The Marshall republican., 1909-01-15

stood and the propriety of such leg
islation more generally recognized. 1
ask, therefore, that you enact such a
law as will secure the final abandon
ment of this corrupting practice.
Rights Of Corporations.
Before leaving this subject of the
regulation of the charges or the o n
duct of the business of public service
corporations, / wish to urge upon
you the necessity of conservatism In
the consideration and enactment of
such legislation.
While 1t Is both the right and the
duty of the state to regulate public
service corporations In such a way
as to secure fair rates and a proper
service for the people, such laws
should not be enacted merely because
the power exists to pass and to Gu
force them.
The right of business enterprises
to be free from the burden and the
expense of state regulation and con-
troll should be recognized and re-
spected, unless the conditions there
in clearly justify the state in the
supervision or regulation thereof.
It is never fair or advisable to ex-
ercise this right unless it Is rea-
sonably certain that the act or regu-
lation will not deprive the owners of
the property of a reasonable return
upon the value of their investment.
Combinations and Trusts.
The attitude of the state towards
Industrial combinations and trusts H.
a question concerning which there
exists a marked difference Of opin-
ion.
The principal difficulty that arises
in connection with this problem is
that there exists today, as there al
ways has existed, to a greater or less
degree, q conflict between the rules
of business and the laws of men"
The business world regards free
and unrestricted competition as a
misfortune and an evil, while the
law denounces any agreements that
tend to prevent it as a crime. There
fore, when men enter into a combine
tiCn or a trust in restraint of compe-
tition and trade, the necessary iudg-
mont of the court often times seems
Unfortunate in its effect on general
business conditions. The men, how
ever, who violate the law in this man
ner are entitled to no more consider
alton or sympathy than the ordinary
of ender against our criminal stat
utcs.
am satisfied that it is the right of
the state to regulate the charges and
the conduct of any business which is
impressed with a public use by vir-
tue of being a monopoly. | believe
that 1t would be advisable to give to
the representatives of the state the
discretionary power to institute pro-
ceedings for the purpose of regulat-
Ing the charges and the conduct of a
business which is in effect a mon
opoly or impressed with a public use,
or to proceed in the courts to punish
ard suppress it.
The Question of Education.
There will be no questions consid-
cred Ey you which are more import
ant than those connected with the
work of education. 1t has been fire.
quently charged that too much money
Is being expended for the conduct OF
the state university. ! do not believe
that there Is any substantial basis Of
complaint on account of any disparity
IN the distribution of the Of
the state between the state university
and the other parts of our education
al system.
But that something is wrong with
our work of education is readily ap-
parent by an examination of the sta
~tistics as to the literacy of our chill
dren of school age. According to the
United States census statistics of
900, among the forty-eight states of
ne national Union, our rank In liter
acy was 81.
1t is worthy of notice that Missouri
g n of four states in the Union that
has no mandatory provision for su-
9erintendents of schools In each
county of the state. And the fact
that the other three states, namely
Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi
all have a lower rank of literacy than
Missouri may tend to explain this un-
satisfactory condition.
While claim no special knowledge
or experience in matters of educa-
ton, | do feel that the effectiveness
ot the common schools of the state
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