The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-15
Saturday, February 15, 1908.
GOVERNMENT REGULATION.

The signs continue to multiply that the country needs not so much addi- tional doses of strong medicine to cure the diseases of the body polite as it needs time to convalesce from the medicine already given. This is shown in the improved tone of the speeches which are being made in va- rious parts of the nation by public men and observant citizens. We may eliminate two classes of them, the class which. violently assails President Roosevelt, and second, the class which amiably approves whatever he has done or is likely to do. The class to which increasing interest attaches is that which, looking over the entire field of agitation and correction, seeks a quiet and orderly way out of the doubt and delusion which have been logically created by the very circum stances of the case, Not only is this class rapidly growing but it is more and more gaining the ear of the in telligent people of the country,
 It is not an exaggeration nor an ex- cessive personal admiration for Secre- tary Taft which leads The Journal Courier to include him among the public speakers who are doing much to restore the interrupted balance of men. Overlooking the necessity which compels him to stand sponsor for the policies of the administration of which obviously he is a creative part, public attention should be centered upon the spirit in which his public utterances are pitched. There are no- ticeably lacking disturbing adjectives, enlivening epithets and diverting ana themas. In other words, his utterances possess a distinct judicial quality so much needed when great issues are uluti dlSChSSiDll III d SpttCll utllNtF- ed Thursday evening for example, at Detroit he remarked that there is not quite enough regulation of railroads. There is a way in which this asser- tion might have been made to the i'm mediate disturbance of trade. but this way MT Taft temperamentally avoid ed. He favors more legislation of a regulatory character. not for the pur- pose of increasing the power of the chief executive, who he says has all ready power enough. but by antici- pating the weakness of men expressed in the abuse of corporate privilege to escape State socialism. He admits the necessity of having wise and strong men sit on the interstate railroad conn mission. Nor does he dodge the al- formative. He says: It is that, or go to government ownership. with all the State socialism which it involves, and nave ilo uoupt ltldJ government ownership of the railroads, with the tremendous concentration of power it would involve would endanger the republic. We have enough concentrat- ed power in Washington now. To in crease it so that the executive should control the enormous body of civil servants, which would necessarily fol- low, would result in making a presi- dent more powerful than any king who lives to-day"
 It is this judicial distinction be- tween alternatives which permits the application of it's philosophy to the Connecticut situation as regards pub lie utilities If there is any sentiment throughout the State of Connecticut in favor of the federal control of the have not discovered it. which precon- ceives a conviction on the part of the general public that if the principle of natural monopoly is to be further sus- tained some method must be devised of regulating the monopolies in a manner to protect the public against the abuses of unrestricted conduct. It can be said in the words of Mir. Taft, or in words suggested by them. that the alternative of permitting the pub lie utilities to live oul their own lives in their own way as monopoles is to sooner or later give form and sub stance to the cry of government own ership. It was President Mellen him self who said in public speech that let the people once get it into their heads that corporate privilege was be- ing abused and they would move stol- idly on to government ownership, even though the outcome might be inferior service at higher rates. If MT Taft sees the necessity of larger powers for the interstate commerce commission, the people of Connecticut ought to realize the need of the reorganization of the railroad commission in favor of public utilities commission hay ing definite power over all public ser vice companies. It is not a question oi concentrating power in the hands of 9