The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-10-02

ist alton In which he has played so con-
spi suous n part has done. But to illus
trate just what his attitude Is let me
touch on two matters now prominent In
the public mind.
A,r. Taft can be trusted to exact Justice
fro n the railroads for the very reason
tha he can be trusted to do justice to the
raj roads. The railroads are the chief In
Btruments OF Interstate commerce In the
country. and they can neither be held 10
a proper accountability on the one hand
nor given proper protection on the other
save by the affirmative action OF the fed
eral government. The law as laid down
by the federal courts clearly shows that
the states have not and cannot devise
laws adequate to meet the problems caus-
al nv tha great growth of the railroads
doing an Interstate commerce. Dusur-5s
for more than four-ffths of the business
OF the railroads is interstate, and under
tho constitution Of the United States only
the federal government can exercise con
troll thereover. II Is absolutely necessary
that this control should be affirmative and
thoroughgoing.
An interstate business carried on by the
great corporations should In the interest
OF the whole people be far moro closely
supervised than at present by the national
government, but this is especially true OF
the railroads, which cannot exist at all
save by the exercise OF powers granted
the m on behalf Of the people and which,
therefore, should be held to n peculiar 40
countabllty to the people. II is in the IN
terest OF the people that they should not
be permitted to do injustice, and IL is no
less to the interest OF the people that they
should not suffer injustice. Their prime
purpose is to carry the commodities of the
farmers and the business men. They could
not be built save for the money contrib
uto1 to them by their shareholders They
nntp not ha nj all 60 Va ha mo
paid out in wages to the railroad employ
ees and finally, they could not besssen Ju-
dlctsusly or proitably TO any one were IL
not for the employment by them Of some
masterful guiding intelligence, whether OF
ona man or Of "A group OF men. There are
the&foro several sets OF interests to be
conAdered. Each must receive proper con-
sid lgation and when any one OF them
selJ&hly demands exclusive consideration
the demand must be refused. Along GER
tain lines all of these groups have the
satae interests. 1t Is to the interest OF
shipper, farmer. wageworker business
man. honest shareholder and honest man
agcr alike that there should be economy.
honesty. intelligence and fair treatment OF
all To put an effective stop TO stock wa
tering would be n benefit to everybody
except the swindcrs who profit by stock
watering. 1t would benefit the honest
shn reholder because honest investments
with mere paper. 1t would benefit the
wageworker because when the money
earned does not have 20 so to paying In
ter est on watered capital moro OF II is
lef out of which to pay wages. II would
ber eft tho shipper because, when only
honest stockholders have to be paid inter
est rates need not be improperly raised.
1t would benefit the pubic because there
would be ample money with which to give
efll Ient service. Similarly the prevention
OF favorltism as among shippers does no
damage to any one who is honest ana con-
fer, great good upon the smaller business
man and the farmer whom 1t relieves OF
oppression.
Again, such supervision OF accounts and
ma sagement as will prevent crookedness
ant oppression works good directly or In
dir city. TO all honest people. Therefore
ev, rything that can be done along all
the SO lines should be done, and no mans
leg, timate interest would thereby be hurt.
Blu. after this point has been reached
gre at care must be exercised not 10 work
inJ lstice to one class In the effort TO
she " favor 10 another class. and each
cla IS naturally tends to remember only
its own needs. The stockholders must re-
coi g an ample return on their invest
ments or tho railroads cannot be built
anC successfully maintained. and the
rates TO shippers and the wages To- en-
ployees. from the highest to the lowest.
must all be conditioned upon this fact.
on the other hand I'm a public service
corporation we have no right TO allow
such excessive profits as will necessitate
rates being unduly high and wages un-
duly low. Again. while I'm all proper ways
rates must be kept low. We must always
remember that we have no right and no
Jus lification TO reduce them when the re-
suls Is tho reduction Of the wages Of the
great army of railroad men. fair work
Inc tyliet hn devised npCDr1-
Ing to the needs OF the several cases, so
that profits. wages and rates shall each
be reasonable with reference 10 the other
two. and In wages l include the properly
large amounts which should always be
paid TO those whose mastcrful ability Is
required for the successful direction OF
great enterprises. Combinations which
favor such an equitable arrangement
should themselves be favored and not
forbidden by law. although they should
be strictly supervised by the government
through the interstate commerce commits
sion. which should have the power OF
passing summarily upon not only the
tu,s stion OF the reduction. but the raising
pf rates.
This railroad problem IL itself ono Of
the phases OF one OF tho greatest and
most intricate problems OF our civiliza-
tion. For Its proper solution we need not
merely honesty and courage but judg-
ment. good sense and entire fair minded
pcss Demagogy In such n matter is rs
certain TO work evil as corruption itself
| The man who promises To raise the wages
Of railroad employees To- the highest point
sn6 at the same time to reduce rates To
the lowest point Is promising what nei-
ther he nor any one else can perform
and IL the effort To perform Il were at
tempted disaster would result TO both
shipper and wageworkcr and ruin TO the
business interests OF the country The
ma to trust in such matter as this II
| the man who. like Judge Taft. does not
| premise too much. but who could not be