The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-01-31
FOR FEDERAL
SUPERVISION
President Declares Plainly That
Railway Rates Must Be
Regulated.
EQUAL PRIVILEGES FOR ALL.

Roosevelt was tile guest Of honor and
principal speaker at the forty SECOND
anniversary banquet OF the Union
League. The president came to this
city from Annapolis, where he attended
the exercises incident to the graduation
of the senior class of cadets.
A tremendous throng greeted MI.
Roosevelt at the railroad station. and
he was eagerly cheered on his way to
the Union League. In the clubhouse he
passed through two lines of cheering
members to the reception room, where
from 6:15 to o'clock lie stood and
shook hands with several hundred
prominent citizens.
When President Roosevelt arose to
make his address he was greeted with
long continued applause. Then the en-
tire assembly stood and sang THE Star
Spangled Banner accompanied by the
First regiment band. n G. p. Presi
dent Roosevelt in his address said:
This club was founded to uphold the
hands of Abraham Lincoln when he stood
as the great leader in the struggle for
union and liberty We have a right
therefore, 10 appeal TO lfllS tlUD Tor a1Q IN
every governmental or social effort made
along the lines marked out by Lincoln
The principles which Lincoln applied to
the solution Of the problems of his day
are those which we must apply If we ex-
pect successfully to solve the different
problems of our own day--problems
which are so largely Industrial Unques-
tionably the great development of indus
trialism means that there must be an in
crease in the supervision exercised by the
government over business enterprises.
This supervision should not take the form
of violent and i'll advised interference.
and assuredly there is danger lest it take
such form If the business leaders of the
business community confine themselves to
trying to thwart the effort at regulation
instead of guiding it Alright. Such men as
the members of this club should lead in
the effort to secure proper supervision
and regulation of corporate activity by
the government not only because it is for
the interest OF the community as whole
that there should be this supervision and
regulation, but because in the long run It
will be in the interest above all, of the
very people who often betray alarm ana
anger when the proposition is first made.
Neither this people nor any other fire..
people will permanently tolerate the us
of the vast power conferred by
wealth, and especially by wealth il ,
corporate form. without lodging so
where In the government the still high
power Of swsing that this power, in adj
ton to being used in the interest of Ii
individual or individuals possessing It,
also used for and not against the inter-
ests of the people as whole. Our pc
In which the nation is supreme through
out the Union in certain respects while
each of nearly half hundred states Is
supreme in its part of the Union in cer-
tain other respects, renders the task of
dealing with these conditions especially
difficult No finally satisfactory result
can be expected from merely state action
The action. must come through the fed
eral government The business of the
country is now carried on in way of
which the founders of our constitution
Sculd by no possibility have had any
idea.
All the great business concerns are en-
gagged In interstate commerce, and 1t was
beyond question the intention of the
founders of our. government that inter-
state commerce in all it's branches and
aspects should be under national and not
state control. If the courts decide that
this intention was not carried out and
made effective in the constitution as 1t
now stands, then in the end the constitu-
ton, if not construed differently, viii
have to be amended so that the original
undoubted intention may be made eff
fective. But, of course. a constitutional
amendment is only to be used as last re-
sort If every effort of legislation and ad-
ministration shall have been proved mad
,equate.
No Hurry, but No Halt.
Meanwhile the men in public life and the
men who direct the great business inter-
ests of the country should work not in
antagonism but in harmony toward TINS
given end. In entering a field where the
progress must of necessity be so largely
experimental it is essential that the eff
fort to make progress should be tentative
and cautious. We must grow by evolution,
not by revolution There must be no hur-
ry, but there must also be no halt.
At the present moment the greatest
need is for an increase in the power OF
the national government to keep the
great highways of commerce open alike
to all on reasonable and equitable terms.
were still. as they had been since the
dawn of history. either waterways, nat
ural or artificial, or else ordinary roads
for wheel vehicles drawn by animal pow
er. The railroad, which was utterly un-
known when our government was formed
and when the great principles of our juris-
prudence were laid down, has now be-
come almost everywhere the most impor-
tant and in many large regions the only
form of highway for commerce. The man
who controls its use cannot be permitted
to control it in his own interest alone.
1t is not only just, but II is In the inter
est Of the public that this man should re-
ceive the amplest payment for the mas
terful business capacity which enables
him to benefit himself while benefting
the public. But in return he must himself
recognize his duty to the public. He viii
not and cannot do this If our laws are SO
defective that in the sharp competition OF
the business world the conscientious man
Is put at disadvantage by his less
scrupulous fellows. 1t is in the interest
OF the conscientious and public spirited
railway man that there should be such
governmental supervision of the railway
traffic of the country as to require from
his less scsupulous competitors, and from
unscrupulous big shippers as well, that
heed to the public welfare which he him
self would willingly give and which is OF
vital consequence to the small shipper
Every important railroad is engaged in
interstate commerce. Therefore this cor
troll over the railroads must come
through the national government.
Equal Footing For All.
The control must be exercised by some
governmental tribunal and 1t must be
real and effective The details must rest
with the lawmakers of the two houses OF
congress, But about the principle there
can be no doubt. Hasty or vindictive ac-
ton would merely work d9nage. But In
temperate, resolute fashion there must be
Iodrsx IN soma trfI, "a n, power ve
rates and especially over rebates
whether secured by means Of private cars
OF private tracks. IN the form of dam
ages or commissions OF In any other man
ner which will protect alike the railroa,
and the shipper and put the big shippe
and the little shipper on an equal footinr
=. .