The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-20

FSAsNE0 GL AASE%A4J [RtA~G sS~@~- | cost to buy the southern Appalachian reserve The maintenance Of your southern water powers is not less 1iia- portant than the prevention or nooos' , because if they are injured your mane ufacturing interests will suffer with them.
 The perpetuation of your forests which have done so much for the south' should be one of the first objects or your public men. Yhe two senators from North Carolina have taken an honorable part in this movement. But I do not think that the people Of North Carolina, or of any other southern state. have quite grasped the import lance of this movement to the com 1mercial development and prosperity of the south.
 The position of honor in your parade to-day is held by the confederate vet erans. They by their deeds reflect cred lit upon their descendants and upon all Americans. both because they did their duty in war and because they did their duty in peace. Now if the young men, their sorls, will not only prove that they possess the same power of fealty 10 an ideal, but will also show the efti- ciency in the ranks of industrial life that their fathers, the confederate vet eFans. showed that they possessed in ;he ranks of war, the industrial future of this great and typical American com monweaith is assured
 The extraordinary development of in- dustrIalism during the last half century has been due to several causes. but above all to the revolution in the meth" ods of transportation and communica- tion; that is, to steam and to electricity, ] to the railroad and the telegraph.
 When this government was founded commerce was carried on by essential Iy the same instruments that had been in use not only among civilized, but among barbarian, nations, ever since history dawned; that is. by wheeled vehicles drawn by animals, by ! pack trains, and by sailing ships and rowboats. On land this meant that commercve wen in slow cumberous and expensive fashion over highways open to all. Normally these. highways could not compete with water transportation, If such was feasible between the con meeting points.
 All this has been changed by the de- velopment of the railroads. Save on the ocean or on lakes so large as to be practically inland seas. transport by water has wholly lost its old position fof superiority over transport by land, while, instead of the old highways open to everyone on the same terms, but of a very limited usefulness, we have new highways -railroads-which are owned by private corporations, and which are practically of unlimited, instead of iim- ited usefulness. The old laws and old customs which are adequate and proper to meet the old conditions need radical readjustment in order to meet these inew conditions. The cardinal features of these changed conditions are, first, the fact that the new highway, the rail- way, is, from the commercial stand- point, of infinitely greater Importance in our industrial life than was the old highway, the wagon road; and second, that this new highway, the railway, Is in the hands of private owners. where as the old highway, the wagon road | management of the new highway, the railroad, or rather of the intricate vel Of railroad lines which cover the coun' try, is a task infinitely more difficult imore delicate and most important thar the sprimitiveiy easy task of acquiring or keepink in order the old highway so that there is properly no analogy whatever between the two cases. I dC i no tbelieve in government ownership al anything which can with propriety bt left in private hands. and in particular I should not strenuously object 10 gov. ernment ownership of railroads. But believe with equal ffrmness that it i! out of the question for the government not to exercise supervisory and regu latOry right over the railroads. for it k l vital to the well-being of t:1e public
 that they should be maaged in a spiri
 of fairness and justice toward all tht public. Actual experience has showr that it is not possible to leave the railroads uncontrolled. Such system of rather such a lack of system. is fer tile in abuses of every kind and puts g premium upon interruptions and ruth less cunning in railroad management for there are some big shippers ant some railroad managers who are al |ways willing to take unfair advantage of their weaker competitors, and they thereby force other big shippers ant big railroad men who would like to dt decently into similar acts of wrong land injustice, under, penalty of being left behind in the race for success. Gov ernment supervision is needed quite a'
 much in the interest of the big shipper and of the rallfoad man who want tr do right as in the interest of the smal shipper and the consumer.
 Experience has shown that the pres
 ent laws are defective and need amend ment The effort to prohibit all re straint of competition, whether req
 sonable or unreasonable, is unwise , l What we need is to have some admin istrative body with ample power t l forbid combination that is hurtful t'
 the public, and to prevent favoritisn to one individual at the expense of an l other, In other words, we want al , l administrative body with the power t. , | secure fair and just treatment a 7 ! among all shippers who use the rail 1 roads-and all shippers have 8 right t S use them. We must not leave the e
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