The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-19
CAN'T BE DODGED
Vic MurdOck Says There'1 Be
Railroad Legislation.
Public Sentiment Too Strong to
Be Ignored.
ENLARGE THE POWERS
Interstate Commerce Commits
sion Will Have Wider Scope.
Public Should Watch for Loop
hole i'm Bill.

/ view Governor Hoch at the request of
| some constituent-at least this was the
excuse that he gave for being in Topeka.
AT first he claimed to have come Ilp for
want OF anything better to do. but as
that didn't sound just right he amended
MS answer, making it more definite
( ana certain" as the lawyers would say
Yes, l believe that will undoubted-
4 " be some railroad legislation in the
next congress-" said Mr.. NTurdock in
response to a question. Public senti-
ment is too strong for congress to get
away from. Congress is extremely SEN
sltlVe to public sentiment. A letter from
his constituents expressing positive
views on Some public question makes
/ d congressman stop and think.
w III the Esch-TOwnsend bill be
| passed?2 Mr.. Murdock was asked
! NO. 90 not think so-in its present
1orfn But there will be railroad legis-
I latIon giving the interstate commerce
| commission the power to fix rates and
establishing a court of review to pass
/ on such rulings as affect the earnings
/ OF railroad to degree which might
! be confiscatory.
If the people of the United States
are real smart continued Mr.. Muir
! dock, they Will watch this railroad leg
I lslat1on. They Will examine the bill
/ Tor themselves Just as soon as it is re-
/ ported from the committee And thew
/ ought TO look for the lOOpholes. Some
I fellow viii try to slip in what is called
! IN Washington the little Joker There
| was one in the Ezsch-TOWnsend bill
that provision in section TO- I think
slvlng Lhe flght or stay pending ap-
peals. OF course that is usual in com
mon law, but to write it into the stat
utes in this case makes it too positive.
Another thing: The people ought not
to accept as true all of the stories that
come out of Washington that President
1 Roosevelt approves this or that meas
ure. 1t is not the presidents business
to approve measures till after congress
| acts on them, and President Roosevelt
does not do So
THE people can make congress do Just
/ what they want and If they discover a
! loophole in the railroad bill all they Will
I have to do to eliminate it will be to
telegraph or write their respective con
gressmen saying, Knock out that little
joker in section seven.
/ THE power of a. letter, free from per
sonaI interest, is more than people gen
! orally realize. A congressman receives
perhaps fifty or Sky letters a day on an
4 average. Most of them relate to pen
sions or some other matters in which
( But here is one in which the writer, a
constituent of the congressman, sits
down and calmly discusses a public
/ question. That sort of a letter has
/ weight with the congressman. He reads
it over several times. He treasures 1t
/ and tries to read between the lines, just
as though it were a passage from the
/ Bible, for he knows that represents the
( sentiment of some of his people. You
will see congressman gather in groups
and read that sort of letters to each
other.
1.-THE power of the press is another
thing that is great in Washington.
| doubt if there is a single calm utterance
in any paper in the United States that
/ does not carry some weight in " WaShlng-
ton among the members of congress
| You might think that what some niue
! country editor says does not amount TO
anything but it means a great deal
more than most people realize. When
some of these big papers say things
! congressnen sometimes think there IS
! community of interest among them,
! h11t when some little country editor, who
! is looking after nothing put the county
/ nrintfne gives expression to some ra-
/ tionaI idea about a national question:
the man off there In congress knows
that il comes from the grass roots.
ssThe press itself does not realize its
/ mower I did not when l was q, news
/ paper man. I knew could have
lot of fun, but / did not realize the
/ mower there is in a newspaper. The
| press can almost make or break
| congressman. When a member gets
UP and makes a carefully prepared
! address on some subject and the dis
matches go out that he made a long
speech it's deadener. The press
! might betteFnever say anything at all.
/ But the W0ed Splendid before the
] word fsDeeCN3 in an Associated Press
/ dispatch is worth a thousand dollars
to a congresshaan. And when there is
any excitement in congress and some
member is about to say something
rabid you will always see him glance
lapprehensively towards the press gal
lery
"The lobby, the big railroad lawyers
and that class of people, realize the
power of the press but they hate it.
have heard them talk about it and
shake their heads and say, Too much
power there The press IS more pow
/ erful than money.
do not know anything about public
| opinion or the power OF the press,
continued Mr.. Murdock in that
ana lvtical way of his 'and that is the
verv rich They think public opinion
/ is som ething that can be controlled.
[ They do not look at it as something
real beyond the reach of money. They
! do not know that it is an Independent.
! eruptive element that rises of its own
/ motion. These rich men, the heads Of
| the big trusts and insurance COM
panies and railroad combines ought
/ to keen practical newspaper men as
advisers to tell them what public
sentiment means
| For instance, there is John D.
! Rockefeller-he doesn't know what is
going on any more than the car of
| Russia. The study of this uprising
against Standard Oil would be verv
interesting from Rockefeller stand
point. because Rockefeller does not
/ realize the state of public sentiment
nor its force. The first thing he
knows somebody refuses to take his
money. and it dazes him He asks
what it means and he cannot believe
that there is a mighty force called
public sentiment back of it all.