Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-08
Sends Another Message
on Railroad Matters.
Signs jeint Resolution and
Makes Several Suggestions
As TO Necessary Things in Lire Of Carrying
Out Its Provisions.

! Iinstructing the interstate commerse
commission to make examination into
the subject of railroad determinations
and monopolies in coal and oil fields.
He says frankly that he has signed it
with hesitation because it may achieve
| little or nothing. He indicates, too,
! that If the investigation proposed by
| the resolution is conducted thoroughly,
it viii result in giving immunity from
criminal prosecution To all persons who
are called and sworn as witnesses.
In the opinion of the President the
ldirectiOn contained in the resolution will
remain practically in-operative unless
money be provided to carry ON the in
vcstigation and the commission be au =
thorlZed to take testimony under its
prov visions. He suggests, therefore,
THAT Congress give serious consideration
10 just what il desires the interstate
J commerce commission to do and that
the. sum of SO, 900 be placed at the dis
! po;;ll of the commission TO defray ex-
penses of the proposed investigation
| The message i'll full follows:
! The Senate and House of Represen-
tatiVeS:
J Il have signed the joint resolution
. "inStruCtinS the interstate commerce
commission to make examinations into
the subject of railroad determinations
and monOpOlss in coal and oil and re-
! port on the same from time to time
! ! have signed it with hesitation be-
cause in the form in which it was pass
! ed, it achieved very little and may
achieve nothing and it is highly unde-
! sira ble that resolution of this kind
! shall become law in such form as to
give the impression of insincerity. that
is, of pretending to do something
which really is not done. But after
much hesitation. | concluded to sign
, the resolution because its defects can
be remedied by legislation, which /
hereby ask for; and it must be under
stood that unless this subsequent leg
! islation is granted the present resolu
ton must be mainly and may be en-
| tirely imperative.
Before specifying what this legisla
| ton is. | wish to call attention to one
or two preliminary facts. In the first
place. a part of the investigation re-
uuired by the House OF Representatives
in the resolution adopted Feb. Is, 1905,
+, lating to the oil industry, and fur
| il!tI part idNiIiS " uO Will tIit
anthracite coal industry has been for
, sometime under investigation by the
| department Of commerce and labor.
| These Investigations, l am informed,
| are approaching completion, and be-
| fore Congress adjourns. l shall submit
| to yCu the preliminary reports of these
| Investigations. Until these reports are
| completed the interstate commerce
commission could not endeavOr to car
| ry out SO much of the resolution of
| Congress as referee TO the ground thus
already covered without running the
risk of seeing the two investigations
conflict and therefore render each other
mere or less nugatory. In the second
| place. | call your attention to the fact
| that if an investigation of the nature
proposed i'll his joint resolution is
thoroughly and effectively conducted,
| il will result in giving immunity from
criminal prosecution to all persons
who are called, sworn and constrained
by compulsory process of law to testi-
| fy as witnesses: though of course such
| immunity from proecution is not given
| to those from whom statements or in
| formation, merely, in contradistinction
l
is not all to say that such investiga-
| tions should not be undertaken Pub
licity can by itself often accomplish
| extraordinary results for good; and
the court of public Judgment may Sc
cure such results where the course of
law are powcrless. There are many
cases where an investigation securing
| complete publicity about abuses and
Igivins Congress the material on which
to proceed in the enactment of laws, is
Imorc useful than q criminal prOsecu-
! ton can possibly be. But it should not
be provided for by law without a clear
Understanding that it may be an alter
1native instead of an additional RENE
dy: that is. that to carry on the in
IVeStigation may serve as bar to the
Isuccessful prosecution of the Offenses
disclosed The official body directed by
congress to make the investigation.
must of course, carry out the direc-
tiOn and the direction should not be
given without full appreciation of
what it means.
| But the direction contained in the Joint
resolution which l have signed will re
main almost imperative unless money is
| provided to carry out the Investigations
in question and unless the commission in
| carrying them out is authorized to aG
minister oaths and compel the attend
ance of witnesses. AS the resolution
now is. the commission. which is very
| busy with its legitimate work and which
has no extra money ut its disposal, would
| be able to make The investigation only in
tho most partial and unsatisfactory man
| ncr. and moreover it is question: ble
whether it could. under this resolution.
administer oaths at all or compel the at
tendance of witnesses. fl this power
were disputed by the parties investigated
the investigation would be held IN for
a year or two until the courts passed
upon it, in which case during the period
of waiting the comm ission could onlv in
vestigate to the extent and in the man
rer already provide under its organic.
law; so that the pa sage of the resolu
ton would have achi eved no good result
whatever.
I accordingly recon mend to Congress
the serious consideration of lust what
they wish the commits sion to do and how