Arizona republican., 1907-10-03
President Roosevelt Urges Restoration of
 the River to its Former Importance
In His St. Louis Speech He Took Occasion to Make His Ideas Regarding the Subject of Greater Federal Authority.

St. Louis. oct. 2.-President ROose- welt in a speech here today, declared that it was the nations duty to restore the Mississippi river to its proper place as a great artery of commerce, and he termed the proposed fourteen foot channel from the lakes to the gulf, a national task. He warned against plans which might entail reckless extravaganza or be tainted with jobbery." but urged liberal wa terway policy.
 The presidents ardor was not dim med by the fact that he was drenched by a sudden downoour of rain while en route to the Jai Alai building where the speech was delivered.
 A tremendous ovation was accorded the national executive when the steamer Mississippi entered St Louis harbor to make the first stop of the voyage from Keokuk Iowa to Mem phis. Tenn, where he will attend the convention of the Deep Waterways As soci2tion on FridaE.
 The president took occasion espec- ially to emphasize his views on the necessity Of central control of the in terstate corporations, and he frequent. ly departed from his manuscript to elaborate and make cleared his views on that point. His contention was that there must be some power that can control those institutions, espec- ially the railroads. He spoke at length of the difficulty of reaching corporations which are Incorporated in one state and operate in anoth CT. He instanced especially the eX- periencc of getting the Southern Pa cific railroad to repair breaks in the Colorado river. That disaster occur red in California" he said. but do you suppose I found it possible to deal with the railroad there? No, the rail- road is-a New Jersey corporation had to deal with it as such
 'I believe that the nation has the whole governmental power over inter- state commerce and the widest discre- tion in dealing with that subject; of course under the express limits pre- scribed in the Constitution for the eX- ercise of all powers. such for instance as the condition that due process of law shall not be denied. The nation has no direct power over purely in- terstate commerce, even where II is conducted by the same agencies which conduct interstate commerce. The courts must determine what is na- tional and what is state commerce. The same reasoning which sustained the power of congress to incorporate the United States Bank tends to sus- tain the power to incorporate an inter state railroad. or any other corpora tion conducting an interstate business
 There are difficulties arising from our dual form of government If they prove to be insuperable, resort must be had to the power of amendment Let us first try to meet them by an exercise of all the powers of the na- tional government which in the Mar shall spirit of broad interpretation. can be found in the constitution as it is. They are of vast extent. The chief economic question of the day in this country is to provide a sovereign for the great corporations engaged in in- terstate business: that is, for the railroads and the interstate industrial corporations. At the moment our prime concern is with the railroads. When railroads were first built they were purely local in character. Their boundaries were not co-eXtenSiVe even with the boundaries of one state. They usually covered but two or three cOun- ties. All this has now changed. At present five great systems embody