Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-01-20

President RooSeyelt's recent message
declaring that more equitable admins
tration OF railroad transportation af-
fairs is imperative, together with the
utterances along The same line by Gov
ernor Cuinmins of Iowa and other lead
ing men of the country, has brought
the matter to the fore in remarkable
manne The shippers of the country
and particularly of the west are deep
ly concerned and predictions of dras-
tic remedies are made.
Here is a recent utterance of go
ernor William Larrabee of Iowa:
The s%hihboleth of the last century,
competition, is dying with that which
gave it birth. 1t was supposed to be
adequate TO any condition of social ac-
ton, but IL has utterly failed in many
respects to meet with expectations, and
especially has 1t failed to secure rea-
sonable management of railroads In the
United States. Some other remedy
must be found. There appears to be
only two plainly in sight. One is strict
government regulation, and the other
is government ownership. If the former
is not soon made efficient, the latter is
inevitable"
G. A. Prouty, writing in the Field and
Farm OF Denver under the caption,
Who VIII Check the Railways" lays:
There VII be either government own
ership OF government regulation of the
raii.ead s Which * Will be depends
mainly on the managers of the rail-
roads. If they do not wait government
ownership they will cease opposition to
the plan for preventing the enforce
ment of rates which are unreasonable.
/ know that individually, a great many
able railway men are convinced that
there should be government supervi-
sion OF rates but, officially and collect
lively, those men will agree TO
such supervision until Wall street gives
the order.
Although the railroads apparently
are not disposed to recognize it. there
is a greater power in this Countrywide
people. They today believe that there
must be some check TO the greed of the
railways. Under the community of in
terest or joint ownership plan, competi-
tion in rates between the railroads has
been practically eliminated in the east
and is rapidly disappearing in the west
and southwest. BY various methods
rates have been advanced i'm recent
years and Ii unchecked the railroads
viii make further advances. Despite
the millions that were expected for bet
terments of all kinds, the railroads ac-
cumulated a greater surplus last year
than ever before. If the cost of con-
Quoting transportation is growing less
it should not be attended by an in
crease in rates.
Some railroad men wildly talk of
c~onfiscation of property whenever there
is a suggestion that they should be
compelled TO reduce unreasonable rates.
Has not a shipper at least equal right
10 talk of e~onfscation of property when
he is compelled to pay an unjust and
excessive rate for transportation. A
reasonable rate has been defined as one
that is fair to both the railroads and
the shipper and all that 1t is proposed
10 do is to give the interstate COM
rnerce commission the power to name a
reasonable rate after 1t has been dem
onstrated hat an unjust one has been
charged. The public is becoming edu-
Gated to modern railway methods and
realizes their dangerous possibilities. III
the railroads. do not check themselves
the people will che k them and do it
most e~ffectually."
The following dispatch gives Cover
nor Cummins' vi IS in brief on the
important subject:
Des Moines, Ia. Dec. 27.-Governor
Cummins does not believe that the
fchelns which Senator Eikins is re-
ported hf the papers 10 have evolved,
by President Roosevelt in his message
for the rs tablishment of a court to ex-
egcise NJ isdiction oyer and decide
NN 49, MEA NEMM UH