The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-31

vast wealth. and especially by wealth
in its corporate form, without lodging
somewhere in the government the still
higher power of seeing that this power.
in addition to being used I'm the inter
est of the individual or individuals pcs
sessing it, is also used for and not
against the interests of the people as
q whole. Our pee uliar form of govern
ment, a government in which the ma
ton IS supreme throughout the Union
in certain respects, while each of nearly
half a hundred states is supreme in its
part of the Union in certain Otter re
spects, renders the task of dealing with
these conditions especially difficult. No
finally satisfactory result can be eX-
pected from merely state action The
action must come drought the fed
eTal government The business Of the
country is now carried on in a way
of which the founders of our constitu-
ton could by no possibility have had
any idea.
Intention of the Fathers.
'AH great business concerns are en-
! gagged in interstate commerce, and it
was beyond question the Intention of
the founders of our government that
interstate commerce in all it's branches
and aspects should be under national
decide that this intention was not car
ried out and made effective in the con-
stitution as it now stands, then in the
end the constitution, If not construed
differently, viii have to be amended so
that the original undOubted intention
may be made effective But, of course,
a constitutional amendment is only to
be used as a last resort, if every ef-
fort of legislation ana administration
shall have been proved inadequate.
Should Work in Harmony.
Meanwhile the men in public life
and the men who direct the great bust
ness interests of the country should
work not in antagoniSm but in har-
mony toward this given end In enter
ing a field where the progress must of
necessity be so largely experimental
it is essential that the effort to make
progress should be tentative and eau
tious. We must grow by evolution, not
by revolution. There must be no hurry.
but there must also be no halt; and
those who are anxious that there
should be no sudden and violent
changes must remember that precisely
these sudden and violent changes VIII
be rendered likely IL we refuse to make
the needed changes in cautious and
moderate manner.
Power Should Be Granted.
AT the present moment the greatest
the national government to keeP the
great highways of commerce open alike
to all on reasonable and equitable terms
Less than century ago these highways
were STILL they had been stree the
dawn of history. either waterways,
natural or artificial or else ordinary
roads for wheel vehicles drawn by ami
NAL power. The railroad, which was ut
terly unknown when our government was
formed and when the great principles OIL
our jurisprudence were LAID down, mas
row become almost everywhere the most
important. and, IN many large regions
the only form of highway for commerce
The man who controls its use cannot be
permitted to control ii in his own interest
alone.
In the Interest of All.
1t is not only just but it is in the inter-
est OF the public that this man should re-
S5i re the amplest payment for the master
Denef1t himself while benefitfnq the Dub-
nc put IN return he must himself recog-
ME his duty to the public He will not
and cannot do this if our laws are so de
IectlVe that in the sharp competition of
~ me business world the conscientious man
- pun az uiSddNdntage by his less scru-
puIous fellows. It is in the interest of
lhe conscientious and public-spirited rail-
way man that there should be such gov
efnmental supervision of the railway
traftlc OF the country as 10 require from
MS less scrupuious competitors. and from
need TO the public welfare which he him
sen would willingly give, and which is
Every important railroad is Engaged in
interstate commerce. Therefore. this
control over the railroads must come
through the national government
Must Be Effective.
The control must be exercised by some
governmental tribunal. AID it must be
real and effective Doubtless there will
be risk that occasionally. il an unfit r,res-
ldent is elected. this control will be
ABUSED; but this is only another way of
Saying that any adequate governmental
power, from the power of taxation down
can and will be abused if the wrong men
The details must rest with the law
makers OF the two houses of congress:
doubt Hasty or vfndictivc action would
merely work damage: but in temperate
resoiute fashion there must be lodged in
some tribunal the power over rates and
especially over rebateS-whether secured
py means OF private cars, or private
tracks. in the form Of damages. or com
missions. or in any other manner-which
VIII protect alike the railroad and the
shlpper. and put the big shipper and the
little shipper on an equal footiur Doubf
less no law would accomplish all that
enthusiasts hope; there is always dis
law among the OVersanguine; but very
real and marked good has come from the
iseglslaIion and administration of the last
rev years; and now, as part of a coherent
plan, II IS entirely possible and indeed.
necessary 70 enact an additional law
Whlch Will mean further progress along
the same lines of definite achievement in
the direction OF securing fair dealing as
between man and man.
Justice Must Be Had.
In some such body as the interstate
commerce commission there must be
lodged i'm effective shape the power TO
see that every shipper who uses the rail-
roads and every man who owns or man
ages a railroad shall on the one hand be
given justice and the other hand be
required 20 do justice. Justice-so far as
II ~ humanity possible to give and TO get