Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-05
WATERBURY DEMOCRAT TUESDAY. DECEMBER

rem of examination of railroad ac-
 counts should be provided similar to that now conducted into the national banks by the bank examiners. A few first class railroad accountants, if they had proper direction and proper au- thority to inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in preventing willful violations of the law. It would not be necessary for them to examine into the accounts of any railroad unless for good reasons they were directed to do so by the interstate commerce com mission. It is greatly to be desired that some way might be found by which an agreement as to transporta- tion within state intended to operate as fraud upon the federal interstate commerce laws could be brought under the jurisdiction of the federal authori- ties. At present it occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic are con trolled by concessions on purely state business, which os course amounts to an evasion of the law. The commis- sion should have power to enforce fair treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral and branch lines.
 urge upon the congress the need of providing for expeditions action by the interstate commerce commission in all these matters, whether in regulating rates for transportation or for storing or for handling property or commodi- ties in transit. The history of the cases litigated under the present commerce act shows that it's efficacy has been to great degree destroyed by the weapon of delay, almost the most formidable weapon in the hands of those whose purpose it is to violate the law.
 Let me most earnestly say that these 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 inter- est we must remember that such hos tility would tell against the welfare not merely of some few rich men, but of a multitude of small investors, a multitude of railway employees, wage workers, and most severely against the interest of the public as whole. I be- lieve that on the whole our railroads have done well and not i'll, but the railroad men who wish to do well should not be exposed to competition 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. Moreover, if some government body is given increased power the effect will be to furnish au- thoritative answer on behalf of the railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised or whenever charges made against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not only in the interest of the public, but in the inter est of the honest railroad man and the honest shipper alike, for it is they who are chiefly jeoparded by the practices of their dishonest competitors. This legislation should be enacted in spir- it as remote as possible from hysteria and rancor. If we of the American body polite are true to the traditions we have inherited 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 contemptu- ously any man because he is poor. We judge man by his conduct-that is, by his character-and not by his wealth or intellect. 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 managing a railroad or by shipping goods over that railroad. The big rail road men and big shippers are simply Americans of the ordinary type who have developed to an extraordinary de- gree certain great business qualities. They are neither better nor worse than their fellow citizens of smaller means. They are merely more able in certain lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong temptations.
 
 These temptations have not sprung newly into being. The exceptionally successful among mankind have al-
 avs been exposed to them, but they have grown amazingly in power as a result of the extraordinary development of industrialism along new lines. and under these new conditions, which the lawmakers of old could not foresee and therefore could not provide against, they have become so serious and men, acing as to demand entirely new reme- dies. It is In the interest of the best type of railroad man and the best type of shipper no less than of the public that there should be governmental su-
 pervision and regulation of these great
 business operations, for the same req
 son that 1t is in the interest of the cor pOration which wishes to treat its en-
 ployees sright that there should be an
 effective employers liability act or an
 effective system of factory laws to
 prevent the abuse of women and chill dren. All such legislation frees the corporation that wishes to do well from
 being driven into doing i'll in order to compete with it's rival which prefers to do ill We desire to set up a 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