The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-01
RaiIroad Magnais GiVsl Out
 a Caustic Ihtetyisa
CONTROL OF RAILROADS
Hartman Declares That Government Supervision Would Be a Good Thing and Suggests Methods
 of National Economy.


 man arrived here tonight, and while his be hitched to train for New York he submitted to interyiewers. Concerning tariff reform MT Hartman said:
 ''If the government had revised the tariff or given the country a good cur rency law, or both, we would not have had the Landis decision, and we would not have had all this wasteful prosecution of corporations, nor this hostile legisla- ton against railroads and the country would today be going along swmmingly
 q have been quoted" he continued, .as criticising and speaking ardently against the government and our President for having prosecuted me and the interests which represent. have never spoken bitterly regarding either, and I have no criticism to make. The prosecutions were all right, for there is nothing about the railroads which l represent that desire to conceal. Every move we have made has been known to the government. and we have tried to obey the law. harbor no resentment toward the government or toward any individual"
 On combinations of railroads, MT. Harri- man said: T am for combinations where economy demands them, and where the best service necessitates them. I would not have the combination paraIIel or competing lines permitted without re- straint. I would have 1t permitted under the consent of the interstate commerce commission and under it's supervision.
 Government Control.
 'I am in favor of government super vision and regulation, but not just be- cause 1t has come. I am on record in Washington as being in favor of this, and told MT. Roosevelt so early in his cam paign But, mind you, I told him 1 was in favor of regulation if combined with protection, but we have been getting reg ulation without protection, and that is Bad for the rsRroafia andsba3 for the peo- pie, for after all 1t is the people who have to pay for the mistakes of the gov ernment."
 Would you have regulation by gov ernment extend to the issuance of railroad security" MT. Hartman was asked.
 By no means" he replied, for it 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 peo- pie, and so long as it gives the greatest possible unit of service that lies within 1t.
 T know what you had in mind when you asked that question. It 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 over-capitalized. And yet the AL ton Is today the best railroad physically in the state of Illinois; 1t has been made 25O per cent better for two-thirds of its original cost; and I might add that 1t is not bankrupt even now. It is still sol vent, all the states attorneys general and all of the inebriated state senators to the contrary, notwithstanding. And you may quote me in this respect, even to the in ebriated state senator's"
 Amendment of Laws.
 Tn what respects would you have the national laws affecting railroads amend ed?"
 q would begin with the Sherman anti trust act, which is and always will be a menace to corporate prosperity
 This question of regulation will be worked out all right for everyone con cerned. What thee newspapers ought to do now is to stop talking about the reg ulation of railroads and insist upon 1t that the people begin regulating the govern ment They should insist, for example, that the first and chief aim of a new ad- ministration 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 gov ernmental methods should be applied to any other business it would speedily bank rupt it.
 T am a protectionist In theory and in practice where it is needed. But the tariff ought to be revised for as the law now stands, 1t is out of date"
 How would you effect a reduction in the expenses of the government"
 Reducing Expenses.
 By applying the cost per ton per mile rule so to speak, by which the railroads effect their economies. l mean by that that the railroad arrangements know what it costs them to transport a ton of freight one mile and are governed ac- cordingly, and, furthermore, they are con- stantly striving to reduce that unit of cost. If this principle were to be applied to the financial problems of the govern ment, you would see marvellous change within few years
 Do you think the present administra- tion will be inclined to make a change in this direction?"
 T do not, but this administration, and all administrations to come, should be forced by the people to make economy its first aim or suffer political oblivion
 MT. Hartman said he viewed the gen. eral business situation in hopeful light. He characterized as silly the story of his appointing board to take some of the work off his shoulders He admitted that he had been seriously i'll and declared the. original trouble was ptomaine poison- ing which brought on an old rheumatic trouble He said he never felt better. Speaking of his trip, he said that west ern Old Mexico was destined to be one of the most wonderful regions in the west ern hemisphere.