The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-09-07
BRYANISM VS.. ROOSEvELTISM.
REPUTATION CHARGE THAT ROOSEVELT ADOI'TE
BRYANs POLICIES OF REFORM.
ADOPTED,

I
more to say on the railway problem
In 1900 than in 1896. In 1896 h,
regarded the currency question n,
the paramount issue. In 1900 he de
cared the colonial question to bs
the paramount issue. mo othel
Question" he said. "can approach II
In Importance; no other question de-
mands such immediate considera.
ton" The country did not agree
with him. His Interpretation OF the
country's needs was rejected even
more decisivley than before.
A year later (September, 19O1)
by the tragic death OF Mr.. Mckinley
Mr.. Roosevelt was made president
OF the United States, and less than a
year after his Inauguration (Augnst
23, 1902 by his famous speech al
Providence. Rhode Island. noted as
a home of corporations, he began
his public campaign in favor OF leg
islative control Of the great corpora
tions commonly called trusts" and
especially OF those which are charged
with the administration of the ma
tons highways. by that campaign,
continued in a series of speeches de-
liyered in Boston, Fitchburg, Wheel
ing. Cincinnati and other cities, he
focused public attention on this prob
lem. Backed by the public opinion
which he had not created. but which
he had interpreted and made definite
and so effective, he won from a re-
mctant congress new legislation for
the regulation of railway rates. Sup
ported by officials In hearty sympathy
with him, he enforced laws which
had long lain as a dead letter. both
against combinations In restraint of
trade and against the well-nigh uni.
versal practice of giving specia
rates to specially favored shippers
And by this triple process-the VI
gorous enforcement of existing laws.
the enactment OF new legislation.
and the arousing and focusing OF
public opinion-he has driven the
practice OF giving rebates and IA
vored rates either out of existence
or into hiding like other criminal
violations of public law and disre-
gard OF public welfare.
% Meanwhile occurred the presiden-
ltlal election OF 1904. In this cleo
ton Mr.. Roosevelt represented the
demand for a federal railway COM
mission with power to prescribe rates
Mr.. Parker represented opposition
to that demand; aud Mr.. Bryan gave
Mr.. Parker his support. After his
candidate was Overwhelmingly de-
lfeated, Mr.. Bryan lefis the county
for trip ABOUND the world. Return
ing in 1906. he found the whole
country converted TO the importance
of making the public highways serve
the public interests; the opposition
was reduced to a numerically .nsig-
lnifieant minority Now for the first
time did Mr.. Bryan address himself
lseriously TO the railway problem.
In so doing he accepted Mr.. Roose-
lvelt's diagnosis. but not Mr.. Roose-
vets proposed remedy. lie tardily
recognized the importance OF the
railway problem. but he rejected gov
ernment regulation OF railway ratcs
In lieu thereof he proposed govern
ment ownership. And he found his
proposal so instantly and overwhelm-
ingly rejected by the people that he
did not think II worth his while "a
take a vote. even OF his own party,
upon the proposal.
, II is evident from this history
that Mr.. Bryan can lay no Just CAIN
to be the originator OF what is popu-
larly known as the Roosevelt policy.
He is not the author OF government
Ownership; that is borrowed from
Europe. Nor of tAe railway COM
mission: that was adopted by Massa-
lchusetts when he was a boy nine
Years Of age. Nor of the notion that
lplutocracy came from the gold stand
Iof Democracy; that was pointed out
by Mr.. Bryce three years before Mr..
Bryan was in public life at all, and.
II can hardly be necessary to say, by
more than one economist and moral
list long before Mr.. Bryce. In 1896
1 -'hAs al AhOu-nA Inv UONti VI Nnf
plutocracy came fro mthe gold stand
ard and the remedy was free silver:
in 1900 he thought the paramount Is
sue before the American people was
immediate seif-government for Dhe
Filipinos before they had any pre-
paration for disagreement: in
1906 he thought the remedy for rail-
way inequalities was government
ownership.
Mr.. Roosevelt was not the first
to see, but he was the first to make
the public see. that the paramount
issue is not what Mr.. Cleveland
thought II to be. the tariff, nor what
Mr.. Bryan thought IL 70 be In 1896.
the currency. nor what Mr.. Bryan
declared II to be in 1900, colonial
administration, but the problem how
TO make privately owned highways
serve the public welfare; he was not
the first TO make the public see that
to make the public see. that no ade-
lquate remedy for fayoritism in rail-
way administration is afforded by
leaving the individual shipper to APP
peal to the courts. that the only rene
dy is to create machinery by which