Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1908-06-10
FROM TIE
COMMONER
MIR. BRYAN'S PAPER
THE PRESIDENT URGES CENTRAL
lZATION.

President Roosevelt wherever he has
recommended democratic reform, it is
the more free to criticise him when he
recommends things undemocratic. One
| OF the undemocratic things which he
has recommended is the surrender of
| the right of the state to control com.
merce within its borders. He says
that state commerce forms but a
! small fraction of the commerce carried
by the railroads through each state,
and that actual experience has shown
that the effort at state control is sure
/ 10 be nullif1ed in one way or another
sooner or later" He then proceeds to
argue that the nation alone can act
with effectiveness and wisdom; it
should have control of both, of the
business and of the agent by which
the business is done, for any attempt
| to separate this control must result in
! grotesque absurdity." Explaining this
/ proposition he says: This means that
we must rely upon national legislation
! to prevent the commercial abuses that
now exist and the others that are sure
to arise unless some efficient govern
ment body has adequate power of con-
! troll over them" In another part of
the message he says that he believes
that ultimately we shall have to adopt
a national incorporation law" but he
! recognizes that this may be impos-
| sible at present"
We are thus brought face to face
with a most serious proposition, name
ly, whether the dual character of our
government shall be preserved as it is
defined by the constitution, or oblit-
Grated as is proposed by the president.
What is the situation? Congress
/ now has power which it has not exer-
| clsed; 1T has all the power it needs.
| For ten years railroad lobby at Wash
lngton prevented the adoption of the
! recommendations of the interstate
! commerce commission, and while new
legislation was prevented, the rail-
! roads continued to grant rebates and
! 10 make Determinations The work of
the lobby was open and notorious. 1t
is less than three years since repre-
sentatlveS OF two of the leading rail-
roads of the east used the Hobbies of
congress to bride members into the
support of appropriations desired by
the railroads. These representatives
did not disguise the fact that they
Kept record of the votes cast by
members and rewarded with passes
or punished them by Withholding
passes, according to their votes. The
pass evil has at last been corrected
but it required a tremendous convul
sion and all the influence that the
president could exert through an
aroused public opinion.
If the railroad influence has been
so great when congress exercised con-
troll over interstate commerce only.
what will be the influence when all
regulation is centered at Washington
and the railroads enter politics for the
! purpose of controlling the senate, the
| house, the interstate commerce com
mission, the president and the courts
! Already there are indications that the
railroads are planning for the coming
campaign. One railroad attorney an
nounces that the railroad employees
must stand with the railroad managers
against any party which attempts to
antagonize railroads-and to antagon-
ize the roalroads means to antagonize
the views of a few railroad magnates
who aspire to control the railroad sys-
TENS of the country. Another organl-
Zat1oa has been recently formed which
announces that railroad batting"
must stop-and railroad batting" can
| only mean the attempt of the legsIa-
lures to regulate the railroads The
railroad managers are studiously cir
culating the idea that business has
been impaired and industry generally
| paralyzed by criticism of railroad man.
agement and by proposed remedies.
1t is impossible to exaggerate the ex-
tent to which the railroads will enter
| politics if the presidents plan is car
ried out and Washington is made the
arena in which the people mr3t fight
all their battles for railroad regulation.
AT present the people of large mum.
Der of the states are enjoying a two
cent passenger rate. this reform did
not come from Washington. 1t came
from the state legislatures and Secre-
tary Taft has gone to the trouble of
telling an eastern audience that the
president is not responsible for the
rate reductions. 1t was state legisla-
ton that led the railroads to demand
national incorporation and the removal
OF legislation from state capitals to
Washington. Can this be in the inter
est of the people? 1t is a serious is
sue that the president presents and
one that the people must be prepared
to meet, for while he has fought for
reforms on some other subjects, he is.
On this subject fighting hand in hand
with the very men who attempted to
prevent the passage of the presidents
rate bill. The conspiracy formed
among the leading Republicans of the
senate had for its object the proven
ton of any rate legislation, and only
by focusing public attention upon the
subject could the president defeat the
conspiracy.
The fight for the preservation of the
riQhfg nf tho Stafoc not - g