The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1906-12-07

nothing. During the last five months the
railroads have shown increased earnings
and some of them unusual dividends
t while curing sss the same period the
an unprecedented, hitherto unheard Of.
number of voluntary reductions In
freights and fares By the railroads. Since
the founding Of the commission there has
which anything like SO many reduced
tariffs have been put into effect. On
August n, for instance, two days before
the new law went into effect, the COM
mission received notices of over 5000
separate tariffs which represented reduce
tions from previous rates.
~ must not be supposed, however, that
with the passage Of these laws 1t will be
So stop Of a4 Eng 1ae
government over the use OF capital IN
interstate commerce. For example, there
Will ultimately be need of enlarging the
ssinn Of the interstate ices
az to give it larger and more efficient
control over the railroads.
Need of Federal Legislation.
Il cannot too often be repeated that ex-
perience has conclusively shown the i'm
possibility of securing by the actions Of
nearly half hundred different state
legislatures anything but inenective
chaos in the way Of dealing with the
exclusively within the limits Of any one
state In some method, whether by
national license law or in other fashion,
We must exercise, and that at an early
GATE, far more complete control than
at present over these great corpora
tions-a control that will among other
things prevent the evils of excessive
overcapitalization, and that Will compel
the disclosures by each big corporation
of its stockholders and of Its properties
and business, whether owned directly or
thru subsidiary or affiliated corporations.
This will tend to put stop to the secur,
individuals at the expense whether of
the general public, the stockholders, or
the wageworkers. Our effort should be
not so much to prevent consolidation as
as to see that it results in no harm to
the people The reactionary or ultracon.
sentative apologists for the misuse OF
wealth assail the effort to secure such
matter of fact it is these reactionaries
and ultraconservatives who are them
selves most potent in increasing socialis-
tic feeling. One of the most efficient
methods of averting the consequences OF
a dangerous agitation. which Is 80 per
cent. wrong, is to remedy the 20 per cent
of evil as to which the agitation Is well
founded The best way to avert the very
undesirable move for the governmental
ownership of railways Is to secure by
the government on behalf of the people
as a whole such adequate control and
regulation of the great interstate com
mon carriers as will do away with the
evils which give rise to the agitation
against them. So the proper antidote
to the dangerous and wicked agitation
against the men of wealth as such Is to
secure by proper legislation and eXecu-
tive action the abolition Of the grave
abuses which actually do obtain in con-
nection with the business use OF wealth
under our present system-or rather no
system-of failure to exercise any ade-
quate 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 indl-
kVidual effort. This is not fact. IL
would be veritable calamity to fall to
put a premium upon individual initiative,
Individual capacity and effort; upon the
energy, character and foresight when
1t Is so important to encourage In the
But as matter Erect OF t of p,re
socialism, and especially of its extreme
form comm unsm, and the destruction OF
individual character which they would
bring about. are in part achieved by the
results in single individual or corpor-
alton rising at the expense of all others
until his or its rise effectually checks al
competition and reduces former competl,
Itors to a position of utter inferiority and
differentiation.
In enacting and enforcing such legis-
lation as 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 historical or
dangerous, but who do intend to deal
the real and great evils of the present
system The reactionares and the VIC
lent extremists show symptoms or JOIN
ing hands against us. Both assert, LOT
WA
to government ownership of railroads
and the like; the reactionaries, because
on such an issue they think the people
would stand with them, while, the ex-
and agitation than to achieve solid re-
suits. AS matter of fact, our position
Is as remote from that of the bourbon
reactionary as from that of the lmprac-,
that the government should not conduct
the business of the nation, but that It
should exercise such supervision as VIII
Insure it's being conducted In the inter-
est Of the nation: our aim , d Is, SO 1a aar as
working men, equality OF opportunity ana
equality of burden.
Combin ations Are Necessary.
The actual working of our laws has |
shown that the effort to prohibit all com
bination, good or bad, is noxious where |
Il is not ineffective. Combination. of
ranital like combination of, labor is a |
necessary element of our present indus
trial system. 1t Is not possible completely |
10 prevent it; and IL 1t were possible,
such complete prevention would do dam.
age to the body polite. What We need
IS not vainly to prevent all combination,
control and supervision of the combina-
ions as to prevent their injuring the |
public, or existing In such form as inev-
tably to threaten injury-for the mere
pact that a combination has secured
practically complete control of a neces-
,ary of life would under any circum-
stances show that such combination was
% be presumed to be adverse to the pub
ic interest 1t is unfortunate that our
present laws should forbid all combina-
ions, instead of sharply discriminating
,etween those combinations which do
,vil. Rebates, for instance, are as often
iue to the pressure of big shippers (as
vas shown in the investigation of the
standard Oil company and as has been
shown since by the investigation OF the
obacco and sugar trusts as to the init
tive of big railroads. Often railroads
would like to combine for the purpose of
preventing big shipper from maintain
ng improper advantages at the expense
II small shippers and of the general pub
lie. Such a combination, instead of being
orbidden by law, should be favored. In
,ther words, 1t should be permitted to
ailroads to make agreements, provided
hese agreements were sanctioned by the
Interstate commerce commission and
we're nublished. With these two condi-
ions Complied with it is impossible to
ZEE what harm such a combination could
10 to the public at large. 1t is a public
vii 70 have on the statute books a law