Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-05-30

POINTS TO IOWA AS EXAMPLE
Says State Is Example Of Prosperity
in Face Of Stringent Railway Lesis-
lation-Public Control and Govern
ment Supervision Of Railways Must
Continue.

Continue.
Indianapolis May 3o.-President
{ Roosevelt delivered notable address
here this afternoon, in connection with
public exercises attending the un-
yelling Of the statue to General Law
!, ton, the Philippine hero. As antici-
pated, the president after appropriate
references to the day and the occa-
sion took up and discussed rail legis-
lation and government and public
control of big corporations. The ex-
pressed attitude Of the president at
this time has been awaited with IN
terest by financial and political cir
.cles.
President Roosevelt's attitude, as
expressed today, has not changed, and
he declared that the present reform
movement must go forward, with the
view of securing fair deal to hon
est capital and the public alike In
the course OF his address he said that
the socialist and anarchist We're not
SO dangerous as the predatory man
Of wealth. an opinion that he eluci-
dated fully, so that he would not be
misunderstood. The president said in
part:
One great problem that we have be-
fore us is to preserve the rights OF
property; and these can only be pre-
served il we remember that they are
I in less jeopardy from the socialist and
the anarchist than from the predatory,
man Of wealth. It has become evident
that to refuse to invoke the power Of
the nation to restrain the wrongs COM
miI;ed by the man of great wealth who
does evil is not, only to neglect the in
terests of the public, but is to neglect
the interests of the man ofsmeans who
acts honorably, by his fellows. The
power of the nation must be exerted
J. to stop crimes OF cunning no less than
, crimes of violence. There can be no
halt in the course We have deliberately
elected to pursue, the policy Of assert
ling. the right of the nation. so far, as 1t
has the power, to supervise and control
the business use OF wealth, especially
/ in its corporate form. Today wish
to say a word to you about the first
and most important feature Of this
task, the control of the common car
riers doing an interstate business;
control absolutely vested in the ma
ton, while in so far as the common
carriers also transport the mails it is
in my opinion probable that whether
their business is or is not interstate 1t
is to the same extent subject to federal
control, under that clause of the COM
stitution granting to the national gov
ernment power to establish post roads
and therefore by necessary implica-
ton power to take all action necessary
in order to keep them at the highest
point of efficiency.
Every federal law dealing with cor
porations or with railroads that has
been put upon the statute books dur
ing the last six years has been a step
In advance in the right direction. All
action taken by the administration un-
der these and the pre-existing laws has
been just and proper There
can be no swerving from the course
that has thus been mapped out in the
Legislation actually enacted and in the
messages in which I have asked for
further legislation. We best serve the
interests Of the honest railway men
when we announce that we will follow
out precisely this course. It is the
course OF real, Of ultimate conserva-
tism.. There will be no halt In the
forward movement toward full de-
velopment of this policy; and those
who wish us to take step backward
or to standl still. if their wishes were
realized, would find that they had in
vited an outbreak of the very radical
ism they fear. There must be progress
sive legislative and administrative ac-
ton for the correction of the evils
which every sincere man must admit
to have existed in railroad manage
ment in the past.
Government Must Have Power.
There must be vested in the federal
government a full power Of supervision
and control over the railways doing in
terstate business; power in many re-
spects analogous to and as complete
as that the government exercises over
the national banks. 1t must possess
the power to exercise supervision over
the future issuance Of stocks and
bonds, either thru a national incorpor-
alton (which should prefer) or IN
some similar fashion, such supervision
to include the frank publicity Of every
thing which would-be investors and the
public at large have right to know.
The federal government will thus be
able to prevent all overcapitalization in
the future; to prevent any man here
after from plundering others by load
ing railway properties with obligations
and pocketing the money instead of
spending it in improvements and in
legitimate corporate purposes; and
any man acting in such fashion should
be- held to criminal accountability. It
should be, declared contrary to public
policy henceforth to allow railroads to
devote their CAPITAL to anything but
the transportation business. certainly
sst - the hazards OF speculation. For