Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-05-31
ROOSEVELT VERSUS MORTON.

railroad question. At the meeting o
the railroad managers secretary Morton
spent considerable time praising thu
American railroads, and declaring tina,
they were paying better wages and Civ
ing better service than any other rail.
roads in the world. In the evening al
a banquet he went still further, and
said that it would not be amiss for him
to say something of the latitude of
the president on the railroad question, -
and then he proceeded as reported in
last weeks COmmoner to praise the
railroads again. He admitted that
there were some abuses, but insisted
that they were growing less and less all
the time, and that the president was as
anxious that no injustice should be
done to the railroads as that justice
should be done to the public. The en-.
tire tone Of Mr.. Morton's address was
in keeping with the tone Of the testi.
mony given BY the railroad managers
who are opposed to any rate regulation.
There is not word in the secretary,s
sreech in favor of the propositions pre-
sented by the president In his message,
namely, that the interstate commerce
commission should have power to fix q
rate, not merely to pass upon q rate Ok.
ed by the railroads.
Scarcely had the secretary's speech
been published when the president
emerged from the mountains of Colora.
do and proceeded to rslterate the posi-.
ton taken in his message. He said:
II want to say word as to the gov
ernmental policy which I feel this
whole country ought to take a great
interest in, and which is itself but part
of general policy into which I think
our government must 60. 1 spoke of
the policy of extending the powers of
the interstate commerce commission
and Of giving them particularly the
power to fix rates and have the rates
that they fix 60 into effect practically
at once. AS say, that represents in
my mind part of what should be the
general policy of this country, the poll.
cy OF giving not to the state, but to the
national government an increased su.
pervisory and regulatory power over cor.
porations.
The first step and to my mind the
most important step, is thus connect
ed with giving such power over the
great transportation corpor atoms of
this country. The necessity as regards
that is peculiarly evident. I was going
to say when the first pioneers came to
Colorado, but that would hardly be 80.
but in the days of the fathers of the old.
or among you the highways of com.
MERGE for civilized nations were what
they had always been-that is, water.
ways and roads. Therefore they were
open to all who chose to travel upon
them. Within the last two generations
we have seen system grow up under
which tie old methods were completely
revolutionized, aud now the typical
highways of commerce Is of course the
railroad.'
There is q striking difference between
the speech made by Secretary Morton
and the speech made by the president.
They apparently look at the question
from different standpoints and Mr.,
Morton claims to speak for the presi.
dent and as Mr.. Roosevelt did not
claim to speak for Mr.. Morton, It is rea.
sonable to assume that he spoke for
himself. Now, the question is which
one knows hest what Mr.. Roosevelt
really wants and which one will have
the most influence on the policy of the
administration.
Tie keeping of Mr.. Morton in the
cabinet has for some time been an in.
explicable mystery. Why so conpicu.
Gus representative of the railroad in.
terests should be at the presidents
council table is not known. The pa.
irons OF the road Rave no representative
there who stands in anything like the
close relation to the public that Mr..
Morton stands to the railroads. Whv
this partiality toward the very interests
which Is blocking legislation? But ey.
en- II the retention Of Mr.. Morton could
Dc explained on the ground that the
president feels that the railroads are in
justice entitled to spokesman in the
CABINET, why is Mr.. Morton permitted
10 present. as the presidents views.
views that are antagonistic to the views
expressed by the president himselfp
There ought to be no public joint de-
Dates between the president and one of
mis- secretaries as to what the president
really wants done. It is to be boned
that the president has so strengthened
nlmself oy MS outdoor exercise that,
having put the bears to flight, he will
now Dc able to put to flight the secre.
tary OF the navy. whose presence IN the
cabinet is standing embarrassment tn
the presidents efforts to bring the rail.