Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-01
HARTMAN GIVES
VIEWS ON TARIFF
BEMOANS WASTEFUL AND FU-
TILE PROSECUTIONS
Lands DECISION AMONG EVILS
OF GOVERNMENT NEGLECT
Magnate, on Arrival in Chicago, Ex-
presses His Opinion of Pro.
posed Revision in copi-
GUS Language

CHICAGO, March 31.-Edward H.
Hartman arrived here tonight. While
his car was waiting TO be hitched to
train for New York he discussed the
tariff, saying:
IF the government had revised the
tariff or given the country good cur
rency law, or both, we would not have
had the Lands decision, and we would
not have had all this wasteful prose-
cution of corporations. nor all of this
hostile legislation against railroads and
the country would be going alone
swimingly.
81 have been quoted as criticising the
government and our former president
for having prosecuted me and the in
terests which l represent. / have never
spoken bitterly regarding either, and
have no criticism to make. The prose-
cutions were all right, for there is
nothing about the railroads which L
represent that 1 desire to conceal.
Il have been in favor of government
supervision and regulation, but not just
because 1t has come. I am on record
in Washington as being in favor of
this, and l told Mr.. Roosevelt so early
in his campaign. But, mind you, told
him 1 was in favor of regulation IL
combined with protection; but we have
been getting regulation without protec-
ton, and that is bad for the railroads,
and bad for the people, for after all it
is the people who have to pay for the
mistakes OF the government"
None of Peoples Business
would you have regulation by the
government extend to the issuance of
railroad securities?" Mr. Hartman was
asked.
by no means" he replied, ''for 1t is
none of the peoples business, to put it
bluntly, how much securities and in
what form they are issued so long as
the railroad Is run in the interest of
the people and so long as it gives the
greatest possible unit of service.
II know what you had in mind when
you asked that question. 1t was that
little Alton affair, about which so much
fuss was made-and what did the fuss
amount to? They said the Alton was
grossly overcapitalized. And yet the
Alton is today the best railroad proper
ty in Illinois.
'It has been made $50 per cent better
for two-thirds Of its original cost; and
l might add that 1t is not bankrupt
even now. 1t Is still solvent, all the
states attorneys general and all of the
inebriated state senators to the CONTRA
ry Notwithstanding. And you may
quote me in this respect, even to the
1T would begin with the Sherman
antitrust act, which is and always
will be a menace to corporate prosper
ity. You can plainly see that the ideas
of the people have changed in many
respects.
"They are coming to take different
view of many of the problems which
are involved in the maintenance and
operation of our railroads, and the laws
should be changed to correspond with
these changed views. After all, 1t is
the people who own our railroads
II Press viii Keep Still
"This question of regulation will be
worked out all right for everyone con-
cerned.
what the newspapers ought to do
now Is to stop talking about regula-
ton of railroads and insist that the
people begin regulating the govern
ment. They should insist, for example,
that the first and chief aim of a new
administration should not be to wiring
more money out of the people before
1t has learned how to expend it
wisely.
'If the wasteful extravaganza of
government methods should be applied
to any other business 1t would speedily
bankrupt it. The administration
should be regulated so that it will
learn to conserve its revenue by cut
ting down expenses and taking suf-
ficiently sound precautions to prevent
the terrible and utterly useless deficits
that are occurring with altogether too
much frequency. The financial meth
DDS of the government should be the
greatest concern of the people.
az am a protectionist In theory and
in practice, where protection is needed;
but the tariff ought to be revised, for,
as the law now stands, it is out of
date.
There are many things that are
enjoying the blessings of protection
that should not be enjoying them, and
there may be many things that should
be under protection which are not;
but the theory Of protection is all right.
Harriman's "Strong Point"
1.-THE point I wish to make is that
every new administration eagerly and
begin to devise new means
Immediately begins to devise new
means of filching money from the peo-
pie without knowing the first rudiments
of economics as applied to the expendi-
ture of money"
How would you effect a reduction
in the expenses of the government"
by applying the cost -per-ton-per-
mile rule, So to speak. by which the
railroads effect their economics. 1
mean the railroad arrangements know
what it costs them to transport ton
of freight one mile and are governed
accordingly and are constantly striv-
ing to reduce that unit of cost.
''If this principle were to be applied
to the financial problems of the gov
eminent you would see a marvellous
change within a few years"
"Do you think the present admins
tration will be inclined to make a
change in this direction?"
az do not hut this administration