Morris tribune., 1907-06-01
NO CHANGE IN POLICY.
President Discusses Railroads in
Speech at indianapolis.
NATION MUST TAKE CONTROL

Asserts Right of the Federal Govern
ment to Supervise and Regulate the
Business Use of Wealth, Especially
In Its Corporate Form.
indianapolis, May 31.-President
Roosevelt was the orator of the day
at the unwilling here of the monument
to Major General Henry w. Lawton.
question of federal control of railroads
being his main topic. He said, in part:
One great problem that we have
before us is to preserve the rights of
property; and these can only be pre-
served if we remember that they are
in less jeopardy from the socialist and
the anarchist than from the predatory
man Of wealth. It has become evident
that to refuse to invoke the power OF
the nation to restrain the wrongs COM
mitted by the man of great wealth
who does { ii is not only to neglect
che interests of the public, but is to
neglect the interests of the man of
means who acts honorably by his fell
lows. The power Of the nation must
be exerted to stop crimes of cunning
no less than crimes of violence There
can be no halt in the course we have
deliberately elected to pursue, the pol
ICY of asserting the right of the nation,
so far as it has the power, to super
wise and control the business use OF
wealth, especially in its corporate
form. I wish to say word to you
about the first and most important
Feature Of this task, the
Control of the Common Carriers
doing an interstate business; control
absolutely vested in the nation, while
in so far as the common carriers also
transport the mails it is, in my opln-
ion, probable that whether their bust
ness is or is not interstate it is to the
same extent subject to federal con-
troll under that clause Of the Constitu-
ton granting to the national govern
ment power to establish postrOads
and therefore by necessary impllca-
ton power to take all action neces-
sary in order to keep them at the
highest point of efficiency.
Every federal law dealing with cor
porations or with railroads that has
been put upon the statute books dur
ing the last six years has been a step
in advance in the right direction. All
action taken by the administration I'M
der these and the preeKlst1nS laws
mas been just and proper. Every suit
undertaken during that period has
been a suit not merely warranted, but
required, by the facts; suit
In the Interest of the People
as a whole, and, in the long run, par
ticularly in the interest OF stockhold-
ers as we'll as in the interest OF busl-
ness men of property generally. There
can be no swerving from the course
that has thus been mapped out in the
legislation actually enacted and In the
messages in which | have asked for
further legislation We best serve
the interests of the honest railway
men when we announce that we will
follow out precisely this course. 1t is
the course VI lSdi, "a uiIAide1IS ScA
servatism. There will be no halt in the
forward movement toward full de-
velopment of this policy; and those
who wish us to take a step backward
or to stand still, if their wishes were
realized, would find that they had In
vited an outbreak of the very radical
ism they fear.
Such additional legislation as that
for which | have asked in the past,
and especially that for which l asked
in nv message at the opening of the
last session of congress, is not merely
in the interest of the public, but most
emphatically in the interest of
Every Honest Railway Manager
and of all investors or would-be in
vestors in railway securities. There
must be vested in the federal govern
ment a full power of supervision and
control over the railways doing inter-
state business; a power in many re-
spects analogous to and as complete
as that the government exercises over
the national banks. 1t must possess
the power to exercise supervision over
the future issuance Of stocks and
bonds, either through a national in
corporation (Which l should prefer)
or in some similar fashion, such super
vision to include the frank publicity
of everything which would-be lnves-
tors and the public at large have
right to know. The federal govern
ment will thus be able to prevent all
decentralization in the future; to
prevent any man hereafter from plum
dering others by loading railway prop
critics with obligations and pocketing
the money instead of spending it In
improvements and in legitimate cor
porate purposes; and any man acting
in such fashion should be
Held to Criminal Accountability.
It should be declared contrary to pub
bic policy henceforth to allow railroads
to devote their capital to anything but
49, a$ior ipJ "