Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1907-12-06
Federal Control Of
Railroads IL Favored.

mo small part Of the trouble that ""
have comes from carrying t. an c.
IRENE the national virtue Of Sclf-rr-
lance. OF Independence in initiative
and action. 1t is wis t. conserve this
virtue and to provide for IT. fullest eN-
ercise. cornpa tible with seeing that rs
erty does not become a IN, rt% t,
wrong others. Unfortunately. thiS is
the kind Of liberty that tn" lack OF al
effective regulation in, Wit ,bly breeds.
The founders Of the rru%t.t Ninn pro.
vided that tn" II tinnll EDv"rnn., ut
Should have complete and sole control
Of interstate commerce. There was
tlen practically no it r.tAt" business
save such as was ruu'lnrt,G BY " It, r.
and this the national ery,rnm,nt at
once proceeded To reg IT. III thorunTh
going and eff, ct!\c fashion. Crn,lt
tons have no" SO wholly changed thal
the interstate commerce. by water j. in
significant Cnnpnrtd with thc amount
that goes by land. and almost al big
business concerns are NnN ,n "a :, Il in
interstate CONNIE rec. As 4 result it
can be but partially and imp"rfrri!y
controlled or regulated by t!lc action Of
any one OF the several states: such &C
ton Inevitably tending to hr titH,r too
drastic or else too lax. aud in either
case .nerrrtiVc for purposes of justice.
Only the national government can In
thorouGhg"ing fashion exercise the
needed CONTROL This dos not mean
that there should be rny extension of
federal authority. for such authority
already exists under the constitution ia
ampiest and most reach nS form;
but it docs mean that there SMolld be
an extension OF federal activity. This
Is not advocating central.Z tiou. II Is
merely looking facts in the face and
realizing that central.zation in bus!n, IS
has already come and can not be avoid
ed. or undone. and that the public at
large can only protect itself from Ger
tain evil effects of this business cen
traliZation by providing better methods
for the exercise of control through tlc
authority already Centralized in the
national government by the CnnStitu
ton itself. There must be no halt in
the healthy constructive course Of &C.
ton which this nation has elected to
pursue. and has steadily purSu, d. dur
ing the last six years as shown Both ia
the legislation OF the cnnIr, IS and thr
administration of the law By tao de-
partment Of justice. Tn" r,rSt vii Il
need is in connection wit'' th,r ,iirnuIS
AS to these. in Ely jui ;:,.,nt thrrc
should now he tithcr II n'i'n,,! ir.nr-
poration act or a law Ii nun. railway
companies To engage in lrt I,t'tc com
Inerce upon certain cOnl!t .r'lS THE Inv
should be so framed as to ,,iyt. to ih.
interstate commerce. COl.u' ISIS on bower
to pass upon the future iSS,i. OF sccuri.
ties. while ample means shnu!l be pro
vided to enable the COmniN~i ,n " n, ~
ever in its Judgment it is necessary to
make a physical valuation OF any rail-
road AS | stated in my message to the
congress year ago railroads should
be given power to enter into agree
mcnts. subject to these agreements be-
Ing made public in minute detail and to
the consent of the interstate commerc.
commission being first obtained Until
the national government assumes
proper control of interstate commerce.
In the exercise Of the authority it al
ready possesses. it will be impossible
either to give to or to get from the
railroads full justice. The railroads
ana all other great corporations will
DO well to recognize that this control
must come: the only question is as to
what governmental body can most
wisely exercise it. The courts will de-
termne the limits within which the
federal authority can exercise 1t. and
there VIII still remain ample wor,,
within each state for the railway com
mission OF that state; and the national
Interstate commerce commission will