Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-02-27
SUCH is SENATOR BURkETTS
CHARACTERIZATION OF GOV
ERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
TRADITIONS OF THE REPUBLIC
REVOLT AGAINST THE RULE
OF pATERNALISM.


mined the relations of governments
| to their railroads. But none of those
influences impel America to govern
ment ownership. Americanism is a
mighty protest against paternalism-
we are born as a republic, out or a
great contest of individuaIism against
/ paternalism. The traditions Of the re-
public and the inspiration of her peo-
| pie revolt against the ante-deluvian
| rule CT paternalism.'
So said Senator Burkett of Nebras-
ka at the annual convocation OF
! George Washington University in
celebration of Washington's birthday.
Senator Burkett said there we're three
! considerations that call for attention
three phases of each question that
must be determined: The constitu,
tional phase, the financial phase, and
the political phase. Is it constitution,
al? Is it economic? Is it polite?
Il think | may say without great
fear of contradiction" the speaker OBJ
served, that the authors of the con
stitwtion did not contemplate, to say
the least, that the government should
! enter, in any degree, commercial puT-
suits. The fundamental law was made
upon the theory that the government
was to be a regulator of things, and
not a doer of things; that it was to be
a harmonizer Of differences, rather
than a participation in the struggle for
/ life; that it was to encourage thrift
without Withholding any of its re-
arwds; that it was to regulate COM
merce without trafficking in trade;
that it was to help men, but not to be
competitors of men. In short, the
founders of the republic, the authors
of the constitution, believed, as one of
their distinguished members express
ed it, that nothing should be done by
the general government which the To-
cal authorities are competent to do.
and nothing by any governmental
power which individuals can do for
themselves.
Discussing the economic phase of
the question Senator Burkett de-
clared:
Now of course / know that some
one wants to answer that the business
will pay its own way. Ho do you
know? 1t may-some years, but not
every year-it may not any year. The
United States has never made money
out of anything so far-how do you
know it would out of railroads? Gov
eminent ownership of railroads has
paid in some countries. some years.
In some countries no years, but in no
country every year. Private ownership
has paid at times in this country, at
other times it has not paid. | recall
that within ten years more than
fourth Of the mileage of this country
has been sold on the auction block be-
cause it could not pay interest upon
the mortgages This is the era Of
greatest prosperity that this genera
ton, and probably any generation, has
ever seen. yet Poor's Manual of Rail
road Information, the authority that
nobody disputes. says that some rail
roads did not make running expenses
last year. 1t also shows that some
parts of great systems lost much
money. The interstate commerce com
mission informed me that thirty
seven per cent. Of the railroad stock
paid no dividends last year, and that
some were Ill the hands of a receiver.
Those railroads, every mile of them,
have been paying taxes into our treas
uries. Under government ownership
they would not be taxed. cannot i'm
agine a more distressing event to the
tax paying public, unless it would be
one of those years when the railroads
under government ownership, failed
to pay expenses, and the people not
only lose the railroad tax, but must
tax themselves an additional sum to
make up the deficiency of railroad ex,
penses. In that time the people will
wish, in terms pathetic and express
i've, that there was some despised and
sometimes abused railroad capitalist
The senator questioned the wisdom
upon whom to unload the deficiency"
-
ship of the railways. He held that it
would involve the assumption of a
vast debt with our growth as a ma
ton depends upon the supervision and
improvements, it has been American
policy to keep out of debt, and until
the Panama canal no dollar of bonds,
so far as l can learn, has been issued
in contemplation Of any internal i'm
srovements We have paid rs we
went, because We have not gone fast
er than our income would allow. And
our bonded Indebtedness today, aside
from small amounts now and then is
sued to meet mistaken estimates and
mfscalculations of the relation Of in
come and expenditure, represents war
Indebtedness. Our people have not
accustomed themselves to e gantic
public debts for civil purposes. Every
American citizen prides himself in the
belief that the good time is surely
coming when our debts shall be paid
and no bond of American liability can
he hawked about the markets of the
world That sentiment cannot De
overturned in a day Government
ownership means a plunge into IL
debtedness from which we can never
return. Railroads under any sort of
ownership must be operated by men
plain, frail men. Successful opera
ton" he said, with all our internal
control of the operating under either
SYSTEM Let the government control
and provide in general the objects