Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-06-13

facts; suit in the interest OF the peo-
pie as a whole. and, in the long run, par
ticuIarly IN the interest of stockholders
well as in the interest of business men
Of property generally.
There can be no swerEing from the
course that has thus been mapped out in
the legislation actually enacted. and in the
message in which l asked for further legis-
latioa.
We best serve the interest of the honest
railway men when we announce that we
will follow out precisely this course. 1t
is the course of real, of ultimate conserv-
atism. There will be no halt in the for
ward movement toward q full Development
Of this policy; and those who wish us TO
take a step backward or to stand still,
if their wishes were realized. would ind
that they had invited an outbreak of the
very radicalism they fear.
There must be progressive legislation and
administrative action for the correction of
the evils which every sincere man must
admit to have existed in railroad manage
Inent in the past.
Such additional legislation as that for
which | have asked in the past. ard es-
pecially that for which l asked il my
message at the opening of the last ses-
sion OF Congress. is not merely in the
interest OF the public, but most emphat-
ically in the interest of every honest rail-
way manager and of all investors or would
be investors in railway securities.
Must Have Full Power
There must be vested in the Federal
government full power Of supervision and
control over the railways doing interstate
business a power in many respects analog-
Gus to and as complete that the gov
eminent exercises over the national banks.
1t must possess the power to exercise
pervision over the future issues of stocks
and bonds, either through a national in
corporation (which I should prefer) or
some similar fashion, such supervision to in
clude the frank publicity Of everything
which would-be investors and the public
at large have a right to know. The Fed
eral government will thus be able to pre-
vent all capitaliza ton In the future
to prevent any man hereafter from plum
dering others by loading railway properties
instead of spending it in Improvements and
in legitimate corporate purposes; and any
acting in such fashion should be held
to criminal accountability.
1t should be declared contrary to pub
lie policy henceforth to allow railroads to
devote their capital to anything but the
transportation business, certainly not to the
hazards of speculation. For the very rea-
son that we desire to favor the honest rail-
road manager. we should seek TO discour-
age the activities of the man whose only
concern with railroads is to manipulate their
stocks.
The business of railroad organization and
management should be kept entirely dis
tinct from investment or brokerage bust
ness, especially of the speculative type,
and the credit and property of the corpora
ton should be devoted to the extension and
betterment of its railroads and to the de-
velopment of the country naturally tribu-
tary to the lines. These principles are fun
damental
We seek nothing revolutionary. We ask
for such laws as in their essence now OBJ
tain in the staid old commonwealth of