Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1908-02-05

given the right 10 pool their earnings, or their traffic The law requires that rates shall be so adjusted as not t0 dis criminate between individuals, locali- ties or different species of traffic Dr. dinarily, rates by all competing lines must be the same. As applied Co Prac' tical conditions, the railway operations of this country cannot bc con ducted according to law without what is equivalent t0 conference and agreement. The articles under which associations operate should bc approved by the commission; all their operations should bc open to pub. lie inspection: and the rates, rrgula- lions nnd practices upon which they agree should be subject to disapproval by the commission.
 urge this last provision with the same carucstncss that 1 do the others. This country provides it's railroads facilities by private capital. Those fla rilitirs will not hc adequate unless the capital employed is assured of just treatment and an adequate return. In | fixing the charges of onr railroads, l believe. that is it to the public interest | alone, it is bctpr to be too liberal than to sranty, for otherwise there iS grave danger that our railroad development may not keep pace with the demand for transportation. But tn" funda. mental idea that these railroads are public highways must hc recognized and they must be open t0 the whole public upon equal terms and reasonable | terms.
 In reference to the sherman anti. trust law, 1 repeat the rcrommcnda' tions made in my message at inc open. ing of tho present congress, as well as in my message to the previous congress. The attempt in this law to provide in | sweeping terms against all combina. tions of whatever character is tcchni. rnlly in restraint of trade as such re- s,raint has been defined by the courts, must necessarily loo either futile or mischicvous and sometimes botl. The present law makes some combinations illegal. although they may he useful Co inc country.
 On the other hand some huge com binations which are both noxious and illegal, even if the action undertaken against them under the law by the gov crnmcnt is successful. the result may hc tO work but n minimum benefit to the public. Even though the comhina. ton be broken up and D small measure of reform thereby produced, the real good aimed at can not hc obtained. for such real good can come only by q thorough and continuing supervision ! over the acts of the combination in nll its parts, SO as to prevent stock water. ing, improper forms of competition and in short wrong doing generally. The law should correct that portion of the sherman net which prohibits all combinations of the character above described, whether they he reasonable ar unreasonable; but this should be done only as part of general scheme to provide for this effective and thoroughgoing supervision by the ma tional government of an the operations of the big interstate business concerns
 Judge llough, of New York. in his recent decision in the Harri man ease, states that the congress possesses the power to limit the interstate operations of corporations
 
 guards against thc recurrence oi obnoxious practices, and to license those which afford the public adequate security against methods calculated to diminish solvency, and therefore eff ciency and economy in interstate trans portation. The judge adds that in these matters, "the power of congress is ample, though as yet not fruitful in results.' It is very earnestly to be desired that either along the lines the judge indicates or in some other way equally efiicacious, the congress may have the power it possesses. Superica. ally it may seem that the laws, the passage of which l again advocate, ,- Tor ] have repeatedly advocated them before,-are not connected but in real. ity they are connected. Each and every one of these laws if enacted, will rep. resent part of the campaign against privilege, part of the campaign to make the class of great property hold. CTS realize property has its duties no less than its rights When the courts guarantee to the employer as they should, the rights of the employer, and to property the rights of property, they should no less cmphatically make 1t evident that they will exact from property and from the employer the duties which should necessarily accom-. pany these rights; and hitherto our laws have failed in precisely in this point of enforcing the performance of duty by the man of property to. ward the man who works for him, by the man of great wealth, especially if he uses that wealth in corporate firm toward the investor, the wage worker, and the general public.
 The permanent failure of the man of property to fulfill his obligations would ultimately assure the wrestling from him of the privileges which he is entitled to enjoy only if he recognizes .ne obligations accompanying them. Inose who assume or share the respon. sibility for this failure are rendering but as poor service to thu oo,o...,