Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-01
RESTATES HIS VIEWS
As TO THE RAILWAYS
Continued from First Page.)

| Continued from First Page)
premium upon unscrupulous and ruthless
| cunning In railroad management for there
are some big shippers and some railroad
\ managers who are always willing to take
| unfair advantage of their weaker COM
petitors and they thereby force other big
shippers and big railroad men-who would
| like to do decently-into similar acts OF
| wrong and injustice, under penalty Of be-
| ing left behind in the race for success. Gov
! in the interest of the big shipper and of
| the railroad man who want to do right as
in the interest Of the small shipper and
| the consumer.
Experience has shown that the present
| laws are defective and need amendment
! The effort to prohibit all restraint of COM
/ petition, whether reasonable or unreasona-
| bic. is unwise. What We need is to have
some administrative body with ample power
| to forbid combination that is hurtful to
| the public, and to prevent favoritism TO
| one individual at the expense of another
| In other words, we want an administrative
! body with the power to secure fair and
| just treatment as among all shippers who
use the railroads-and all shippers have a
right to use them.
Right to Fix Maximum Rate.
| - But in my judgment the most
important thing to do is to give to this
| administrative body power to make its
| findings effective, and this can be done only
| by giving 1t power when complaint is made
I of given rate as being unjust or unreason-
| able. If 1t finds the complaint proper, then
itself to fix a maximum rate which it re-
| CARDS as just and reasonable, this rate to
| go into effect practically at once-that Is
| within a reasonable time-and to stay In
| effect unless reversed by the courts. 1
earnestly hope that We shall see law CIV
| ing this power passed by Congress.
| If there is in the minds of the commission
! any suspicion that a certain railroad Is in
| any shape or way giving rebates or behav-
| ing improperly, 1 wish the commission to
have power as a matter Of right, not as a
| matter of favor, to make full and ex-
| haustive investigation of the receipts and
expenditures of the railroad. so that any
violation or evasion Of the law may be
| detected.
This is not revolutionary proposal on
! my part. for I only wish the same power
| given in reference to railroads that is now
! exercised as matter of course by the ma
| tiona bank examiners regards national
| banks My object in giving these additional
| powers to the admin ,strative body repre-
| senting the government-the interstate COM
\ mercs comm .ssiOn or whatever 1t may be-
| Is primarily to secure real and not a
| sham control to the government representa-
| tfve5. The American people abhor a sham.
and with this adherence l cordially sympa-
| thize. Nothing is more injurious from
every standpoint than a law which is mere
| iy sound and fury, merely pretense, and
not capable of working out tangible results.
hope to see all the power that l think it
ought to have granted to the government
but would far rather see only some of IT
granted. but really granted. than see pre-
tense of granting all N some shape that
really amounts TO nothing.
Self-Restraint Necessary
1T must be understood, a matter Of
course, that if this power is granted it is
| to be exercised with wisdom and caution
and seif-restraint. The Interstate COM
merce commissioner or other government
official who failed to protect railroad
that was in the right against any clamOr
no matter how violent, on the part of the
public, would be guilty of gross wrong
as eff he corruptly rendered an improper
service to the railroad at the expense of the
public. When T say square deal mean
a. square deal: exactly as much a square
deal for the rich man as for the poor man;
but more. Let each stand on his merits,
receive what is due him and be judged ac-
cording to his Deserts
overcapitalization.
In his address to the delegation of rail-
way employees orders in this city November
| IA. 1903, the President said:
There has been comparatively little COM
paint to me of the railroad rates being as
/ whole too high. The most serious COM
plants that have been made to me have
| been of improper discrimination in railroad
| rates. For instance. in two recent cases
affecting great corporations the complaints
| that have been made to me have been that
| they are too low as regards certain big
shippers: the complaint in both these cases
| is about the differential, the difference Of
| treatment of two sets of users of the rail-
ways, the difference in favor Of one set of
shippers against another set of ship
IF you will look at my Raleigh speech
and my other recent utterances you will see
my principles clearly set forth. / have
said again and again that L would not toll
crate for one moment any injustice to a
railroad any more than l would tolerate any
injustice by a railroad. l have said again
and again that / would remove public Of
fetal who improperly yielded to any public
clamor against a railroad, no matter how
popular that clamor might be- just as
quickly as l would remove public official
who rendered an improper service to the
railroad at the expense of the public But
l am convinced that there must be an in
creased regulatory and supervisory power
exercised by the government over the rail-
ways. Indeed, 1 would like it exercised to
a much greater extent than have any idea
of pressing at the moment. For instan
| would greatly like to have it exercised in
! the matter of DISQUALIFICATION. l am con-
| WINGED that the wages fund.- would be
| larger If there was no fictitious capital
! upon which dividends had to be paid.
| need hardly say that this does not mean
! hostility to wealth. If you gentlemen here
| in whom l believe SO strongly, were all a
unit in demanding that some improper ac-
| tion should be taken against certain men of
wealth, then, no matter whether l did or
| did not like those same men of wealth, /
would defend them against you, no latter
| how much cared for you; and in SO doing
| i would really be acting in your own in
tereSt l would be false to your interest
| if failed to do justice to the capitalist as
| much as to the wage worker. But i shall
act against the abuses of wealth just as
| against all other a buses. All | want
| in any rate legislation is to give the govern
| ment an efficient supervisory power which
| shall be exercised as scrupuously to pre-
| vent injustice to the railroads as to pre-
| vent their doing injustice to the public. Our
| endeavor is to that those big railroad
| men and big~shippers who are not respon-
| sive to the demands of justice are required
| to do what their fellows who are responsive
| to the demands of justice would be glad to
| do of their own accord"
i All Glasses Affected Alike.
| In his message to Congress at the begin
| ming of the first session of the Fifty ninth
Congress, December ). 1905, the President
said:
THE people of this country continue to
| enjoy great prosperity. Undoubtedly there
J will be ebb and flow in such prosperity,
| and this ebb and flow will be felt more or
| less by all members of the community, both
A