The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-12-05
Message Of President Roosevelt 10 The
First Session Of The FiftyNinth Congress

I hibitlons confounded what should be
| allowed and what should not be allowed.
/ II is generally useless 70 try to prohibit
| all restraint on competition, whether this
restraint be reasonable or unreasonabl
and where II is not useless II Is
generally hurtful Events have shown
| that IL Is not possible adequately to
secure the enforcement Of any law Of this
| kind by incessant appeal to the courts.
The Department OF Justice has for the
last four years devoted more attention
to the enforcement Of the anti-trust legis-
lation than to anything else. Much has
been accomplished; particularly marked
tlons; but II Is increasingly evident that
there Will be a very insufficient beneficial
result In the way Of economic change
The successful prosecution Of one device
to evade the law Immediately develops
another device to accomplish the same
purpose. What is needed Is not sweeping
prohibition OF every arrangement, good or
bad. which may tend to restrict compett-
tiOn. but such adequate supervision and
regulation as VIII prevent any restriction
Of competition from being TO the detrl-
ment Of the public--as well as such
supervision and regulation will pre-
vent other abuses In no way connected
with restriction Of competition. OF these
abuses, perhaps the chlcf, although by
no means the only one, Is overcapitaiiza-
tion-geneIally Itself the result Of dis
honest promotion--because OF the myriad
evils II brings in its train, for such over
capitalization often means an imitation
that invites business panic; II always con-
ceals the true relation Of the profit earned
to the actual capital invested and It
creates burden OF interest payments
which is a fertile cause Of improper re-
ducton or In limitation OF wages; It
damages the small investor dscourages
thrift, and encourages gambling and spec
ulatlon; while perhaps worst Of all Is the
thickness and dishonesty which 1t implies
for harm to morals and worse than any
possible harm to material interests, and
the debauchery Of politics and business
by great dishonest corporations Is far
worse than any actual material evil they
do the public. Until the national govern
ment obtains. IN some manner which the
wisdom OF the Congress may suggest.
proper control over the big corporations
over the great majority Of the big corr
porations-t viii be impossible to deal
adequately with these evils.
/ am well aware of the difficulties of
the legislation that / am suggesting, and
Of the need Of temperate and cautious
action In securing Il. / should emphatic
ally protest against improper radical or
hasty action The first thing to do is
to deal with the great corporations en-
gagged in the business OF Interstate trans
portation As ! said in my message of
Dec. last, the immediate and most
pressing need, so far as legislation is
concerned, is the enactment into law Of
some scheme to secure to the agents OF
the government such supervision and
regulation OF the rates charged by the
railroads of the country engaged In inter-
state traffic as slsall summarily and
Just or unreasonable rates. 1t must in
cludc putting a complete stop to rebates
In every shape and form. This power to
regulate rates. like all similar powers
over the business world, should be exer-
cised with moderation, caution and self
restraint; but 1t should exist, so that 1t
can be effectively exercised when the
The first consideration to be kept in
mind Is that the power should be affirm
atye and should be given to some ad-
mil, faf t.af five bodtf cd tha (DpPrpgs
If given to the present Interstate Com
merce commission or to reorganized
Interstate Commerce commission, such
commission should be made unequivocally
administrative. l do not believe in the
government interfering with private busi-
ness more than is necessary, | do not
believe in the government undertaking
any work which can with propriety be
left In private hands. But neither do
believe In the government iinching from
overseeing any work when 1t becomes
evident that abuses are sure to obtain
therein unless there Is governmental
SUPERVISION. 1t IS not my province to
Indicate the exact terms of the law which
should be eracted; but / call the attention
of the Congress to certain existing con-
ditiOns with which 1t Is desirable to deal.
In my judgment the most important pro-
vision which such law should contain
Is that comforting upon some competent
administrative body the power to decide,
upon the case being brought before 4.
whether a given rate prescribed by a rail-
road Is reasonable and Just. and II It Is
found to be unreasonable and unjust.
then. after full investigation Of the COM
plant. to prescribe the limit of rate
beyond which 1t shall not be lawful to go
1.-The maximum reasonable rate, as L is
commonly called-this decision to go into
effect within a reasonable time and to
obtain from thence onward subject to
review by the courts. 1t sometimes hap
pens at present not tact rate is too
high but that a favored shipper is given
too low a rate In such case the commits
sion would have the right to fix this
already established minimum rate as
the maximum and t. would ,lieei need
by the commission to cure railroad com
panies of the practice of giving improper
minimum rates l call your attention to
the fact that my proposal Is not TO give
the commission power TO initiate or
originate rates generally, but to regulate
a rate already fixed or originated by the
roads. upon complaint and after investi-
CATION A heavy penalty should be ex-
acted from any corporation which fails
to respect an order Of the commission l
regard this power to establish maximum
rate as being essential to any scheme Of
real reform IN the matter of railway
regulation The first necessity IS to Sc
cure H. and unless it is granted to the
commission there Is little use in touch
ing the subject at all
Illegal transactions often occur under
the forms Of law. II has often occurred
that a shipper has been told by traffic
officer to buy a large quantity OF some
commodity and then after 1t has been
bought an open fcducuon is MADE IN the
rate to take effect Immediately. the ar
rangement resulting 10 the profit of the
one shipper and the one railroad and to
the damage of all their competitors; for
it must not be forgotten that the big ship
pers are at least as much to blame as
any railroad IN the matter Of rebates.
The law should make it clear so that
nobody can fail to understand that any
kind OF commission paid on freight ship
ments. whether in this form or in the
form Of fictitious damages, or of a con-
cesson, a free pass. reduced passenger |
rate. or payment Of brokerage, is illegal. |
1t is worth while considering whether it |
would not be wise to confer on the |
government the right of civil action
against the beneficiary OF rebate for at |
least twice the value Of the rebate: this |
would help stop what is really blackmail. |
Elevator allowances should be stopped. |
for they have now grown to such an l
extent that they are demoralizing and are |
used az rebates
The best possible regulation OF rates
would Of course. be that regulation !
secured by an honest agreement among |
the railroads themselves to carry out the 1
law. Such a general agreement would. |
for instance. at once put a stop to the /
efforts Of any one big shipper or big |
railroad to discriminate against or secure |
over some rival, and such |
agreement would make the railroads |