Semi-weekly herald., 1908-12-10

stop to every form of improper ia
voritism or other wrongdoing.
The railways of the country shoul,
be put completely under the interstat,
commerce commission and removed
from the domain of the antitrust law
The power of the commission shoulC
be made thoroughgoing. so that Il
could exercise complete supervision
and control over the issue of securi
ties as well as over the raising and
lowering of rates. As regards rates
at least, this power should be sum
mary. The power to investigate the
financial operations and accounts OF
the railways has been one of the most
valuable features in recent legislation
Power to make combinations and traf.
fic agreements should be explicitly
conferred upon the railroads, the per
mission OF the commission being first
gained and the combination or agree
ment being published in all It's details.
In the interest of the public the
representatives of the public should
railroads do their duty by the public
and as a matter of course this power
should also be exercised so as to see
that no injustice is done to the rail.
roads. The shareholders, the employ
es and the shippers all have interests
that must be guarded. 1t is TO the
interest of all of them that no swim.
ding stock speculation should be al
lowed, and that there should be no
improper issuance OF securities.
The guiding intelligences necessary
for the successful building and sue.
cessful management of railroads should
receive ample remuneration; but no
man should be allowed to make money
in connection with railroads out OF
fraudulent over-capitalization and kin.
dred stock gambling performances;
there must be no defrauding of inves-
tors, oppression of the farmers and
business men who ship freight, or cal
lous disregard of the rights and needs
of the employees.
In addition to this the interests of
the shareholders, of the employees and,
OF the shippers should all be guarded
as against one another To give any
one of them undue and improper con
sideration is to do injustice to the
others. Rates must be made as low
as is compatible with giving proper
returns to all the employees of the
railroad, from the highest to the low
est. and proper returns to the share
holders, but they must not, for in
stance, be reduced in such fashion as
to necessitate cut in the wages of
the employees or the abolition of the
proper and legitimate profits of hon
est shareholders.
The telegraph and telephone compa.
nies engaged in interstate business
should be put under the Jurisdiction of
the interstate commerce commission
1t is very earnestly to be wished that
our people, through their representa-.
tives, should act in this matter. II
is hard to say whether most damage
to the country at large would come
from entire failure on the part of the
public to supervise and control the ac-
tions of the great corporations, or
from the exercise of the necessary
governmental power in a way which
would do injustice and wrong to the
corporations. Both the preachers of
an unrestricted individualism and the
preachers of an oppression which
would deny to able men OF business
the just reward of their initiative
and business sagacity, are advocating
policies that would be fraught with
the gravest harm to the whole coun-
try.
To permit every lawless capitalist,
every iaw-defying corporation, to take
any action, no matter how iniquitous
in the effort to secure an improper
profit and to build up privilege, would
be ruinous to the republic and would
mark the abandonment of the effort
to secure in the industrial world the
spirit of democratic fair dealing.
On the other hand, to attack these
wrongs in that spirit of demagogy
which can see wrong only when com.
mitted by the man of wealth, and is
dumb and blind in the presence of
wrong committed against men of prop
erty or by men of no property. is ex-
actly as evil as corruptly to defend the
wrongdoing of men of wealth. The
war we wage must be waged against
misconduct, against wrongdoing wher-
ever 1t is found; and we must stand
heartily for the rights of every decent
man. whether he be a man of wealth
or a man who earns his livelihood as
as wage worker or a tiller of the
soil.
1t is to the interest of all of us that
| there should be a premium put upon
individual initiative and individual ca
| pacity, and an ample reward for the
| F,taIIfuan.nE aIOps