The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-07-30
TAFT OUTLINES
PARTY POLICIES
Acceptance Speech Keynote Of
Campaign.
HIGH PRAISE FOR ROOSEVELT.

Income Tax by Statutory Law If
Necessary For Revenues Rather
Than by Amendment to the consti-
tvtion-Rishts of Both Organized
and unorsanized Labor Should Be
lmPartiaIly Upheld.
Senator Warner and Gentlemen CT
the Committee: l am deeply sensible
Vt the honor which the Republican Ma
tional Convention has conferred on mo
In the nomination which you formally
tender. | accept it with full apprecla-
tlOn of the responsibility 1t imposes.
Gentlemen, the strength of the Re-
publican cause in the campaign at
hand Is In the fact that we represent
the policies essential to the reform of
known abuses, to the continuance of
liberty and true prosperity, and that
We are determined. as our platform un
eQuivOcally declares, to maintain them
and carry them on. For more than ten
years this country passed through an
epoch of material development far be-
yond any that ever occurred in the
world before. In its course. certain
evils Crept In. Some prominent and In
nuential members Of the community,
spurred by financial success and in
their hurry for greater wealth, became
unmindful Of the common rules of
business honesty and fidelity and of
the limitations imposed by law upon
their action. This became known. The
revelations Of the breaches Of trust,
the disclosures as to rebates and dis.
ordinations by railways, the accumu-
lating evidence Of the violation Of the
antitrust law by number of corpora
tions, the Oyerissue of stocks Jnd bonds
on interstate railways for the unlawful
enrichlng of directors and for the pur-
pose of concentrating control Of rail
ways In one management. all quick
ened the conscience of the people, and
brought on a moral awakening among
the country.
What Roosevelt Has Done.
The man who formulated the express
sion of the popular conscience and who
led the movement for practical reform
was Theodore Roosevelt He laid
down the doctrine that the rich vlolator
Of the law should be as amenable to
restraint and punishment as the Of
fender without wealth and without in
huence, and he proceeded by recon-
mending legislation and directing eX
ecutive action to make that principle
good In actual performance.
President Roosevelt directed suits to
be brought and prosecutions to be in
Gtituted under the antitrust law to en-
force It's provisions against the most
powerful of the industrial corporations.
He pressed to passage the Nure food
law and the meat inspection law in the
interest of the health of the public,
clean business methods and great ulti
mate benefit to the trades themselves.
He recommended the passage Of a law,
which the Republican convention has
since specifically approved, restricting
the future issue of stocks and bonds by
interstate railways to such as may be
authorized by Federal authority.
CHIEF Function OF Next Administration
The chief function of the next Ad-
ministration, in my Judgment Is dis
tinct from, and a progressive develop
ment of that which has been performed
by President Roosevelt. The chief
function Of the next Administration Is
to complete and perfect the machinery
by which these standards may be main
tanned, by which the lawbreakers may
be promptly restrained and punished,
but which shall operate with sufficient
accuracy and dispatch to interfere with
Legitimate business as little as possible.
Such machinery Is not now adequate
Physical Valuation of Railways.
Some Of the suggestions of the Demo
cratic platform relate really to this
subordinate and ancillary machinery
to which have referred. Take for In
stance the so-called physical valuation
of railways" 1t u clear that the sum
OF all rates or receipts of q railway,
less proper expenses, should be limited
to fair profit upon the reasonable
value of its property, and that If the
sum exceeds this measure, it ought to
be reduced. The difficulty in enforcing
the principle is In ascertalning what is
the reasonable value of the company's
property, and in fixing what IS n fair
profit 1t is clear that the physical
value Of a railroad and its plant Is an
element to be given weight in deter
mining its full value; but as President
Roosevelt in his indianapolis speech
and the Supreme Court have In effect
pointed out, the value of the railroad
as going concern, including its good
will, due to efficiency of service and
many other circumstances, may be
much greater than the value Of It's tan
gible property, and it is the former thar
measures the Investment on which n
fair profit must be allowed. Then, too,
the question what is fair profit is one
involving not only the rate Of interest
usually earned on normally safe invest
ments. but also sufficient allowance
to make up for the risk of loss both
Of capital and interest in the original
outlay. These considerations will have
Justified the company In imposing
charges high enough to secure fair
income on the enterprise as whole
Tue securities at market prices will
have passed Into the hands Of subse-
quent purchasers from the original in
vestors. Such circumstances should
properly affect the decision of the tri-
bunal engaged in determining whether
the tOtality OF rates charged is reason
able or excessive. To ignore them
might so seriously and unjustly i'm
pair settled yalupH aS to destroy all