Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-07-23
STATEMENT FROM Mr.. BRYAN.
Democratic Leader Outlines Policy
For His PARTY.

Democratic Leader Outlines Policy
For His Party.
Hon. VIM. ]. Bryan on last Saturday
sent out the following statement from
Lincoln, Nebraska:
Government ownership Is not ar
immediate issue. A large majority OF
the people still hope for effective reg,
ulation. While they so hope they vii
not consider government ownership
While many Democrats believed, ano
Mr.. Bryan Is one of them, that public
ownership Of railroads is the ultimate
solution of the problem, still those
who believe that the public will finally
in self-defense be driven to ownership
recognize that regulation must be triec
under the most favorable circum-
stances before the masses Will De
ready to try more radical remedy.
Regulation cannot be sufficiently
tried within the next year. There Is nc
desire anywhere to make government,
ownership an issue in 1908. Mr.. Bry-
an fully agrees with those who believe
that 1t would be unwise to turn atten-
ton from regulation, on which the
people are ready to act, to government
ownership, on which the people are
not ready to act. To inject the gov
ernment ownership question into the
next campaign would simply give rep
resentatives Of the railroads a chance
to dodge the issues Of the regulation
and deceive the public.
Some of the railroads have been
successful in preventing effective Fed
eral regulation, and state regulation
has, as rule, been restrained by the
United States court. 1t is about
ciy
commerce commission was created. II
required about ten years for the courts
to find out that the powers conferred
were insufficient, and then it took
about ten years to procure an amend
ment. The railroads fought the amend
ment at every step and the president
was finally forced to compromise with
the railroad Republicans in the senate
in order to procure their support
Even that amendment, obtained
with tremendous effort, falls short OF
what it should be. 1t aims to stop
passes and rebates. The railroads
profit pecuniarily by both the stop
page Of rebates and the prohibition of
passes, but extortionate rates still exist
State legislation for the reduction of
rates has resulted in an agitation on
the part of the railroads for legislation
which will deprive the state Of au-
thority and centralize all state legisla-
ton in congress.
"The Democratic party must meet
the issue presented; it must resist the
encroachments on the authority Of the
states. 1t must insist upon the exer-
else of Federal power for the regula-
tion of inter- state commerce and 1t
must insist upon the exercise Of state
authority for the exercise Of all Of the
power vested in the state. This queS-
ton has grown in Importance during
the past year and it's prominence Will
be increased If any attempt is made to
impair state authority. The Republican
party Is as impotent to regulate the
railroads as it is to exterminate the
trusts and to reform the tariff.
1.-The Democratic party has in three
national campaigns demanded effective
railroad regulation. while the Republi-
can national platforms have been ST.
lent on the subject The president has
partly adopted the Democratic view
on this subject but so far the Republi-
can leaders have resolutely oppressed
it, The president Is helping to educate
the people up to the need Of railroad
legislation, but his party, under Its
present leadership, is powerless to ac-
complish this or any other important
reform. If the Democratic party will
clearly and unequivocally demand first,
the ascertaining Of the value Of all the
railroads: second, the preventing of
over capitalization, and, third, the
reduction of rates to a point where
they will yield only a reasonable re-
turn on the real value Of the roads. 1t
will commend itself not only to Dem
ocrats, but those Republicans who
have been led to study the railroad
question. The railroad situation pres
ents a vital issue, and the issue should
be so stated that everv one can under
stand the partY's position"