Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-10-21

turn as any other good investment.
This bank solicits your business and
assures you of satisfactory service.
fulness, we have new highways-rail-
roads-which are owned by private
corporations, and which are practical
ly of unlimited, instead of limited, use
fulness, The old laws and old Gus
toms which were adequate and prop
er to- meet the old conditions need
the new conditions.
Importance of Railways.
The cardinal features of these
changed conditions are, first,
the fact that the new X. high
way, the railway is, from the com
mereial standpoint, of infinitely great
er Importance in our industrial life
than was the old highway the wagon
read; and. second, that this new high
way, the railway is in the hands of
private owners, whereas the cid high
way, the wagon road, was in the
hands of the state. The management
of the new highway, the railroad, or
rather the intricate web of railroad
lines which cover the country, is a
task infinitely more difficult, more
delicate, and more Important than the
primitiveY easy task Of acquiring or
keeping in order the old highway; so
that there is properly no analogy
whatever between the two cases. | do
not believe in government ownership
of anything which can with propriety
be left in private hands, and in par
ticular / should most strenuously OBJ
ject to government ownership of rail
roads.
Governmental Control
But I believe with equal firm
ness that it is out of the question for
the government not to exercise SUI,
.pervisory and. regulatory right over the
railroads.. for it is vital to the we'll
being of the public that they should
be managed in a spirit of fairness and
justice toward all the public. Actual
experience has shown that it is not
possible to leave the railroads uncon.
trelled. Such a system, OF rather such
lack of system, is fertile in abuses
of every kind, and puts a premium
upon unscrupulous and ruthless cum
ming in railroad management; for
there are some big shippers and some
railroad managers who are always
willing to take unfair advantage of
their weaker competitors, and they
thereby force other big shippers and big
railroad men who would like to do de.
Gently into similar acts of wrong and
injustice, under penalty of being left
behind in the race for success. Gov
eminent supervision is needed quite
as much in the interest of the big
shipper and of the railroad man who
wants to do right as in the interest
of the small shipper and the consum
err.
Experience has shown that the
present laws are defective and need
amendment The effort to prohibit
all restraint of competition. whether
reasonable or unreasonable, is unwise
What we need is to have some admin
istrative body with ample power to
forbid combination that is hurtful tt
the public, and to prevent fayoritisn
to one individual at the expense of an
other. In other words. we want ar
administrative body with the power
to secure fair and just treatment as
among all shippers who use the rail
reads-and all shippers have right
to use them. We must not leave the
enforcement of such law merely tt
the department of Justice; it is out Of
the question for the law department
of the government to do what should
be purely administrative work. The
department of justice is to stand he
hind and cooperate with the admins
trative body, but the administrative
body itself must be given the power
| to do the work and then held to {
strict accountability for the exercise
| of that power. The delays of the Law
are proverbial, and what we need il
this matter is reasonable quickness O
action.
Abuses Take Many Shapes.
"The abuses of which we have ;
general right to complain take man,
shapes. Rebates are not now after
given openly. But they can be givel
Just as effectively in covert form; ant
private cars, terminal tracks and tn,
| like must be brought under the con
| troll CT the commission or Administered
| i've body, which is to exercise super
! vision by the government. But in m.
| Judgment the most important thing t.
do is to give this administrative bod,
power to make its findings effective
| and this can be done only by giyin;
| it power, when complaint is made 0
a given rate as being unjust or III
reasonable, if it finds the complain
proper. then itself to fix a miximur
rate which it regards as just and rea
/ ~ -.