The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-02

neglected power. Great capitalists
who pride themselves upon their ex-
are acting in the interests of property
when following course so shortsight-
ed as to be really an assault upon prop
erty. They have shown extreme UNI
wisdom in their violent opposition 70
the assumption of complete control
over the railroads by the federal gov
eminent. The American people will
not tolerate the happy-go-lucky sys-l
tenn of no control over the great inter-
state railroads, with the insolent and
manifold abuses which have SO gem
orally accompanied it.
Must Be Control.
The control must exist somewhere;
and unless it is by thoroughgorng ana
radical law placed upon the statute
books of the nation, it will be exeI-
cised in ever-increasing measure by
the several states. The same consider
ations which made the founders of the
constitution deem it imperative that
the nation should have complete con>
troll of interstate commerce apply with
peculiar force to the control Or inter-
state railroads at the present day; ana
the arguments of Madison of Virginia,
Pinckney of South Carolina, and Ham
ilton and Jay of New York, in their
hundred and twenty years ago.
The national convention which
framed the constitution, and in which
almost all the most eminent or the first
embodied the theory of the instrument
| in resolution, to the effect that the
national government should have pow
er in cases where the separate states
were Incompetent to act with full eff
cheney, and where the harmony OF the
United States would be Interrupted by
the exercise of such individual legisla-
ton. The interstate railroad situation
| is exactly case in point. There will,
of course. be local matters affecting
railroads which can best be dealt with
by local authority, but as national
commercial agents the big interstate
railroad ought to be completely SUD-
| ject to national authority. Only thus
can we secure their complete subJec-
ton to, and control by, sing;e SOW
| ereign, representing the whole people,
and capable both of protecting tho
| public and of seeing that the railroads
neither infiict nor endure Injustice.
Personally firmly believe that
there should be national legislation to
control all Industrial corporations do
| ing an interstate business, including
| the control of the output of their Sc
curities, but as to these the necessity
| for federal control is less urgent and
immediate than, is the case with the
| railroads.
Abuses Will Disappear.
Many of the abuses connected with
these corporations will probably tend
| to disappear now that the government
the public-is gradually getting the
to the rebates and special privileges
which some of these corporation
have enjoyed at the hands of the COM
| mon carriers. But ultimately it will
be found that the complete remedy
for these abuses lies in direct and af-
f1rmative action by the national gov
eminent. That there is constitutional
power for the national regulation of
these corporations / have myself no
question. Two or three generations
a was Inc a fxr
to national control of banks as there
is now to national control of railroads
or of industrial corporations doing an
interstate business. That hostility
now seems to us ludicrous in it's lack
of warrant; in like manner. gentle
men, our descendants will regard with
wonder the present opposition to CIV
ing the national government adequate
power 70 control those great corpora
tions, which it alone can fully, and yet
wisely, safely, and justly control. Re-
member also that to regulate the for
nation of these corporations offers
one of the most direct and efficient
methods of regulating their activities
I am not pleading for an extension
of constitutional power. 1 am plead
ing that the constitutional power
which already exists shall be applied
to new conditions which did not exist
when the constitution went into being.
/ ask that the national powers already
conferred upon the national govern
ment by the constitution shall be SO
used as to bring national commerce
and industry effectively under the au-
thority Of the federal government and
thereby avert Industrial chaos. My
plea is not to bring about condition
of Capitalization. 1t is that the gov
eminent shall recognize a condition
of Capitalization in field where it al
ready exists. When the national bank
ing law was passed it represented in
reality not Capitalization, but recog-
milton of the fact that the country had
so far advanced that the currency
was already a matter of national con-
Germ and must be dealt with by the
central authority at Washington. So
it is with interstate industrialfsm and
especially with the matter Of inter
state railroad operation today. Cen
tralization has already taken place in
the world of commerce and industry.
All I ask is that the national govern
ment look this fact in the face, ac
cept it as a fact, and At itself accord
ingly for policy of supervision and
control over this centralized commerce
and industry.