Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-15
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES OBJECT
CONTINUED from First Pagc)

| Continued from First PaEc)
| sons and appettes governed and the less
! Of that government there Is from within
| the more there will have to be from With
| out
Rates nS n whole Not Too High.
| With most of the general statements that
| YOU made ] agrce, but | am not sure that
/ L. agree with your application OF them.
| There has been comparatively little COM
| plant to me OF the railroad rates being
as asa, a a,I, too high The most serious
! nave been of improper discrimination In
4 railroad rates For instance, In two re-
cent cases Affecting great corporations the
( complaints that have been made to me
/ have been that they are too low as re-
gards certain big shippers. the complaint
Z IN both these cases is about the differential,
4 the difference of treatment of two sets OF
users Of the railroads the difference in
taEor OF one set of shippers as against an
/ other set Of shippers. Whether this is lust
or not ] am not prepared to say. | very
/ deeply appreciate and sympathize with the
of interest between the man who ACTUALLY
does the handling of the trains. at the
brakes, in the engine cab, MS a fireman. as
the conductor and the man who has to do
as a capitalist or as the higher employe
! OF the capitalist with the general man
asement of the road feel that one Of
! the persons that cannot be over inCulCated
/ is the lesson OF interest among our people
1 as whole. ! do not have to tell a body
! ike TINS something that / do have to tell
some other bodies, and that is IL you have
not got at the head of a railroad a man
VINO can make success of it, the wage
workers on that railroad cannot prosper.
Railways Must BE Regulated.
IL YOU will look at my Raleigh speech and
| my other recent utterances YOU will see INV
| principles clearly set forth | have said
again and again that ] would not tolerate
| Tor one moment any injustice to a railrond
| any more than | would tolerate any injus-
Ilce by q railroad | have said again and
| who improperly yielded to any public
/ clamor against a railroad, no matter how
! popular that clamor might be. just as
/ quickly as | would remove a public official
! who rendered an improper service to the
| railroad at the expense of the public. But l
creased regulatory and supervisory power
exercised by the government over the rail-
! ways. Indeed I would like il exercised to a
| much greater extent than / have any idea
] of pressing at the moment. For instance,
! / would greatly like to have IL exercised in
! Nlnccd that the wage fund would be
! larger II there was no fictitious capital
| upon which dividends had TO be paid.
! need hardly say that this does not mean
! hostility to wealth. If you gentlemen here,
| in whom ! believe so strongly. were ali n
! unit in demanding that some improper ac-
| ton should he taken against certain men of
wealth. then, no matter whether | did or
! did not like those same men of wealth, |
| would defend them against yoL, no matter
! how much cared for you; and In so doing
| ] would really be acting in your own inter
| est. / would be false to your interests II |
| failed to do Justice to the capitalist as much
! as to the wageworker. But | shall act
| against the abuses of wealth just as
against all other abuses. The cutlery against
! rate regulation is of much the same charac-
ter as that ! encountered when l was en-
gagged in putting through that car coupling
| business or i'm endeavOring to secure GER
tain legislation in which you all have been
interested, such as the employers liability
law.
Square Deal for All.
Most certainly l will join with you in re-
| sisting to the utmost any movement to hurt
! or damage any railroads which act de-
Gently. for l would hold that such damage
was not merely to the capitalist, not merely
to the wageworker engaged on the rail-
| to secure the just and equal treatment Of
the public by those q trust and believe a
limited numberO who do not want to give it,,
just as much as by the larger number who
! do want to give 1t. All / want in any rate
legislation is to give the government an eff
cient supervisory power which shall be eX-
ercised as scrupulously TO prevent injustice
! to the railroads as to prevent their doing
| injustice to the public. Our endeavor is TO
! see that those big railroad men and big
| shippers, who are not responsive to the de-
/ mands of justice, are required to do what
| their fellows who are responsive to the de-
mands of Justice would be glad to do of
their own accord.
Coal Operators Also object.
LOUISVILLE, Ky, Nov. IA petition
to President Roosevelt and congress
against the Esch-Townsend bill or any
similar rate legislation designed to inter-
fere, with the fixing of rates by the roads
themselves was the result of meeting Of
mine owners and operators representing
| fifty-three of the biggest coal mines in
4 Kentucky and seventy coal companies, held
in this city today. The meeting, the mem
| bers of which represented mines with an
output of over 5,5OO,OOO tons of coal an
nually. adopted a resolution in the form
of a petition against the Esch-Townsend
bill without a single dissenting voice. A
committee was appointed to enter into
correspondence with the mine owners and
operators of every coal mine south of the
Ohio river. in order that similar action
may be taken in other states and make the
opposition of the coal men one of the most
important factors which congress will have
to consider in determining its attitude on
the railroad bill at the coming session The
mine owners of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio
have signihed their willingness to join the
Kentucky coal men and take the matter
to President Roosevelt.