The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-20
Lhz261lgGD
alk2a: q E:9 9 |!zzzzzZ2s1

81 t y r j +
vented the needed Improvement Of
their railroads in construction ana
equipment. While they might not have
been expected to meet In full such an
extraordinary demand, the obligations
some OF them have assumed In the form
of stocks and bonds leave no doubt
that, had the money they represented
been put into the roads In good faith,
the shortage Of ears and equipment
and inadequacy of roadbed and track
would not be SO great. They discharge
weighed in the balance and found
wanting. The remedy for the evils
must be radical to be effective.
oppose Government Ownership.
am opposed to government owner
| ship
First, because existing government
railways are not managed with either
the efficiency or economy of privately
managed roads, and the rates charged
are not as low and therefore not as
beneficial to the public
Second, because 1t would involve an
expenditure OF certainly twelve billions
of dollars to acquire the interstate
| railways and the creation of an enor-
nous national debt.
Third. because it would place in the
| hands of u reckless executive power
of control over business and politics
that the imagination can hardly con
ceive, and would expose our popular
| institutions to danger.
AS the public now asserts the right
| to fix maximum rates and thus to
| eliminate one phase Of competition, 1t
| is logical to permit an agreement on
rates. If approved by the Interstate
| Commerce Commission. the tribunal
lunnDinte6 Tho prpsiInnt
and the commission both recommend
provision permitting such agreements
| The Importance of fixing rates COM
| planned of as too great in and of them
selves, is much exaggerated; for the
overwhelming evidence Is that, on the
i whole. rates in this country. espe-
'Icialiy as compared with those of all
/ European railroads, many of which are
owned and operated by the govern
ment, are low. The chief evil consists
in unjust discrimination. in rates be-
tween individuals ud3localftes. do
not object to valuation, If thought rele-
want to any Issue: hut. merely depre-
cate the assumption that it is te be
| the chief means of great reform in
| rates.
Trusts Must Obey Law.
] The combination of capital in large
| plants to manufacture goods with the
/ as the assembling Of the parts of a
! machine to the economical and more
I rapid manufacture of what In Old times
/ was made by hand. The government
4 should not interfere with the one any
\ more than the other. When, however,
such combinations not only lower the
cost to themselves. but are able to
control the market and maintain or
/ raise the old prices. the public derives
baneNt "a c tnl in No bap 10
i of monopoly.
II Perhaps the most effective method
II in the past for an unlawful trust to
4 maintain Itself has been to secure Sc
Il crct rebates or other unlawful advan-
taSe in transportation, by threat OF
Withholding business from the carrier.
This is undoubtedly what has enabled
the Standard Oil Company and the
Sugar Trust and other great combina-
tons to reap an Illegal harvest and
! to drive all competitors from the field
/ ii. by asserting complete Federal con-
troll over the interstate railways OF
the country we can suppress secret
rebates and determinations of other
kinds we shall have gone long way
in the suppression Of the unlawful
, trusts.
One reason for the small number Of
sentences of Imprisonment in trust
{ prosecutions is that the revelations
OF unlawful trust methods and dishon,
esty have been chiefly made known II
. secret rebates, and. as have ALREADY
said, the EllSins act, until amended bS
a the rate BILL only prescribed fines a!
a mode OF punishment in such cases
r. Again, 1t is difficult to induce iure
: to convict individuals of n violation o
Q the anti-trust law, IL Imprisonment i
i to follow. In the early enforcement o
i a statute which makes unlawful, be
= cause of its evil tendencies, that which
e has been in the past regarded as legit
: innate, juries are not inclined by thei
" verdicts to imprison individuals.
I'll The attitude OF the government to
10 wards combinations Of capital for tn
1t reduction In the cost of productio
Ie should be exactly the same as towar
Ie the combinations of labor for the pur
n pose of lettering the conditions o
B. the wage-worker, and of increasing hi