The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-22
FORAKER ON ROOSEVELT
COMMON SENSE WHISTLED DOWN
THE WIND"
Tne senator BObs Up at Merchant Marine
Convention with q CASUAL Roast OT Ad.
mlnlstrRtlOn and Interstate Commerce
GOmmnsslOn-SenRtar GaIllnger Heard.

The senator BObs Up at Merchant Marine
Convention with q CasuN Roast OT Ad-
m~lDIstratlon and Interstate
COmmnssIOn-Senat0r dialIlnger Heard.
CLEVELAND, Dec. Ex-senator Foraker
m-onopolized attention at the convention
and banquet Of the Merchant Marine
League OF the United States in the Hollen-
den Hotel to-day. His visit was made the
occasion Of a rallying Of the clans political
Z Of northern Ohio and was marked by the
presence Of scores Of men who formerly
opposed foraker
At the dinner in the evening Senator
, Foraker laid the burden Of present INDUS
trial and financial conditions on the ROose-
welt Administration. charging s~tagnatiOn
In business TO the handling by seven men
. OF the Interstate COmfherce Commission
OF the 2OO.OOO milegT OF railroad sDdgthe'
fixing Of tariffs lV~thnt commission.
Senator GalljBker vas IA speaker at the
e,apner. In - evening and afternoon
sessons Assis&nt Secretary of the Navy
NewberS. -Aksistant POstmaster-General
MoCleary and Lewis Nixon, former Tam
many chief, made addresses bearing on
the need Of a reiuVenated merchant marine.
A dispute az TO the virtue OF a change in
the protective tariff rs OF more advantage
than ship subsidy involved the delegates
in a bitter debate just at the luncheon hour.
Senator Foraker said in part:
We are passing through strange expert
ances. The plainest common sense PROPOSE
tione with respect 10 great business transac-
,ions are whistIpd down the wind IL they do
not happen to suit the excited fancy of a lot
Of self-cOnstituted representatives OF an
alleged moral regeneration Of the business
world. All this Ia unnatural, unwarrantcd
and injurious. and We are now IA wing tho
penalty. The most stupendOuS prosperity
the world has ever witnessed has been checked
ana chilled. There has been n shrinkage or
values amounting to more than 5000, OO0, 1000.
Instead Of encoura cement for what 40 vitality
concerns ia there IS disCOurag cement and
positive hostility.
The credit that only n few months ago
was unpreced ented is found 80 far impaired
that " is impossible to sell securities neces-
sary TO prosecute this great work. All classes
and all kinds Of businrs pay a common
penalty.
II will he months. probably longer. before
We recover, and We never shall recover unless
we regain confidence IN the integrity Of each
other, once more regard success in business
as hOnorabies and content ourselves with
sane regulations that will punish wrong
doers without bringing Wholesale disaster 10
the innocent.
To restore confidence and recover the
ground we have been losing We must under
stand and remedy the causes Of our trouble.
n Ia not due TO a scarcity Of currency, for We
have more money and better money to-day
than ever before. n Is not due to overspecu-
latiOn or to inflated prices. for there has
not been anything mreasOnably eXtrava-
giant IN either respect. H. IL not due TO a
conspiracy of rich men to bankrupt them
selves and the whole country for political
purposes Many things have contributed.
hut IL was bic that sooner or later We
should have some such experience a. We are
now haVing when w provided by law TINT
the revenues of more than 200. UnO miles of
railroads. representing more than fourteen
billions of securities. should be turned over
TO q rate making commission of seven men
sitting in Washington. The work assigned
them was an impOs-ibility Of such magui-
tlde as to make the proposition an ahsurdity.
II was not only impraCticable hut H. was
unnecessary. We already had a much better
law. All that WAS needed was it, culorce-
ment. IL was useless to urge that objection,
but it has since been abundantly vlndicIted.
It. was unwise. To take charge of the
revenues Of IL business il - practically take
charge of the business itself. Free popular
governments are not constituted for such
purposes. All these reasons combined We're
without avail. Calumuy was the reward Of
all who offered them,
No matter vhat the consequence. \ new
leaf must he turned not only the railroads
but everything else that was successful must
he put under surveillance AMI I've hedged
, about by Ia VS. that restricted rather than
regulated. II WIS useless 10 predict con
sequences. No one would heed. but az last
these consequences are upon rs. They are
not agreeable but that is uninporrant. The
moral standards Of business men must b.
elevated Their methods. although better
than ever before. must he improved.
The little band Of I8T special deputies.
agents and inspectors on the plyrOllS Of the
Government ten years ago mas been sWellrd
TO an army of more than three thousand
Their sole occupation il turning on the
light" AZ the expense Of the Government for
"a aries and peruuisit"s OF about ten millions
annually. They have all been busy. The
pulling, hauling. inspecting. hpctOring and
prosecuting that have followed have lone
their we'll nigh perfect work.
Al last results are teaching that men cannot
do business under such conditions.
A for our merchant marine. Senator
Foraker held that the hest way to restore
IL lis by a return to discriminating duties.
Our fathers did not hesitate To impose a
tarif of 10 per cent. where there was no
tarif az "A penalty for the use of foreign
ships. In other words their free liza. was
a free list only on condition that the prod
uCts were carried in American ships. This
worked no insuperAble trouble then. There
il no reason why il should work any such
trouble now.
1T would probably al slightly increase the
cost Of nOn-competinR imports TO the con-
sumer, but We cannot expect to restore our
merchant marine without sacrifice of some
kind, somewhere. by somebody"