New-York tribune., 1906-12-05

hitherto unheard
duction. IN freights and fares by the railroads
Since the founding of the commission there has
never been time of equal ienssn r IN whien any
into effect On August q, for instance. two
days before the new law went into effect the
commission received notices OF over nve thou-
sand separate tariffs which represented reduc-
tions from previous rates. 80
1t must not be supposed. however, that with
the massage of these laws 1t will be possible to
stop progress along the line OF increasing the
power of the national government over the use
of capjtal in interstate commerce For example,
there will ultimately be need OF enlarging the
, powers OF The Interstate Commerce Commission
along several different lines. so as TO give il
/ larger and more eff1cient control over the rail-
roads
1t cannot too often be repeated that expert
ence has conclIIsiveiy shown the npossibility of
securing by The actions of nearly half hundred
different state legislatures ANYTHING but inef-
fective chaos in the way Of dealing with the
great corporations which DO not operate ex-
cusivelv within the limits OF any state In
some method whether by national license law.
or in other fashion, we must exercise, and thai
at early date a far more complete control
than at present over these great corporations
a control that will, among other things. prevent
the evils OF excessive overcapitalization, and
that will compel the disclosure by each big
poraton Of lis stockholders and Of it's properties
ana business. whether owned directly OF through
subsidiary or affiliated corporations. This will!
tend to put stop 10 the securing of inordinate
profits by favored individuals at the expense
whether Of the general public the stockholders
or the wage workers. Our effort should be not so
much to prevent consolidation such. but 10
In no harm to the people. The reactionary or
ultraconservative apologists for the misuse of
a step toward socialism AS matter Of fact it
is these reactonares and ultraconservattves
VINO are themselves most potent in increasing
! sociallstic feeling. One Of the most efficient
methods of averting the consequences of dan
eerons agitation, which is so per cent wrong, is
TO remedy the 20 per cent of evil as to which the
agitation is we'll founded
The bes. way TO avert the very undesirable
move for the governmental ownership of rail-
f1,ne
or the peopls as d whole such adequate control
and regulation OF the great interstate common
carriers as VII do away with the evils which
give rise To the agitation against them. So the
proper antidote to the dangerous and wicked
ag1t ,tion against the men of wealth such is
to secure by proper legislation and executive
action the abolition of the grave abuses which
actually do obtain iii connection with the busi-
ness OF wealth under our present SYSTEM
or rather 10 systen,-of failure to exercise any
adequate control at all. Some persons speak
as if the exercise of such governmental control
would do away with the freedom of individual
initiative and dwarf individual effort. This is
not fact 1t would be veritable calamity to
fall TO put a premium upon individual initiative,
individual capacity and effort; upon the energy.
character and foresight which it is important
! to encourage in the individual. But matter
of fact the deadenin9 ana degrading effect OF
pure socialism. and especially of its extreme
form. communism, and the destruction of in
dividual character which they would bring
about. are in part achieved by the wholly un-
regulated competition which results in a single
individual or corporation rising at the expense
or all others until ms or It's rise enectualy
checks all competition and reduces former COM
petitors 10 position of utter fnferiority and
subordina ton.
In cnacting and enforcing such legislation
this Congress already has to its credit We are
working on coherent plan with the steady
endeavOr to secure the needed reform by the
joint action of the moderate men. the plain men
who do not wish anything hysterical or danger
Gus. but who do intend TO deal in resOlute COM
mon sense fashion with the real and great evils
of the present system. The reactionaries and
the violent extremists show symptoms of Joining
hands against Both assert, for instance,
that If logical we should go to government own
ership of railroads and the like: the reaction
aries, because such issue they think the
people would stand with them. while thu
tremfsts care rather TO preach discomfort and
agitation than to achieve solid results. AS
matter of fact. our position IS remote from
that of the Bourbon reactioDary from that of
the impracticabe or sinister visionary We
hold that the government should not conduct
the business of the nation. but that it should
exercise such supervision as Will insure its be-
ing conducted in the interest of the nation. our
! aim Is SO far az may be, to secure. for all de-
cent, hard working men, equality of opportunity
and equality of burden.
The actual working OF our laws has shown
that the effort prohibit all combination, good
Combination Of capital like combination of la
Dor is necessary element of our present in
dustrial system. IL is not possible completely
TO prevent it; and if il possible, such COM
pete prevention would do damage TO the body
polite. What we need Is not vainly to try to
prevent al! combination. but to secure such rig
orous and adequate control ana supervision of
| the combinat tions as TO prevent their injuring
the public or existing III such form as inevta-
bly, 10 threaten injury--for the mere fact that a
combination has secured practically complete
| control of a necessary of life would under any
circumstances show that such combination was
be presumed to be adverse to the public IN
| teres!. Ii is unfortunate that our present laws
should forbid all combinations, instead of sharp
| ly discriminating between those combinations
| which Go good and those combinattonr which do
| evil.
Rebates, for instance are often due to the
| pressure of big shippers Gas was shown iii the
! investigation of the STANDARD Oil Company, and
as has beer shown since by the investigation OF
the tobacco and sugar trusts as to the initiative
| OF big railroads Often railroads would like to
| combine for the purpose of preventing a biz
shipper from maintaining improper advantages
| at the expense of small shippers and of the gen
| eral public. Such a combination, instead of
| being forbidden by law, should be favored. In
| other words il should be permitted 10 railroads
| to make agreements. provided these agreements
| We're sanctioned by the Interstate Commerce
| Commission and were published. With these
two conditions complied with, it is inn
possible to what harm such combination
| could do to the public at large. 1t IS a public
| evil have on the statute books law incapable
| Of full enforcement because both judges and
| il1ries realize that it's full enforcement would
! destroy the business of the country for the re-
| suit is to make decent railroad men violators of
| the law against their will and to put premium
| on the behavior of the wilful wrongdoecs Such
/ a result in turn tends to throw the decent man
and the wilful wrongdoer into close association
| and in the end to drag down the former to the
latter's level; for the man who becomes law
| breaker in one way unhapp1X tends to lose all
| many ways No more scathing condemnation
| could be visited upon law than is contained in
| the words o. the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion when in comrle enting upon the fact that
the numerous joint traffic associations do tech
nically violate the law, they say: The decision
| of the United States Supreme Court in the
| Trans Missouri and the Joint Traffic AS
| sociatior has produced no practical effect
upon the railway operations of the country
| such associations in fact, exist now they did
| before these decisions, and with the same gem