The daily sentinel., 1907-07-23

q ment ownership. very Import 6
/ y ant Tor one reason among 9TH n
q ers. that 1t was believed Mr.. *
q Bryan would insist on federal q
q ownership being an issue next q
! q year in the presidential cam "a
/ g palgn. x
& Mr.. Bryan's statement in x
1 q full as sent out by the Asso- *
| q ciated Press is as follows: *
Government ownership is not an
| immediate issue. large majority
of the people still hope for effective
regulation. While they so hope they
Will not consider ownership. While
many Democrats believe, and Mr..
Bryan is one of them, that public
ownership of railroads is the ulti-
mate solution of the problem. still
| those who believe that the public will
finally in self-defense be driven to
ownership, realize that regulation
must be tried under the most favor
able circumstances before the masses
Will be ready to try a more radical
remedy.
Not an Issue Next Year.
Regulation cannot be sufficiently
tried within the next year. There
is no desire anywhere to make gov
ernment ownership an issue in 1908.
Mr.. Bryan fully agrees with those
who believe that it would be unwise
to turn attention from regulation on
which the people are ready to act, to
| government ownership, upon which
the people are not ready to act. to
| inject the government ownership
question into the next campaign
would simply give representatives of
| the railroads a chance to dodge the
| issue and deceive the public.
$50 far the railroada have haan
! successful in preventing effective fed
eral regulation and state regulation
! has as a rule been restrained by the
| United States courts. 1t is about
| twenty years since the Interstate
| commerce commission was created. 1t
| required about ten years for the
courts to find out that the powers
conferred were insufficient and then
| il took about ten years to secure an
amendment. The railroads fought
| the amendment at every step and the
| president was finally forced to COM
| promise with the railroad Republi-
| cans in the senate in order to Sc
| cure their support. Even that amend
ment secured with tremendous eff
fort, falls short of what 1t should be.
1t aims to stop passes and rebates.
| The railroads profit pecuniary by
both the stoppage of rebates and the
ate rates still exist. State legisla-
tion for the reduction of rates has
resulted in an agitation on the part
of railroads for legislation which will
deprive the state of authority and
centralize all rate legislation in con-
gress.
Must Meet the Issue.
"The Democratic party must meet
the issue presented; it must resisi
n ogh @ tho pUthnri.
ty of the states. 1t must insist upon
the exercise of federal power for the
regulation of interstate commerce
and 1t must insist upon the exercise
of state authority for the exercise oi
all of the power vested in the state
This question has grown in import
ance during the past year and it;
prominence will be increased If any
effort is made to impair state rights
The Republican party is as impotent
to regulate the railroads as it is tC
exterminate the trust and reform th'
tariff
"The Democratic party has IL
three national conventions demanded
reforms, while the Republican plat
forms have been silent on the sub
iect The president has partially
adopted the Democratic view on thi
subject, but so far the Republican
leaders have resolutely opposed it
The president is helping to educat'
the people up to the need of railroad
regulation, but his party, under III
present leadership is powerless tC
accomplish this or any important re
form. If the Democratic party vii
clearly and intentionally demand
first, the ascertaining of the value o
ALI the railroads; second, the pre-
venting of over-capitalization; and
third. the reduction of rates to 1
4 point where they will yield only {
4 reasonable return upon the real val
ne of the roads-if the party vii
do this, It will commend itself no
only to Democrats. but to those Re
publicans who have been led to stud
the railroad situation. The railroad
situation presents a vital issue AM
the issue should be so stated that ev
cry one can understand the part
\ position"