The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-23
SETH LOWS PLEA
WANTS PERMISSION FOR
RAILROADS TO COMBINE.
at Same Time Warns Directors That
Public Is Suspicious of Large
Fortunes Quickly Acquired.

CHICAGO, Oct PA plea for the pas
sage of a law which would permit COM
binations between railroads., after the
terms of their proposed agreement mad
been submitted t. the Interstate Conn
merce Commission. and had been approved
by that body. was made by Seth Low.
former Mayor of New York, in an address
on National Control of Railroads." made
at the session of the Trust Conference
here. He believes that such agreements.
If perfectly understood by the public at
the time OF making may reasonably be
expected to work in the public interest.
ut is the things that are done In secret.
without public knowledge. and often with
out regard to the public interest, from
which the public suffers" said Mr.. Low
"In an age like this. when the large unit
is demonstrating its economy In every
thing: wher the steamships are larger
than ever before; when locomotives are
more powerful than ever before; when
every sort Of combination in mechanics
Is on a scale greater than ever dreamed
of in any previous epoch; it Is not only
idle to suppose that the industries and
TRANSFORMATION systems of the country can
be successfully conducted in small units,
but 1t is also manifestly to the disad-
vantage of the public to try TO have them
so conducted. The large corporation has
demonstrated its efficiency. and it's econo-
nv too strongly to leave any room for
doubt that in a country like ours, IL the
neople are to be we'll served, there must
be large combinations In the transporta-
tion service. as elsewhere. The problem
is how to secure the benefit of such com
binations, without suffering the evils
which they are also capable of developing.
"The only answer that has been sug-
eested. outside of government ownership
and operation, is governmental control,
and that control ought to be so devised
as both to permit and to encourage COM
binations and joint agreements between
railroads whenever these are in the pubic
interest. The two things that are neces-
sarv to make such regulation effective are,
first, of all, a recognition that the railroad
service of the country is really a part OF
the public service, although it is conducted
through private agencies; and, secondly,
that the object of governmental control OF
the private agencies doing this business is
not to limit their activities, but to make
sure that all their activities are conceived,
first and last, in the public interest. This
is really the characterization of business,
Mr.. Low said the small private investor
is coming more and more to demand OF
railroad directors the same sort of self
a~bnegation that the law demands of a
private trustee as towards his ward. The
tremendous increase in the movement OF
merchandise has so far .outstripped present
that the railroads themselves ana
the public, as well, want them to enlarge.
But the railroads inc it difficult to get
the necessary money" declared Mr.. Low
land the public will not furnish 1t. BACK
of all this there lie two influences which
certainly have to be reckoned with. The
plain man understands that business en-
tarartoaU op1 pOod caryicQ are untitled TO