The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-24
MIR. BRYAN'S VIEWS
AS TO GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS SOMEWHAT
 MODIFIED.
Years Test Too short-vOters VIII Not Be Ready to Act On Govern. meat OwnersAlp in
 1908.
Lincoln, Neb.-William Jennings ryan issued . statement today in

Lincoln, Neb.-William Jennings Bryan issued statement today in which he said:
 "Government ownership is not an i'm mediate issue. A. large majority of the people still hope for effective reg, not consider government ownership. While many Democrats believe-and MT. Bryan ts one of them-that public ownership of railroads is the ultimate believe that the public will finally. in recognize that regulation must be tried under the most favorable circum- stances. before the masses will be
 "Regnletisn n cannot be sufiiciently tired within the next year. There is no A~@'- ss aywhere to make govern ment owne shtp sn issue in 1908. MT. Rryen fyllsA.sEsss With . those whe ,,bs be-
 6x 6 M 1 x5sf JA $RieE s2 isafq shs sl1so pse. pie are ready to act, to government ownership. on which the people are not ready to act. To inject the govern campaign would simply give represen- tatives of the railroads chance to dodge the issues of regulation and de- ceive the public.
 cessful in preventing effective federal regulation. and State regulation has. as a rule. been restrained by the United States courts. It is about twenty years since the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion was created. It required about ten years for the court~ to find out that the powers conferred were insuffi- cient. and then it took about ten years to procure an amendment. The rail- roads fought the amendment at every forced to compromise with the railroad Rer"hlicans in the Senate in order to procure their support.
 "Even that amendment. obtained with tremendous effort, falls short of what it should be. It aims to stop profit pecuniarily by both the stoppage of rebates and the prohibition of passes legislation for the reduction of rates has resulted in an agitation on the part of the railroads for legislation which will deprive the State of author ity and centralize all rate legislation in the issues must ress msst the encroachments on the authority of the States. It must insist on the ex- ercise of federal power for the regula- must insist upon the exercise of State authority for the exercise of all the power vested in the State.
 This question has grown in import
 
 thence will be increased if any attempt Is made to impair State authority. The Republican party Is as impotent to reg ulate the railroads as 1t is to extermi- nate the trusts and to reform the tar if.
 "The Democratic party has in three national campaigns demanded effective railroad regulation. while the Republi- can national platforms, have been sl- lent on the subject. The President has partly adopted the Democratic view on this subject. but, so far the Republi- can leaders have resolutely opposed 1t. The President Is helping to educate the people up to the need of railroad regu- iation, but his party. under its present leadership, is powerless to accomplish this or any other important reform
 If the Democratic party will clearly and unequivocally demand, first, the as- pertaining of the value of all the rail- roads; second, the preventing of over and, third. the reduction of rates to a point where they will yield only a reasonable return on the real value of the roads. it will com mend itself not only to Democrats but to those Republicans who have been led to study the railroad question.
 ''The railroad situation presents a vital issue. and the issue should be so stated that everyone can understand the party's position.