The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-05-30
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TEXT OF ADDRESS


i Continued from page one.)
demands ON our part unfaltering
courage, and yet a wise. good-natur-
ed self-restraint; so that on the
one hand we shall neither be daunt-
! ed by difficulties nor fooled by
those who would seek to persuade
us that the difficulties are insupera-
BILE; while on the other hand we are
not misled into showing either rash
ness or indebtedness. Let us try
as a people to show the same quail
tiles as We deal with the Industrial
and social problems of today that
Abraham Lincoln showed when with
indomitable resolution, but with a
kindness, patience, and common
sense quite as remarkable, he faced
four weary years of open war in
front, OF calumny, detraction and in
trlgue from behind, and at the end
gave to his countrymen whom he had
served so we'll the blood-bought gift
of race freed and a nation forever
united.
"One great problem that we have
before us is to preserve the rights of
property: and these can only be-
preserved ifewe remember that they
are in less jeopardy from the social
list and the anarchist than from the
predatory man Of wealth. 1t has be-
come evident that to refuse to invoke
1.-The power of the nation to. restrain
the wrongs committed by the man of
great wealth who does evil is not only
to neglect the interests of the public,
but is to neglect the interests of man
of means who acts honorably by his
fellows. The power of the nation
must be exerted to stop crimes of
cunning no less than crimes of vio-
Hence. There can be no halt in the
course we have deliberately elected to
pursue, the policy of asserting 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 word to you about the first and
most important feature of this task, |
the control of the common carriers
doing an interstate business; a con-
troll absolutely vested in the nation,
while in so far as the common car
riers also transport the mails 1t 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 the clause of
the constitution granting to the ma
tional government power to establish |
post roads and therefore by necessary
implication power to take all action
necessary in order to keep them at
the highest point of efficiency
Every federal law dealing with cor
operations or with railroads that has
been put upon the statute books dur
ing the last six years has been
step in advance in the, right direc-
ton. All action taken by the adminis-l
tration under these and the pre-ex-
isting laws has been just and proper.
Every suit undertaken during that
period has been a suit not merely |
warranted, but required, by the
facts; a suit in the interest of the
people as a whole, and, in the long
run. particularly in the interest of
est of business men of property gem
orally. There can be no swerving /
from the course that has thus been
mapped out in the legislation actual
ly enacted and in the messages in
which | have asked for further Leg
|islation. We best serve the interests
lof the honest railway men when we
announce that we will follow out pre-
cisely this course. II Is the course of
real, of ultimate conservatism. There
will be no halt In the forward move
|ment toward a full development Of
this policy; and those who wish us to
take step backward or to stand
|stfll, if their wishes were realized.
would find that they had Invited an
Outbreak of the very radicalism they
fear There must be progressive leg
islation and administrative action
for the correction Of the evils which |
Ievery sincere man must admit to
have existed in railroad management
In the past.
Such additional legislation as tnat
for which l have asked in the past,
land especially that for which / asked
in my message at the opening of thel
Hast session of congress. is not mere
lily in the interest Of the public, butt
most emphalicaliy in the interest OIL
leyers honest railway manager and of
all investors or would-be investors in
railway securities.
Control of Railroads.
"There must be vested in the fed
;eral government full power of
supervision and control over the rail-
ways doing interstate business; a
power In many respects analogous to