Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-01
recommend that congress give careful
consideration to the subject.
Further Regulation Needed


certain laws affecting wage earners;
there should also be such action on
laws better to secure control over
the great business concerns engaged
in interstate commerce and especially
over the great common carriers.
The interstate commerce commission
should be empowered to pass upon any
rate or practice on it's own initiative.
Moreover, it should be provided that
whenever the commission has reason
to believe that a proposed advance
in a rate ought not to be made with
out Investigations, it should have au-
thority to issue an order prohibiting
the advance. pending examination by
the commission.
would not be understood as ex-
pressing an opinion that any or even a
majority of these advances are i'm
proper. Many of the rates in this
country have been abnorTnally low.
The operating expenses of our rail-
roads, notably the wages paid railroad
employees, have greatly increased.
These and other causes may in any
given case justify an advance In rates.
and If so the advance should be per-
mitted and approved; but there may
be, and doubtless are, cases where this
Is not true, and our law should be so
framed that the government, as the
representative of the whole people, can
protect the individual against unlaw-
full exactions for the use of these pub
lie highways
The interstate commerce commission
should be provided with the means to
make a physical valuation of any roads
as to which 1t deems this valuation
necessary. In some form the federal
government should exercise super
vision over the financial operations of
our interstate railroads. In no other
way can justice be done between the
private owners of these properties and
the public which pay their charges.
When once any inflated capitaliza-
ton has gone upon the market and has
become fixed in value its existence
must be recognized. AS a practical
matter it is too often absolutely nee
essary to take account of the
thousands of innocent stockholders who
have purchased their stocks in
good faith. The usual result of such
imitation is therefore to impose upon
the public an unnecessary but
everlasting tax, while the innocent
purchasers of the stock are also
harmed and only a few spectators are
benefited. Such wrongs when once ac-
complished can with difficulty be I'M
done, but they can be prevented with
safety and Justice.
Would Regulate Bond Issues
When combinations of interstate
railroads must obtain government
sanction, when it is no longer possible
for an interstate railroad to issue
stocks and bonds, save in the manner
approved by the federal government,
when that government makes sure that
the proceeds of every stock and bond
issue goes into the improvement of the
property, and not for the enrichment
Of some individual or syndicate,
whenever 1t becomes material for
guidance in the regulative action of the
government, the physical value of one
of these properties is determined and
made known, there will be eliminated
from railroad securities that element
of uncertainty which lends to them
their speculative quality and which
has contributed much to the financial
stress of recent past.
I think that the federal government
must also assume certain measure OF
control over the physical operation of
railroads in the handling of interstate
traffic. The commission has authority
to establish the through routes and
also joint rates.
In order to make this provision ef-
fective and in order to promote in. times
of necessity the proper movement of
traffic I think it must also have au-
thority to determine the conditions upon
which cars shall be interchanged be-
tween the different interstate railroads.
1t is also probable that the commission
should have authority, in particular in
stances, to determine a schedule upon
which perishable commodities shall be
moved.
In this connection I desire to repeat
my recommendation that railroads be
permitted to form traffic associations
for the purpose of comforting about and
agreeing upon rates, regulations and
practices affecting interstate business
in which the members of the associa-
ton are mutually interested. This does
not mean that they should be given the
right to pool their earnings, or their
traffic
The law requires that rates shall be
so adjusted as not to discriminate be-
tween individuals. localities or different
species of traffic. Ordinarily, rates of
all competing lines must be the same.
AS applied to practical conditions, the
railway operations of this country can
not be conducted according to law with
out what is equivalent to conference
and agreement The articles under
conducted according to law without
what is equivalent to conference and
agreement. The articles under which
associations operate should be approved
by the commission and their operations
should be open to public inspection and
the rates regulations and practices upon
which they agree should be subject to
disapproval by the commission.
Equal Terms for All
I urge this last provision with the
same earnestness that I do the others.
This country provides its railroad ia
cilities by private capital. Those ia
cilities will not be adequate unless the
capital employed is assured of just
treatment and an adequate return. In
fixing the charges of our railroads l
believe that it is to the public interest
alone, and it is letter to be too liberal
than too scanty. for otherwise there Is
grave danger that our railroad develop
ment may not keep pace with the de-
mand for transportation. But the fun
damental idea that these railroads are
public highways must be recognized
and they must be open to the whole
public upon equal terms and reason
able terms.
In reference to the Sherman anti
trust law, I repeat the recommendations
made in my message at the opening of
the present congress, as we'll as in my
message to the previous congress. The
attempt in this law to provide in sweep
ing terms against all combinations of
whatever character is technically In re-
straint of trade, as such restraint has
been defined by the courts, and must
necessarily be either futile or mischiev-
mi