Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-11-20
TALKED TO R. R. MEN
PRESIDENT Tells employees
What he DESIRES Done.
Rate Legislation Not INTENDED to
on1urc Railroads, but TO Correct
Certain Abuses Which Have
Grown Too Can.
tfalizatiOn Touched Upon.


labor organizations connected with
railroading-the engineers, firemen,
conductors, switchmen and trainmen-
who presented protest against rail-
road freight rate legislation, President
Roosevelt said:
"Gentlemen, | have just a word that
1 want to say to you. In the first
place, trust need hardly say that no
delegation will ever be more welcome
at the White House than such dele
CATION as this. The interests Of the
wage workers and the interests of the
tillers Of the soil must be particularly
CLOSE to all American public men;
among other reasons for the reason
that if they prosper all other GLASSES
will prosper likewise, as a matter of
course.
AS l said the other day to the rep
ressentatives Of organized labor at At
lanta, l shall do everythoing in my
power for the laboring men except to
do ANYTHING wrong; for the man who
will do anything wrong in the nominal
interest Of another man will also do
wrong against this same other man if it
ever becomes to his interest to do 80.
Your associations deserve peculiar
reward because you have developed to
a marked degree the very qualities
that all bodies of wage workers should
develop-the intelligence, the regard
for the future, the self-respect mingled
with the respect for others, the power
of selfrestraint, which are absolutely
essential to any body Of men which is
to move upward and onward.
Rates Not in Que Stl0n.
with most of the general state.
ments that you make l agree, but | am
not sure that agree with your appli-
cation of them.
''There has been comparatively little
being on the whole too high. The COM
plants that have been made to me
have been of improper discrimination
in railroad rates.
For instance, in two recent cases
affecting great corporations, the COM
plants that have been made to me
have been that they are too low as
regards certain big shippers; the COM
plant in both these cases is about the
differential, the difference of treat
ment Of two sets of users of the rail-
ways, the discrimination is in favor of
one set Of shippers as against another
set of shippers. Whether this is just
or not l am not prepared to say.
81 very deeply appreciate and SYM
pathize with the feeling you cypress as
to the community Of interest between
the man who actually does the han.
ding Of trains, at the brakes, in the
engine cabs, as a fireman, as a con-
duotor and the man who has to do as
a capitalist or as higher employe of
the capitalist with the management of
the road.
Lesson for people.
81 feel that one of the lessons that
of identity Of interest among our peo-
pie as a whole. 1 do not have to tell
body Of people like this something |
do have to tell some other bodies, and
that is if you have not got at the head
of railroad man who can make
success of it, the wage workers on that
railroad cannot prosper.
''If you will look at my Raleigh
speech and my other recent utterances
you will see the principle clearly set
forth.
81 have said again and again that |
would not tolerate for one moment any
injustice to railroad any more than |
would tolerate any injustice by rail
road.
81 have said again and again that |
would remove public official who i'm
properly yielded to a public clamor
against railroad, no matter how pop.
ular that clamor might be, just as
unickly as l would remove a public
official who rendered an improper serv-
ice to the railroad at the expense of the
public, but | am convinced that there
must be increased regulatory and su-
pervisory power exercised by the gov
eminent over the railroads.
Would Go Much Farfer.
Indeed, / would like it exercised to
a much greater extent than | have any
idea of pressing at the moment. For
instance. | would greatly like to have
it exercised in the matter of over cap
italization.
81 am convinced that the wage
fund would be larger if there was no
fictitious capital upon which dividends
had to be paid. | need hardly say
that this does not mean hostility to
wealth
Most certainly | will join you in
resisting any movement to hurt or
damage any railroads which act de-
Gently, for | would hold that such
damage was not merely to the capital
ist, not merely to the wage worker en-
gagged on the railroads, but to all the
country.
my aim is to secure the just and
equal treatment of the public by those
Il trust and believe limited number
who do not want to give it, just as
much as by the larger number who
do want to give it.
"All l want is to give the govern
ment an efficient supervisory power
which shall be exercised as scrupu-
lousy to prevent injustice to the rail