The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-12-05

the interstate commerce commission In
all these matters, whether in regulat-
ing rates for transportation or. for
storing or for handling property or
| commodities in transit The history
of the cases litigated under the pres
ent commerce act shows that it's eff
cacy has been to a great degree de-
stroyed by the weapon of delay, al
most the most formidable weapon in
the hands of those whose purpose it
is to violate the law.
| Let me most earnestly say that these
recommendations are not made in any
spirit of hostility to the railroads. On
ethical grounds, on grounds of right,
such hostility would be intolerable;
| and on grounds of mere national self
| interest we must remember that such
hostility would tell against the well
but of multitude of small investors,
| multitude of railway employees,
| wage-workers; and most severely
against the interest of the public as
whole I believe that on the whole
our railroads have done we'll and not
Ill; but the railroad men who wish to
do well should not be exposed to COM
petition with those who have no such
desire, and the only way to secure
this end is to give to some government
tribunal the power to see that Justice
is done by the unwilling exactly as it
is gladly done by the willing. More
over, if some government body is
given increased power the effect will
be to furnish authoritative answer on
behalf of the railroad whenever IRA
tfonal clamor against it is raised, or
whenever charges made against it are
dlsaproved. I ask this legislation not
only in the interest of the public but
in the interest of the honest railroad
man and the honest shipper alike, for
1t is they who are chiefly jeoparded
by the practices of their dishonest
competitors This legislation should
be enacted in a spirit as remote as
possible from hysteria and rancor. If
we of the American body polite are
true to the traditions we have inherit
ed we shall always scorn any effort to
make us hate any man because he is
rich, just as much as we should scorn
any effort to make us look down upon
or treat contemptuously any man be-
cause he is poor. We judge a man by
his conduct-that is, by his character
If he makes his fortune honestly, |
there is no just cause of quarrel with
him. Indeed. we have nothing but
the kindliest feelings of admiration
for the successful business man who
behaves decently, whether he has
made his success by building or man
aging a railroad or by shipping goods
over that railroad. The big railroad
men and big shippers are simply
Americans of the ordinary type who
have developed to an extraordinary
degree certain great business quail
than their fellow citizens of smaller
means. They are merely more able
in certain lines and therefore exposed
to certain peculiarly strong tempta-
lions. These temptations have not
Sprung newly into being: the excep-
tionally successful among mankind
have always been exposed to them
but they have grown amazingly in
power as a result of the extraordinary
development of industralism along
new lines, and under these new condi-
tons, which the lawmakers of old
could not forsee and therefore could
not provide against, they have become
so serious and menacing as to demand
entirely new remedies. 1t is in the in
terest of the best type of railroad man
and the best type of shipper no less
than of the public that there should
be governmental supervision and reg
ulation of these great business opera
lions, for the same reason that it is in
the interest of the corporation which
wishes to treat it's employees Alright
that there should be an effective en-
ployers' liability act, or an effective
system of factory laws to prevent the
abuse of women and children. All
such legislation frees the corporation
that wishes to do well from being
driven into doing ill, in order to COM
pete with it's rival, which prefers to
do ill. We desire to set up moral
standard There can be no delusion
more fatal to the nation than the de-
fusion that the standard of profits, of
business prosperity, is sufficient in
Judging any business or political
question-from rate legislation to
municipal government. Business sue