Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-05
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rhe Prealdent.e RemedIes.

The Presidents Remedies.
Whatever may be the concensus Of
opinion a. to the truth Of tho accusations
against the Standard Oil Co. which are
contained in President Roosevelt's mes
sage to Congress and tho accompanying
report Of Commissioner of Corporations
Garfield. the general effect viii be dis
appointing 10 tho business interests Of
the country For the animus that marks
the message Is unmistakable 10 is
clearly a fierce insistence on the part Of
the President in his purpose to compel
the Senate, by holding up a CORY story
or Trust greed and discrimination by
railroads, to comply with his wishes in
respect Of the passage Of the pending
Railroad Rates bin without any amend
mont that will impair rs elements Of
actual control Of railroads by agencies of
the government.
But all Of the remedies suggested
by the President will not be generally APP
proved He Is insistent upon govern
ment regulation Of railroad rates as
guard against rebates, but there will ever
be a difference Of opinion as to the pro-
priety, or the efficacy, Of such a remedy
Much better will it be TO enforce existing
laws against such practices, or il these
laws are not sufficient for the purpose,
make them so. But the great trouble
is that the laws, until recently, have
been dead letters. Tho President himself
was guilty Of contempt towards them
when he saved a member Of his cabinet
who, as a railroad official, had counton-
anced glaring ininctiona of the laws by
permitting rebatos-irom any form Of
prosecution and clothed him with suit
Of whitewash
The railing accusations that mark the
Presidents presentation Of his case tc
Congress do not appeal as a calm and
'businesslilSe consideration Of a serious
question. His argumentative methods
are rather those Of the highwayman with
the hludgeon than Of n sorious-mindeg
man dealing with a grave subject. An,
the logic Of some Of his contentious ar,
har and away beyond al established rules
Take, for example, the President
simile: "The government should hav
power by its agents 10 examine into th
conduct Of the railways that is, the ex
aminers under tho direction Of the Inter
state Commerce Commission should b
able 70 examine as thoroughly into IN
lnfatra 80 tIr - tlre.I 40 I...i. ...
now examine into the affairs Of banks.
Just imagine what such a situatio
would mean. The national bank "a
hminers, without a minutes notice. wal
into a bank. close iis doors. suspend Il
business, and hold everything in abe,
ance pending their examination. Hor
absurdly such a system Of examinatio
would apply TO railroads And yet Ia
is whatthe President suggests as a remed
for the evil of determinations.
Nor is there the slightest analogy b,
tween the relations that subsist hetwee
national banks and the government, an
those between government and railroad
The former are chartered under the Law
Of the United States. The relations
the two are mutual, 10 a large extent,
they have intimate dealings in the matt,
Of currency The national banks a.
repositories OF government money; the
circulation is secured by deposits Of bon,
issued by the government.
Therefore. the government has contr
over national banks, and may provi,
for an examination Of their afiain at wi
This is because they are, By reason
their corporate authority, national inst
tutions. But State banks and trust cor
panies are not subject 70 govemmel
supervision and control, as are nation
banks. For instance, the goyernmei
bank examiner may visit Wilmington az
walk into the First National, the Bar
ofWimington and Brandywine, the Bar
OF Delaware. the Central Bank or q
Union Bank. and al will yield TO D
authority. But be may not. FOR the pa
poses Of his Office. step foot into q
farmers Bank, which Is a stste instit