The Washington herald., 1907-10-31
National Ineorporation Of Railroads.

Senator Newlands, of Nevada. in an ad-
dress before the University Club the
other night. urged that a conference b.
held in the near future of the various
interests connected with transportation,
for the purpose Of offering suggestions
10 Congress as 10 needed legislation in
solution Of the transportation problem
The Nevada Senator thought that such
a conference would astOnish the country
by revealing how few are the points of
difference between transportation mana
gers on the one side and the public on
the other He expressed his belief in
constructive rather than retaIiatory or
punitive legislation, and declared that a
system OF transportation could be easily
devised which would enlist the best pow
ers of the national government without
infringing on the powers of the States
one which would protect the railway in
vestors, the railway employees, the ship
pers, and the public in their respective
rights, and the States in all their Iegiti-
MAZE powers" He defended railway con-
solidation, as well as Federal supervision
Of capitalization, profits. and rates as an
essential 20 unity Of control.
Though a Democrat and a believer in
the preservation Of the constitutional
rights Of the States. Senator Newlands
/has long been a strong advocate Of the
extension Of Federal control over ma
tiOnal railway systems and it is the
Federal power that he would use in es-
tablishiug the system of transportation.
10 which he referred in his University
Club address. Nearly two years ago, Mr..
Newlards proposed the national incorpo-
ration of railroads in an exhaustive
speech delivered in the Senate. his pro-
posaI being essentially the same as that
which President Roosevelt has been ad-
vocating in his recent addresses. One
great advantage OF the national incorpo-
ration plan, as presented by Mr. New
lands, Is that it affords a method of
guarding against overcapltalization. for
q national charter could forbid the issue
OF bonds or stock except for full value
IN money or property, or without the ap-
prOval Of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. Mr.. Newlands. however would
go farther than tAis in Federal regulation.
His views were thus summarized in his
Senate speech Of April 4, 1906;
Il believe that in legslatug upon the subject tof
interstate conmercej We should in the first place,
create the great carrying corporations that operate
between States. We should then provide against
Overcspitalization. We should provide for a simple
system Of taxation by the states that would be
mathematieally certain ia its computation, and We
should TX definite return to the Stockholders upon
the capital invested We should also take into con
sideratiou the relations Of the enployes 20 those
corporations We should provide for an insurance
fund against accidents and old age and we should
also provide for Cancellation Of disputes between
carriers and their employees We should frankly
rec gnze the economic necessity Of consolidation
and combination ana the monopolistic character Ct
the business. ard regulate all with proper regard
for the Interests Of the public served By it, the
property rights Of the capital employed in It. and
the human rights Of the labor employed BY it.
Like Mr.. Roosevelt. Senator Newlands
regards State railroad legislation as lax
and inadequate, and he Is no more in
doubt than the President Of the consti-
tutional power Of Congress 10 pass ma
tional Incorporation law. The reason
Why railroad corporations have been
created by the States, he observed in the
speech from which we have just quoted.
is that in the first place the commerce
intended to be served by them was