The evening star and Newark advertiser., 1907-10-02

should have power in cases where the
separate States were incompetent to act
with fun efficiency, and where. the har-
mony Of the United States would be inter-
rupted by the exercise of such individual
legislation. The interstate railroad situa-
ton is exactly a case in point. There will.
of course, be local matters Affecting rail-
roads which can best be dealt with by
local authority, but as national commercial
agents the big interstate railroad ought to
be completely subject to national authority.
Only thus can we secure their complete
subjection to, and control by, single
sovereign. representing the whole people,
and capable both of protecting the public
and Of seeing that the railroads neither
infifct nor endure injustice.
Personally, 1 firmly believe that there
should be national legislation to control
all industrial corporations doing an inter-
state business, including the control Of
the output of their securities. but as to
these the necessity for Federal control Is
less urgent and Immediate than is the case
with the railroads. Many of the abuses
connected with these corporations will
probably tend to disappear now that the
ting the upper hand as regards putting
stop to the rebates and special privileges
which some of these corporations have en-
joyed at the hands of the common carriers.
But ultimately 1t will be found that the
complete remedy for these abuses lies in
direct and affirmative action by the Ma
tional Government That there is consti-
tutional power for the national regulation
of these corporations l have myself no
question. Two or three generations ago
there was just as much hostility TO ma
tional control of banks as there is now to
national control of. railroads OF of indus
trial corporations doing an interstate busi-
ness That hostility now seems to us
ludlcrous In its lack of warrant; In like
manner, gentlemen, our descendants will
regard with wonder the present opposi-
tion to giving the National Government
adequate power to control these great cor
porations which 1t alone can fully, and yet
wisely safely, and justly control. Re-
member also that to regulate the formation
of these corporations offers one of the most
direct and efficient methods of regulating
their activities.
IT am not pleading for an extension. Of
constitutional power. | am pleading that
constitutional power which already exists
shall be applied to new conditions which
did not exist when the Constitution went
into being. I ask that the national powers
already conferred upon the national gov
ernment by the Constitution shall be so
used ms to bring national commerce and
Industry effectively under the authority of
the Federal government and thereby avert
Industrial chaos. My plea Is not to bring
about a condition of Capitalization. 1t is
that the government shall recognize con-
dition of Capitalization in a field where 1t
already exists. When the national bank
ing law was passed 1t represented in reality
not Capitalization, but recognition of the
fact that the country had so far advanced
that the currency was already q matter of
national concern and must be dealt with
by the central authority at Washington.
So it is with interstate industrialism, and
especially with the matter of interstate
railroad operation today. Capitalization
has already taken place in the world of
commerce and industry. All L ask is that
the national government look this fact in
the face. accept 1t as q. fact and fit itself
accordingly for policy of supervision
and control over this centralized commerce
and industry"