The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-04
He Advocates a Radical Amendment to the Fed-
 eraI Constitution
WOULD PREVENT EVIL
 OF STOCK WATERING
Suggests Giving Government Clear and lndisputable Power to Create and Organize Great Inter
 state Corporations.

Washington. November 3.-tSpecial)- Governor Albert E. Cummings of Iowa arrived in Washington tonight and will tomorrow call upon the President on 4 mission, the nature of which he declines to disclose.
 It is not believed that 1t relates to the tariff or to the Iowa idea of revision which Governor Cummings has advocated so vigorously but rather to the general situation of the country with relation to finance and interstate corporate activt3 possibly to urge the President to present strong recommendation to Congress for an amendment to the constitution of the United States with reference to the crea- ton and control of great interstate cor porations.
 Governor Cummings Is strongly in favor of an amendment to the federal consti- tuition to give the federal government clear and indisputabe power to create and organize great interstate corpora tons. and thus prevent the evils of stock watering and apltalization.
 Governor Cummings tonight declared over capitalization is the efficient cause of the financial trouble just experienced and suggested government supervision of capitalization as the remedy for the sltu- alton. He believes. however, that the constitution SnOuld De amended to prop erly accomplish this end.
 Do you think that the country is pre- pared for such an amendment to the con- sttutionYP Governor Cummings was asked.
 ''Yes, dor he replied ssunderstand me correctly. I do not mean to say that the country is unanimously in favor of it. There is not unanimity of opinion. Some already oppose this idea. Never 1hpIaGC hal tf4f, rtt.I.. ,es,f can be procured l believe. too, that It will take campaign to accomplish It. II the people come to believe that the situa- ton constitutes d menace to our commer- cial stability. they will vote for such an amendment
 Governor Cummings, when asked about the tariff, said he is strongly in favor of revision. He believes tariff revision sentiment is growing stronger, and that the next republican national platform will contain n tariff revision plank. He is in favor of the nomination of President Roosevelt in 1908. and says public senti- ment in Iowa and other states favors the nomination of Mr Roosevelt. When asked about other candidates, he declared that people of the middle west declined u manifest any interest in their candidates.
 Opposes Extra Session.
 The publication of reports 10 the effect that the President Is being urged to call an extra session of Congress to deal with the financial situation, that he will urge amendments to the financial laws, and also a national incorporation law. as set forth in his Proviucetown speech, is an attempt on the part of the President to prepare the public mind for some very bold measures of departure in legislation, according to Representative John Sharp Williams of Mississippi
 There is no cause for an extra ses- sion of Congress to consider the financial situation" said MT. Williams tonight. "lf one were called by the President no re- suits would be obtained except to precipi- tate the House of Representatives and the Senate into passage of legislation un- der a quasi panic feeling without suff' cient deliberation.
 "The Presidents idea that great crial- inals cannot be punished or great evils corrected without comforting upon the federal government the power of national incorporation of all concerns engaged in interstate commerce Is d very mistaken one,' added MT. Williams. "The Pres idents chief mistake consists in the fact that he has seemingly forgotten that per SC cannot commit crime: that whenever a corporate action results fin a public hurt 1t is and must be due to some man or some men who have used or mlsused corporate power
 ''We must get back to individualism. holding the individual responsible for crimes. whether perpetrated by him in the name of the corporation or not. We are forgetting too much the cornerstone of all civic righteousness which is indl- vidual responsibility. Landing behind the bars three men, whose names are con- stantly upon the public tongue, for plain violation of both the state and national law, will do more good to checks trusts and interstate commerce evils than any number of injunction or reeeiverships. What we need in this country more than anything else is more virile and strenu- ous expression of the powers of the state both in making laws to meet new condi- tions and in executing those on tho statute books" w. s
 Mauretania To Sail.