Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-10-16

and our opportunities? Surely we
who in the cause of Democracy. have
braved defeat In campaign after cam
paign where there was neither oppor-
tunity for success nor hope for re-
ward. should not now be found want
ing. Here is a conflict worthy of our
Steel. The opposition is firmly en-
trenched. it's soldiers are trained to
every form of attack and retreat. Its
resources are boundless. It's cunning
matchless. It's daring unequal. 1t
never tires. 1t sows for the future and
is ever reaping in the present.
Railway Regulation for the People
Our history too confirms eur declar-
atoms: 1t shows We are and have been
with the people in this contest.
1t is fundamental iii the discussion
of RAILWAY rate regulation that the
railways right to existence is derived
from the state through its charter. II
is created by the state for the per-
Torrance of public service and they
who perform these public services are
entitled to reasonable return on the
moneys invested. In turn the state
owes a duty to the public to protect
the public from excessive charges, re-
bates and determinations. The state
and nation owes a duty of here en-
forcing the doctrine of equal rights
to all and special privileges to none"
In the Industrial world the margin
of profits outside the trusts and COM
binations is small. Volume means
everything Commissioner Prouty of
the interstate commerce commission
said Flour today is ground in this
country upon margin of two or three
cents per hundred pounds. Coal in
large quantities is handled from the
mine to the consumer at a profit of
from five TO ten cents q ton. One half
a cent a bushel is a fair profit in
grain. Such is the sworn and undis-
puted testimony Let the meaning Of
this as applied to the freight rate be
clearly apprehended. 1t means that if
the grain dealer can by any device
secure an advantage over his competi-
tor of one-half a cent a bushel he
thereby acquires the market as against
that competitor If one miller can de-
liver his flour at two cents per hum
bred pounds cheaper than the compet-
ing miller he grinds at profit when
his competitor does business for moth
ing. A concession of ten cents per ton
on the freight rate on coal determines
absolutely who shall and who shall not
handle the product of particular
mine The same is true of other COM
modities.
Corporations With KingIy Power
IT is this condition that has given
TRANSPORTATION
companies such kingly power. The
irresponsible traffic managers have
fixed the freight and transportation
rates to suit their fancy or the de
mands of watered stock for dividends.
They have been open to intrigue, bril-
berry and intimidation. At their ire
sponsible command towns and cities
have fourished or fallen into decay.
Private fortunes have been multiplied
until they became princelv. While
from others there has been taken even
that which they had not. Palaced
halls and Wondering ruins and broken
fortunes testify to the determinations
of the traffic managers.
A single instance: The idle and
decaying oil derricks at California,
Kansas, Colorado. Texas and Oklaho-
ma mark the trail of the Standard OIL
While in the testimony recently taken
at Chicago and elsewhere resulting in
the indictment OF several railways it
apnears that these roads have been
one-th!rd the rates charged others for
goods of the same class.
They now tell us that the Repubi-
can party is in favor of railway rate
regulation. We reply that for more
thar forty years 1t has been in I'M
disputed possession of everv branch
of the government. Yet it has stood
like a painted Jove with the painted
lghtnings in it's hands when it should
long since have hurled its instant
beginnings against railway S rebate
and determinations. During all this.
time the only national legislation on
this subject has been Democratic
After twenty-five years of Republican
inactiCn and silence on this great
question, President Cleveland, in his
second annual message to congress in
December. 1886, called attention to
the fact that the supreme court had
recently decided that the laws of the
several states were inoperatiVe to
regulate rates of carriage from one
congress the desirability of federal
legislation regulating the rates in an
interstate commerce. In pursuance
of this suggestion the Democratic
congress passed the act creating the
interstate commerce. commission and
a Democratic president signed the bill
and appointed the first commission.
This act was supposed to confer upon
that body the power to prescribe rates.
The commission assumed to exercise
that power but the supreme court Of
the United States in its decision an
nounced March 80, 1895. and reported
in 1872 U. s., 1874. held that under the
act the commission had no such au-
thority
democracy 10 0uaTC I0S nation
The Democratic national convention
in 1896 declared, 1--WE demand the en-
largenent of the powers OF the inter
state commerce commission and such
restrictions and guarantees in the con-
troll of the railways as VIII protect the
people from robbery and oppression"
President Cleveland in his next mes
ge delivered on Dec. Z, 1895, said:
The interstate commerce commission
Il .fw,rr fFa 10 SIR Cd
abundant evidence of its usefulness and
the Importance of the work committed
to its charge. Public transportation is
a universal necessity and the question
of just and reasonable charges there
fore has become of vital Importance,
not only to shippers and carriers. out
also to the vast IN Ii-itI1e OF prod !S"rf
and consumers. lac justice and e6slt, y
of the principles embodied In the exist
ing law pat sed for the purpose of regl-
lating these charges are everywhere
conceded and there appears 70 be no
question that the policy tnls thit'cd
upon has q permanent place in our
legislation. IT is evident that
all desired regulation reforms in trans
portation methods have not been fully
accomplished. l nope the
recommendation Of the commission
upon this subject viii be promptly and
favorably considered nv the congress.
More Power to Curb Corporations
The interstate commerce commission
recommended among other Things tnat
the law be amended 30 IS to giFs lpcn
power TO enforce orders MADE Dy the
commission; power as 10 th- lANe<t4-
CATION of rates etc. to prescribe
awhat is lawful in respect to such
rates. fares. charges, facilities or prac-
tees; that not only the officers and
agents OF the corporations but the
corporations themselves be made liatle
TO Indictment for offenses against the
s+ati1fa. that All common carriers be