The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1905-06-02


Washington on May 4, Professor Hugo
II. Meyer, OF Chicago University, an
expert on railroad management, made
this statement:
"L-et us look at what might have hap
Dened II we had needed lhe protests
Of the farmers OF New York and Ohio
and Pennsylvania tin the sevsntieS
when grain from the West began pour
ing 70 the Atlantic EeaboardJ and acted
upon the doctrine which the Interstate
Commerce Commission has enunciated
time and again, that no man may be
deprived Of the advantages Gccrulng to
him by virtue OF his geographical DO
Fition. We could not lave west OF the
Mississippi q population OF millions OF
people who are prosperous and are
great consumers. We never should
have seen the years when we built
10000 and 1900 miles Of railway, for
there would have been no farmers
west OF the Mississippi River who
could have used the land that would
have been opened up by the building
OF those railways. And, II we had not
seen the years wien we could build
10000 and 1900 miles Of railway a
year, we should not nave to-day, east
OF the Mississippi, a steei and iron
producing centre which Is at once the
marvel and the despai" OF Europe, be-
cause we could not have built up
steel and iron industry IL there had
been no market for IFS product.
eve could not have In New Eng
ell frfn ftsts
we could not have in New England
great cotton milling Industry; we could
not have spread Throughout! New York
and Pennsylvania and Ohio manufac-
turing Industries OF the most dlversi-
fed kinds, because those industries
would have no market among the farm
ers west Of the Mississippi River.
"And, while thc progress Of this
country, while the Development Of the
agricultural West OF this country, did
mean the impairment Of the 0gricul-
tural value cast Of the Mississippi
River that ran up into hundreds Of
millions OF dollars, it meant, Incl
dcutally, the building up Of great man.
ufacturing industries that added to
the value OF this land by thousands OF
millions OF dollars. And, gentlemen,
these things were not foreseen In the
seventies. The statesmen ana the pub
lie men Of this country did not see
what part the agricultural develop
mcnt OF the West was going to play in
the Industrial development OF the East
And, you may read the decisions Of
the Interstate Commerce Commission,
from the lrst to the last, and what Is
ono OF tho greatest haracteristics OF
those decisions? The continued in-
ability to see the question in this large
way.
"The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion never can Gee anything moro than
that the farm land OF some farmer
is decreasing In valuc, or, that some
man, who has q norr mill with 4 pro-
ductiou OF nifty barrels a day, is being
crowded out. 1t neIcr can see that
the destruction or impairment of furm
values in this place means the building
up Of farm values in that place, and
that that shifting Of values Is q necCs-
sary incident to the industrial AMI man
ufacturing development Of this Coun-
try. And, II We shall give to the Inter-
state Commerce Commission power to
regulate rates, we shall no longer nave
our rates regulated Oh the statesman
like basis on which lhoy have been
regulated IN the past y TIE railway
mon, who really have 1ccn great states
men; who really have Eccn great build
crs OF empires; who have had an iIn-
agnation that rivals tho imagination
OF the greatest poet and OF the great
est inventor, and who have operated
with a courage and daring that rivals
the courage aud daring OF the greatest
military general. But W. shall have
our rates regulated by body Of civil
servants, bureaucrats, whose bcs2t-
ting SIN the world over, Is that they
can never grasp situation in a large
way and with tho grasp Of tho states
man; that they never can see the fact
that they are confronted with a small
evil; tna\ that evil is relatively small,
and that it cannot be corrected except
by the creation Of evils and abuses
which arc Infinitely greater than the
one that Is 70 be corrected"
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