The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-14
Roosevelt Comes Out
 M Defense Of Tdff


 hand nor given proper protection on the
 other, save by the affirmative action of
 the federal government. The law as lald
 down by the federal courts clearly shows
 that the states have not and cannot de-
 wise laws adequate to meet the problems
 caused by the great growth of the rail- l roads doing an interstate commerce bus
 mess, for more than four-fifths of the
 business of the railroads Is interstate and
 under the constitution of the United
 States only the federal government can
 exercise control thereover. It is ab-
 solutely necessary that this control should be affirmative and thorogoing. All in-
 terstate business carried on by the great 1 corporations should, in the interest of the 1 whole people, be far more closely super
 vised than at present by the national gov
 ernment; but this Is especitlly true of the railroads, which cannot exist at all save l by the exercise of powers granted them on behalf of the people, and which, there l fore, should be held to a peculiar &C., countability to the people. 1t is in the l interest of the people that they should | not be permitted to do injustice; and it Is
 no less to the interest of the people that l they should not suffer injustice. Their
 prime purpose is to carry the commodi-
 ties of the farmers and the business men; | they could not be built save for the money 1 contributed to them by their shareholders; l they could not be run at all save for the l money paid out in wages to the railroad l employees; and, finally they could not 1 be run Judiciously, or proftably to any ] one, were it not for the employment by | them of some masterful guiding intelh- | gence, whether of one man or of a group
 of men. There are, therefore. several
 sets of interests to be considered. Each
 must receive proper consideration. Each
 when any one of them selnshly demands i exclusive consideration the demand must be refused. Along certain lines all of | these groups have the same interests. It i is to the interest of shipper, farmer,
 wage-worker, business man, honest share holder, and honest manager alike that there should be economy, honesty, intelli- gence and fair treatment of all To put an effective stop to stock watering would be benefit to everybody except the swindlers who profit by stock watering; 1t
 
 cause honest investments would not be brought into competition with mere paper; 1t would benefit the wage-worker because when the money earned does not have to go to paying interest on watered capital, more of 1t is left, out of which to pay
 wages; 1t would benefit the shipper be- cause when only honest stockholders have to be paid interest. rates need not be im- properly raised; 1t would benefit the pub lie because there would be ample money with which to give efficient service. Sim ilarly, the prevention of favoritlsm as among shippers does no damage to any one who is honest, and confers great good
 upon the smaller business man and the farmer, whom it relieves of oppression. Again, such supervision of accounts and
 management as will prevent crookedness l and oppression works good, directly or indirectly, to all honest people There
 fore everything that can be done along all these lines should be done; and no mans legitimate Interest would thereby be hurt But after this point has been
 reached great care must be exercised not to work injustice to one class in the effort to show favor to another class,
 and each class naturally tends to remem- Der only its own needs. The stockhold-
 CTS must receive an ample return on their
 Investments, or the railroads cannot be built and successfully maintained; and the rates to shippers and the wages to em- i ployees, from the highest to the lowest, ] must all be conditioned upon this fact. On the other hand, in public service cor poration We have no right to allow such excessive profits as will necessitate rates
 being unduly high and wages unduly low.
 Again, when in all proper ways rates
 must be kept low, we must always re- | member that we have no right and no Justification to reduce them when the re- suit is the reduction of the wages of the great army of railroad men. fair
 working arrangement must be devised &C., | cording to the needs of the several cases. | so that profits, wages and rates shall each be reasonable with reference to the other 1 two-and In wages l include the properly large amounts which should always be paid 10 those whose masterful ability Is required for the successful direction of great enterprises. Combinations which favor such an equitable arrangement shouio tnemselveS be favored and not forbidden by law; although they should
 be strictly supervised by the government
 through the interstate commerce com
 mission, which should have the power of
 passing summarily upon not only the question of the reduction but the raising of rates.
 This railroad problem is itself one of the phases of one of the greatest and most intricate problems of our civiliz .- ton; for It's proper solution we need not merely honesty and courage, but judg- ment, good sense and entire fairminded- ness. Demagogy in such a matter is as certain to work evil as corruption itself
 The man who promises to raise the wages of railroad employees to the highest point and at the same .ilne to reduce rases to the lowest point is promising what neither 1 he nor any one else can perform; and f the effort to perform 1t were artempted l disaster would result to both shipper and wage-worker, and ruin to the business in- terests Of the country The man to trust if such a matter as this is the msn who like JudgeTaft, does not promise too much, but who could not be swa Jed from the path of duty by anw argument, by any consideration; who will wage relent- less war on the sucressi al vr,npdoer 1.nong ralroad men as among all other men; who will do all that can be. done to secure legitimately low lates kt6 ship pers and absolute evenness ary.ohg the rates thus sssurcd; but who will neither, promise nor attempt to secure -1tes so low that the vagc earnel wculJ lose his earnings and the shareholder, w ose
 money built the road his profits. He will