New-York tribune., 1907-05-23

he had wandered far afield The Constitution
safeguarded property rights. and no person or
corporation could be deprived Of their rights by
this bill
CONDITION, NOT A THEORY
I'VE have q condition, not a theory, confront
Ing u.s." he went Here we have good times
and prosperous times. when seemingly every
body should be happy and contented. Never be-
fore have 1 prosperous times without peace
ano contentment among the people. Now there
is a dangerous spirit of unrest abroad. 1t is
due to the methods OF the public service corpor-
ations and the people who control them. They.
their methods and manner Of doing business
must be subject to the proper regulation, or the
people will insist government ownership.
This delegatng powers to good. sensible men
will solve the problem and work out for the
general interest of the people"
We'll. I'm glad the country is so prosperous"
chimed in Senator McCarren; yet we can't sell
bonds OF the city of New York. Philadelphia
recently tried to dispose of So. 100000 bonds and
could not Southern railroad tried to borrow
S2OOOOO0O and couldn't get cent. Other rail-
roads have had to go to Europe to dispose or
their bonds. There are many signs indubltable
signs pointing to a panic. If Senator Hinman
thinks we can enact legislation like this to curb
the men whose brains and energy and invest
ment or CdpltdI nave DuII up lile SOuiitiS WIN
out precipita ting disaster 1t Is insult to their
intelligence. These men naturally feel that they
should get some return-some profit. We must
hold out some sort OF guarantee to them, some
promise of profit to capital; mustn't discour-
age II, we mustn't handicap it, If we want it TO
invest In improvements to benefit the people. II
capital is curbed, If It is disturbed. If war Is
made 1t, every man here will be made to feel
his responsibility for q condition he would not
like TO see II some capitalists, some railroad
magnates are not good Samaritans If they do
not live up to the Biblical rule. they are isolated
cases, not the rule. I am not an alarmst or
pessimist l would like to be optmst, and
yet there are portentous signs Many Of the
men responsible for this legislation will not have
TO live long TO regret conditions which Will make
men inert and encourage the robber. the liar and
the loafer."
MCARREN AMENDMENT LOST.
The McCarren amendment was lost, 36 to 10.
and then Senator SAKE put himself on record as
favoring his conduit amendment. though he did
not offer 1t formally, being bound by the caucus
rule Senator Thompson offered an amendment
that the commissioners should be elected every
two years and declared that the Associated
Building Trades, numbering some two hundred
thousand men, were against the bill because 1t
would compel them to work for whatever their
employers would give them go to Jail II they
tried to strike. Senator Page disposed OF his
contention with the remark that the constitu-
tion said few words about involuntary servl-
tude, and the amendment was defeated, SO 10 Il.
Then the rollcall began. When Senator
Fuller's name was called he declared that he
voted for the bill because 1t was essentially
Democratic.
When the corporations have abused their
privileges as they have" said he. 'it is thor
oughly Democratic to take them by the neck
and make them understand they merely
r1lhl 70 nj
inefficient. We need trained. expert officials TO
meet the work Of the railroad companies
trained expert attorneys.
Senator McCarren wanted to know where Sen
ator Fuller had acquired that brand OF Democ-
racy.
PARTY COMMITTED TO PROPOSITION.
Senator Raines declared that the Republican
convention declared for control Of public utili-
ties and the candidate for Governor made his
canvass on that issue. 50 the party was com
mitted to the proposition.
1T is easy enough to declare for a PROPOSE
tion." he went on. but II is a different task -
put It into black and white for execution. The
Governor and his friends la5ored months over
this. From the Governor down they know this
is not perfect bill but there is the future. AMI
the future will bring wisdom. There came a
time when the people became alarmed over the
vote on policy where differences arose between
the Governor and Republicans this foor-a
question in which was involved feelings ana
W All'lpiVS btdI ~ every Iltilpti hl tIliH bOuT
So II proper for conference OF Repub-
licans 10 be called. and after 1t a caucus and as
result we are here. solidly Republican. TO pass
the utilities Dill. am proud again OF the Re-
publican party. in that IT acknowledges from the
Governor down that II is party. and has be-
hind II the omniscient rule OF King Caucus.
Other propositions will come before this Senate
If they are Republican measures they viii have
the caucus rule behind them There are many
propositions in this bill with which | am not In
accord-potical and economic propositions-yet
l have yielded, others have done my personal
opinion to the opinions OF the majority, knowing
that the wisdom OF all IS better than the wisdom
OF one"
Most people interpreted Senator Raines's alu-
sion TO other measures TO mean the appOrtion-
ment bill.