Milford chronicle., 1905-05-19
WASHINGTON LETTER.

% obeyed and that order must be preserved
" and his assertion, made at the Iroauoi.
e Club of Chicago, that the State was be-
hind Mayor Dunno and the Nation be-
: hind the State, the President has dis
armed his enemies and made giant stride
toward the accomplishment of that lepis-
7, lation which he regards as essential to
5 the proper control of the railroads of the
country. He has left no opportunity for
men to say that he is revolutionary. or
that he is 'playing for effect, and his
recommendation must be received as the
sincere belief of man who is honest and
fearless beyond all question. As there
prevails considerable confusion regarding
the reforms which the President homes
to effect and the evils he seeks to remedy.
a somewhat detailed explanation of the
situation seems appropriate for these let
ters particularly, as most of this informa-
tion has been gained in personal conver-
sations with the President himself
There are two distinct evils which the
President seeks to remedy. The greater
is the absolute domination by individuals
or corporations, or combinations of cor. I
porations, of the great highways of COM q
merce, those ironed highways commonly 9
called railroads. Only an exercise of the
authority of the State (or government v
makes possible the requirement of rights Il
of way and the condemnation of private
under the legal principle of en- 8,
inent domain. When constructed these
railroads constitute natural monopolies h
and only by the exercise of government
al regulation and supervision over these Oi
nonopolies can they be prevented from d,
working injustice to the people from b,
whom they derive their right to exist. of
hey are not private property, such as
wages, bread or other commodities, as W
las been claimed by prominent railroad 70
len. If they were the government ou
ould not properly seek to supervise and
ontrol them. Such supervision over pri-
ate property would be socialism pure
nd simple. In essence the right of wav
railroad belongs to the people, can 5O
'ver properly become the property of Sh
! individual, and its administration is of
erely delegated to those who MANAGE Ne
e railroad, always with the reserved Tn
INT on the part of the government to rea
ercise over it such regulation and super- z
non as may be necessary to protect the ma
ople's rights. The right to fix maxi far,
I'M rates for freight and passenger tior
importation which the President ad- r
'ates, would amount to concrete asser- 81 q
n by Congress of the right of the peo- gair
to control their own. and
II lesser importance, although poten- the
for great evil, is the concrete practice buil
certain, perhaps all railroads of grant. dan
special privileges, rebates, ETC.. to and
tain individuals as against other indi- and
uals. The specific terms for these of I,
ctices are rebates, differentials long Iatel
!. !. uiiieren'iais' the private car system, eOoh
ling in transit rates, the midnight rate nv p
probably some others. Rebates can Trot
0ably be effectually prevented under merl
1iAins law Ihey consist OF the re- This
to certain individuals of some DOR. the
u tue puonsneu freight rates which dwell
have paid for the transportation of luml
goous. rebates were chiefly instru- Their
tai in building up the Standard Oil
opoly and other trusts. Differen-
and milling in transit rates are forms
whereby railroads Mr.
Ily seek to build up some particular Clay
ity, branch, or the industries along HoHs
branch, by the charge of lower est al
hit rates than other patrons of the celebi
are compelled to pay for like SER sary
As they are usually resorted TO IN the II
, profitable some branch which bas strati
,rto failed to pay dividends thew spent
d be unassailable except on the while
I'd thaethe railroads are not private tend t
'rty and must be administered for Mr.. al
eneft of the entire public instead Of Milfol
nat Oh ther stock holdeB. Long Miss
differentias are those special rates was Al
TO terminals where several roads
etc for business, some times made So
he railroad men declare, that thew
in loss to the roads, which loss Mas
Of course, be made good by over been Sc
ng patrons of the road who do not town i
the terminals. The midnight rate susseY
le private ca system have come of last
into use as method of evadine bered 4
kins law since that act was placed arrested
statutes. ihe first consists of a false n,
akiRg specially low rate for the Neck n
of IA large patron, or trust. By voodooi
understanding with the patron, the Sus
e will go into effect at midnight lived in
ertain night on which the large
AN make particularly heavy ship
The rate will be made public as -.
requires, but by time the general sgDs.Sr.
s prepared to avail itself of the II