Middletown transcript., 1905-05-20

RY the splendid manliness Of his reply
= to the striking teamsters, the alb
solute lack of anything suggestive of
demagoguery, his insistence that the law
must be obeyed and that order must be
preserved, and his assertion, made at the
Iroquois Club of Chicago, that the State
was behind Mayor Dune and the Nation
behind the State, the President has dis
armed his enemies and made giant
stride toward the accomplishment of that
legislation which he regards as essential
to the proper control of the railroads of
the country. He has left no opportunity
for men to say that he is revolutionary,
or that he is 'playing for effect" and
his recommendations must be received as
the sincere belief OF man who is honest
and fearless beyond all question. As
there prevails considerable confusion re-
garding the reforms which the President
hopes to effect and the evils he seeks to
remedy, somewhat detailed explanation
of the situation seems appropriate for
these letters particularly, as most Of this
information has been gained in personal
conversations with the President him
self.
~
There are two distinct evils which the
President seeks to remedy. The greater
is the absolute domination by individuals
or corporations, or combinations of cor
porations, of the great highways of con-
merce, those ironed highways commonly
called railroads. Only an exercise of the
authority Of the State (or government
makes possible the requirement OF rights
of way and the condemnation OF private
property under the legal principle OF
eminent domain. When constructed
these railroads constitute natural mono-
poles and only by the exercise OF govern
mental regulation and supervision over
these monopolies can they be prevented
from working injustice to the people from
whom they derive their right to exist.
They are not private property, such as
wages, bread or other commodities, as
has been claimed by prominent railroad
men. Ii they were the government
could not properly seek to supervise and
control them. Such supervision over
private property would be socialism pure
and simple. In essence the right of way
OF railroad belongs to the people, can
never properly become the property of an
individual, and its administration is
merely delegated to those who manage
the railroad, always with the reserved
right on the part Of the government to
exercise over it such regulation and
supervision as may be necessary to pro-
tect the peoples rights. The right to
fix maximum rates for freight and pass
enger transportation which the President
advocates, would amount to a concrete |
assertion by Congress of the right OF the
people to control their own.
~
OF Oflesser Importance, although potential |
for great evil, is the concrete practice of |
certain, perhaps all railroads of granting
special privileges, rebates, etc., to certain
individuals as against other individuals.
The specific terms for these practices are
rebates, differentials, long haul different
ials, the private car system, milling in
transit rates, the midnight rate and prob
ably some others. Rebates can probably
be effectually prevented under the Elkins
law. They consist of the return to GER
tain individuals of some portion of the
published freight rates which they have
paid for the transportation of their goods.
Rebates were chiefly instrumental in
building up the Standard Oil monopoly
and other trusts. Differentials and mill
ing in transit rates are forms of discrimi-
nation whereby railroads openly seek to
build up some particular locality, branch,
,r the industries along some branch, by
he. charge of lower freight rates than