The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-03-10
Public Ownership INDICATED.

From Ihr Commpnrr
The administration has not unIv
endorsed the democratic policy ON
the question of railroad regulation
and IN regard tu requiring an inter
state commerce corporation to take
ont Il federal license, but il has
gone farther aud ludmSpda a pOpulst
policy IN acquiring government
railroad II Mr. Bryan had not
last summer announced himself in
favor OF the public ownership Of
railroads he would have suffered
the modification of seeing the re.
/ |publlrauS pass him on the reform
/ highway, but hr is IN position to
welcome them to this advanced
/ ground OF course the republicans
say that the conditions are eXcep.
! tiUual in thc ease of the panuma
railroad, but that makes no differ
Icucr. The right of the government
! to own and operate a railroad is rs.
tnhIlshrd and the necessity or nd
/ Visibility Of exercising the right tu
own and operate Il road is the
only question left open to dispute.
If III" government has a right to
own and operate a road lusPanama
connecting the oceans, it has
right to own and operate road in
the United States connecting the
oceans, and il can proceed to build
or buy such n road whenever the
people are convinced that public
interests can hc promoted thereby
The precedent Is established and II
precedent is potent thing in leg
lslation The right of the people
to protect themselves, like the
right of self defense IN the ndIyld
nal. is n paramount right and can
always be- rrsortcd 10 In Kansas
the people have rcsortrd 10 state
oil refinery tor self protection; if
necessary they can build Il pipe line
or railroad to carry the oil to the
refinery or from the refinery to
market II they can do this for
oil they can do il for wheat, oals,
corn or cattle. This reserve power
enables the people To defend them.
selves against monopoIics of every
kind, For years the people of the
yarions states have tried to regulate
railroad rates, but they have found
the railroad lobbyist ever ready
with his pocket full of passes and
other 'persuaders \ few state
railroad lines would have done
more to regulate railroad rates,
than all the laws that have been
passed The United States Judges
have usually been prompt to sus
pend such laws hut the United
States courts can not suspend the
right of n state TO regulate rates
by building n competing line.
One of the purposes of the 18TH
mlun canal is TO regulate transcOn.
tinental rateS--a thing that could
be done more chcnpIy and more
effectively 10y n transcontincntaI
line. The canal can only reduce
through rates on things that can
stand II long sea voyage, while n
transcontnental line owned and
operated by the government could
reduce local rates as well as through
through rates on everything.
There are other reasons besides
the reduction Of through rates to
to justify canal it would be an
lneXcusable expense to build it for
that purpose alone.
\ plan for public ownership, like
that presented by The Commouer,
which cOntemplates the federal
ownership Of trunk lines and the
state ownership of the net work of
the local railroads, gives the people
of both state and nation the means
of protecting themselves against
the eXtortiOn and determinations
practlced by the railroads. The
plan can be adopted in whole or in
part whenever public necessities
requies. To-day the government
adopts it in Panama, tomorrow
Kansas may adopt it in her fight
against the oil trust. Pennsyl.
vania could draw the fangs of the
anthracite coal trust in short order
by budding state road connect.
ing the coal fields with Philadel.
phia or some other distributing
point. Other illustrations suggest
themselves, but enough has been
said to show that the people are
more powerful than the corpora.
tions whenever they see fit to use
their reserve mowers