The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-09
MIR. Taft'S Policies

The Washington correspondent of
the New York Evening Post has COM
piled a list of the policies that Pres
! ident Taft has advocated in his trip
across the continent, and even a
casual reading of it shows that he
has cut out more work than his
predecessor did. more even than Pres
ident Johnson did, although the lat
ters policies became famous as my
policies" Few of his policies became
law and Mr.. Roosevelt did not sue
coed in clubbing through Congress
many of his pet measures.
Mr. Taft wants a central bank of
issue: a postal savings bank system;
an income tax amendment, to be used
! in national emergencies only; no fur
! Their changes in the tariff before March
4 1913; the correction of the evil of
swollen fortunes by the states instead
of the general government; more
amendments of the antitrust law;
! amendments of the Hepburn interstate
commerce act that will cut out the
railroads which should be regulated
by new laws; new laws against the
boycott and the issuance Of injunc-
tons; speedier action in the federal
courts; the conservation of national
resources; the reclamation of arid
lands; the preservation of forests; the
deepening Of waterways; the reorgan-
ization of the public land system; the
regulation of the transfer of water
power sites; separation of the surface
of the land from the mineral contents
thereof: the reorganization of the gov
ernmental departments in Washing
ton the enforcement of the pure food
law; clearer definition of the statutes
relating to business; the prosecution
and punishment of all violators of the
law; international peace and friend
ship: ship subsidies for the develop
ment of merchant marine; and then
the President asks for these great
changes relative to railroads:
The creation of a court to pass upon APP
peals from decisions fixing rates made
by the interstate commerce commission.
Authority for the commission to deter
mine the proper classification of mer-
chandise for transportation.
Authority for the commission to initiate
complaints of discrimination in rates.
Granting the commission power to COM
pei connecting carriers 10 unite in forming
through routes, and TO fix rate and ap-
portionment thereof among the carriers.
Prohibition of railroads from holding
stock in competing railroads.
Federal regulation through the inter-
state commerce commission Of the issue
of railroad securities, which issues must
be for legitimate purposes and on a
substantial basis.
Authority for railroads to make agree
ments on rates approved by the commits
sion.
Advocacy OF a compulsory law requir-
ing interstate railroads to adopt addi-
tional safety devices.
1t is plain that not one in ten of
the measures he advocates can be
passed in a single congress. He has
cut out enough work to engage sew
eral congresses. and he will probab-
ly see that comparatively little Of what
he wants will be granted. Some of
his propositions will encounter strong
opposition, notably those relating to
ship subsidies, a central bank and
postal savings bank system. These
three call for three battles extending
ever a session of Congress. Nor will
the President be able to keep down
all tariff agitation during hts term OF
office He has cut up considerably
more than Congress will chew, and
the chances are that the next session
will come and go leaving the statutes
of the country essentially unchanged.