The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-08-20
Secretary Taft
Sounds Keynote
fcontlnued ffon Pade onsll

g saas oas',
IN is!te liking, for by q transfef from
lore class 70 another me rate. Is chang.
lea and may wofk injustice. With the
power If rate fixing, It would seem
shoald go the n the commissiol
to classify and to prescribe rules for
uniform classification by all railroads.
Amendment Needed to Prevent Over.
capitalization.
Recent revelations have emphasized
1.-THE pernicious effect Of the so-callsd
Ioyer.capitali1ation Of railroads viii h
atos INSCRIPTIONS stock manipulators
| in disposing Of railway securities at
unreasonabIy high prices to innocent
buyers. This evil would not of Itself
justify FEDERAL restraint or control be
cause such stock and bonds are usually
issued under state charters. The prac.
tice, however, has tendency to divert
the money paid by the public for the
stock and bonds which ought to be ex-
pended N improving the road bel,
track AID equipment of railways into
the pockets Of the dishonest manipula.
tors and thus to pile such an unprcft.
able debt upon a railway as to make
bankruptcy and a receivership prob.
able in the first business stringency
This result in an interstate railway
nece- salily lnterferes with and bal
dens interstate commerce, and JUST.
fies the exercise of the rgulatiye
power Of Congress to stop the practice.
A railroad company engaged in inter-
state commerce should not be per-
mitted. therefore, to issue stock or
bonds ana put them on sale in the m II.
lket except after certificate by the
interstate commerce commission that
the securities are issued with the az.
proyal Of the commission for legltI-
mate railroad purpose. The railroads
! that arc honestly conducted would ac-
cept the certificate Of the commission
as a valuable one in the markets cf
the world, and only railway stock ma
nipulators who look to the floating CT
watered securities as their best source
of profit you'd have reason to com
plain.
Rate Bill and Proposed Amendments
poslte.
Not soclaIlstic, But the OPP
The contention on behalf of the rail.
roads, already noticed, that such SUI
pervision as the rate bill aud these
suggested amendments afford, In So
cialistIc and tends to government own.
ership, is utterly without basis. Eff
cient regulation is the very antidote
and preventative of socialism and gov.
eminent ownership. The railroads, IN:
til now, have been permitted to WELD
j without any real control the enormous
lily important franchise Of furnishing
transportation to the entire country
They have Constructed 100000 miles
of road. In certain respects they have
done a marvellous work and have at
fordedI transportation Mt a cheaper
rte, per ton, per mile and per passen
ger, than in any country In the world
j They have, however, many Of them
] shamelessly violated the trust obliga
ton they have been under to the pub
] lie of furnishing equal facilities at the
l same price to all shippers. The water
/ ing of stocks and bonds and the over
capitalization of some of them for the
| profit OF their managers have prevent
ed the needed improvement Of tneil
railroads In construction and equip
ment. The tremendous demand for in
\ creased facilities due to the enormous
| growth of business shows the made
(. quacy of their equipment and construc
expected to meet in full such an ex
; ton. While they might not have beer
extraordinary demand, the obligations
some Of them have assumed in the
J form of stocks and bonds leave ne
!. doubt that, had the money they repre-
scented been put into the roads in goot
faith, the shortage of cars and equip
/. ment and inadeqaacy or road bed AM
. track would not be so great. They
discharge public function. They
. have been weighed in the balance ant
found wanting. The remedy for the
| evils must be radical to be effective
, If 1t is not so, then we may certainly
expect that the movement toward gov
I crnment ownership will become for
mldaDle one that cannot be stayed.
Objections to Government Ownership
:, lam opposed to government owner
: salp-
FRS, because existing government
: railways are not managed with either
the efficiency or economy Of privately
managed roads and the rates charged
!. re not as low and therefore not as
: leneIcia1 10 the public.