The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-06
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memoranda should be open to the in-
 spection of the Government. Only in
 this way can violations or evasions
 of the law be surely detected. A sys- tenn Of examination of railroad ac-
 counts should be provided >sstmilar | to that now conducted fntoSf1e national
 first-class railroad accountants, if they : had proper direction and proper au-
 thority to inspect books and papers. could accomplish much in preventing
 wiliful vibrations of the law. 1t would not be necessary for them to examine e [ into the accounts of any railroad unless { for good reasons they were directed
 to do so by the Interstate Commerce . Commission. It Is greatly to be de- ! sired that some way might be found
 by which an agreement as to transpor- :, tation within State intended to oper-
 ate as fraud upon the Federal inter state commerce laws could be brought under the Jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. At present 1t occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic
 State business. which of course amounts
 to an evasion of the law. The Com mission should have power to enforce
 fair treatment by. the great trunk lines l of lateral and branch lines
 | I urge upon Congress the need of providing for expeditions action by the
 Interstate Commerce Commission In all
 rates for transportation or for storing | ties in transit. The history of the l cases litigated under the present com merce act shows that its efficacy. has been to a great degree destroyed>Aby the weapon of delay, almost the mcet formidable weapon in the hands of
 those whose purpose it Is to violate the
 law.
 Let me most earnestly say that these recommendations are not made in any spirit of hostility to the railroads: On ethical grounds, on grounds of right, such hostility would be intolerabie: 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 q multitude of small investors, a multitude of railway employees, wage workers; and most severely against the interest of the public as q whole. l
 believe 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 with those who have no such desire, and the only way to secure this end Is to give to some GovernDzent tribunal the power to see that justice is done by
 done by the willing. Moreover, if some Government body Is given increased
 power the effect will be to furnish au-
 thoritatiye answer on behalf of the against it is raised. or whenever | charges maue against 1t are disproved.
 ask this legislation not only in the
 
 terest of the honest railroad man and the honest shipper alike. for it Is they who are chiefly Jeoparded by the pFac- l tices of their dishonest eorapetitors. This legislation should be enacted in spirit as remote as possible from hys- teria and rancor. It we of the Ameri- can body polite are true to the tradi- I tions we have inherited we shall al- ways scorn any effort to make us hate any man because he is rich. just as ] much as we should scorn any ehoft to
 make us look down upon or treat con- temptuouSly any man because he Is poor. We judge a man by his conduct that is,, by his cEaracter--and not by
 his wealth or intellect. If he makes
 his fortune honestly. there Is no just
 have nothing hut the kindiiest feelings of aamiration for the successful busf-
 ness man who behaves decently. wheth- CT he has made his success by building
 or managing a railroad or by shipping goods over that ioad.
 The big railroad men and big ship
 9inary 9nla r sype wSi Snve developed ny te an extraordinary degree certain great
 business qualities. They are neither
 noF saer woTse tnan their beH ow Es
 merely more able in certain lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiar
 iy strong temptations: These tempta- ing: the exceptionally successful among mankind have always been exposed to
 them; but they have grown amazingly
 in power as result of the extraordi- nary development of industrialism along new lines, and under these new con ditions, which the lawmakers of old could not foresee and therefore could
 not provide against, they have become so serious and menacing as to demand
 entirely new remedies. It Is in the in terest of the best type Of railroad man and tho best type of shipper no, less than of the public that there should be governmental supervision and regu-
 lation of these great business opera tions, for the same reason that 1t Is in
 the interest of the corporation which wishes to treat its employees alright that there should be an effective em ployers' liability act, or an effective system of factory laws 10 prevent the
 abuse of women and children. Alt
 such Legislation frees the corporation driven into doing III. in order to com pete with its rival which prefers to
 m We Sere fo fst Se nP Sp
 more fatal to the nation than the de. fusion that the standard of profits, of
 business prosperity. @ is is sufficient ,,oI in
 tion-fr0fh rate legislation to munich Fpal government. Business success,
 whether for the individual or for the
 nation, is a good thing only so far
 as 1t Is accompanied by and develops | a high standard of conduct-honor, in-
 tegrity, civic courage The kind of
  standard of honor. that puts an inordl-
 nate value on mere wealth, that makes
 a man ruthless and conscienceless in
 trade and weak and cowardly in citi-
 xenship, Is not good thing at all. but
 very bad thing for the nation. This government stands for manhood first and for business only as an adjunct of manhood. The question of transportation lies at the root of all industrial success, and the revolution in transportation which has taken place during the last half century has been the most impor- tant factor in the growth of the new industrial conditions. Most emphati- cally we do not wish to see the man of great talents refused the reward
 for his talents. Still less do we wish
 to see him penalized; but we do de, sire to see the system of railroad
 transportation handled that the strong
 man shall be given no advantage over
 the weak man. We wish to insure as
 fair treatment for the small towns as
 for the big city. for the. small shipper
 as for the big shipper. In the old days
 the highway of commerce. whether by
 water or by a road on land. was open to all; 1t belonged to the public and
 the traffic along 1t was free. At pres,