. be accom- panied by power to permit, under spe- citied conditions and careful supervis- sion, agreements clearly in the inter-
 est of the public. But, in my Judg- ment, the necessity for giving this , as the necessity for giving the Com mission or administrative body the other powers have enumerated above; and 1t may well be inadvisable to at
 tempt to vest this particular power in
 the Commission or other administra-
 and is exercising what regard as by | faf the most important of all the pow CTS I recommend-as indeed the Vitally important power--that to fix a given maximum rate. which rate. after the lapse of a reasonable time, goes into | f.tI fn k.E Eka