The San Francisco call., 1910-03-19
President Taft Demands
Support From His Party
Passes the Responsibility for Pledges to the
People Upon Congress

tions for the current year. In the
navy we cut down $4,000, 900, but
saved enough to continue the policy
of two batleships a year until the
completion of the Panama canal
That was one of the dearest pol
icieS of my predecessor-the one ne
thought perhaps the most of-and
1 would have felt the keenest re-
gret to have departed from IL In
the first year of my administration
| would like now to direct your
attention to the legislation which
I hone to get at this session of
congress. First and most 1mpor-
tant are the amendments to the
interstate commerce act.
The president then went into detallee
explanations of the bill which he saiC
he felt was not generally understood
He explained the necessity of a com
merce court to hear appeals from th'
interstate commerce commission F1rs
of all it would expedite matters, he as
serted. He said:
The one thing which disgraces
our civilization today is the delay
of criminal and civil Justice. These
delays always work in favor of the
man with the longest purse, Hence
they work in favor of the railroads,
rather than the shipper. The com
merce court. by avoiding convenient
delays of the past, will be long
step toward that repuglat1on or
railroads which We-haVe been look
ing for.
POWER TO MAKE AGREEMENTS
A second provision of the bill al
lows carriers to make traffic agree
ments among themselves. subject 10
approval of the interstate commerce
commission My predecessor. in his
every message to congress, recon-
mended this. The provision does not
permit pooling. 1t allows that
which the railroads have TO DO any
ways whether the law forblds IL or
not. | am In favor of allowing the
railroad. if run rightly and justly
10 run within the law.
Some gentlemen seem to think
that this gives the railroads too
much leeway. AS a matter OF tact,
il was inserted TO give the minority
stock holders a market. II rail-
road already owns 81 per cent OF
the stock it is in control. The house
committee has stricken out this
provision, but my impression rs
that after full consideration il Will
be found advisable to give this op-
holder to market his holdings, and
that the people least interested in
the provision are the railroad COM
panies.
The anti-injunction bill presents
some aspects that would be dis
couraging to a person less opti-
mistic than L. Our friend Gompers
and the American federation OF
labor are opposed to the bill be-
cause they do not think it goes far
enough. Our friend Van Cleeye and
the manufacturers association are
opposed because they say 1t Will
hamstring the courts and prevent
them from giving needed relle1.
The truth of the matter is, the bill
is one of reasonable provisions and
il carries out the platform TO the
letter. Some people ask why we
should bother to pass the bill IL II
does not satisfy the labor organi-
cations. We did not agree TO sat
isfy the labor organizations. We
agred to adopt this law because We
believed Ii TO be right
In speaking of the conservation
measures, the president said that h
hoped congress at this session woul
at least adopt the bill that gives tn
president specific authority TO with
draw lands from public entry unit
such time as congress can adopt law
for their proper disposition After thi
bill is passed the president said h
hoped the S30.000.000 of bonds or Ger
tifcates would be granted TO carry for
ward the reclamation projects in tn
west.
The president refererd 10 the righ
of the executive arbitrarily to with
draw lands from entry. a subject tha
taken in the Ballinger-P -Pinchot contro
versy He said:
Originally the constitution pro-
vided that the public domain should
be disposed of by congress. but
there grew up a practice. when the
government needed a military res
ervation or lighthouse site under
which the president would reserve
the necessary land. Proceeding
upon the theory that right had
been fully established. millions Of
acres of lands were withdrawn by
the last and present administration
that congress might deal with the
lands in other ways than the pres
ent laws prescribed.
The right of the executive is a
very doubtful one to my mind. and
if tested might not stand. Already
a test is being made of the right
to withdraw oil lands in California.
The president discussed the variou
problems of practical conservation, tn
question of the proposed lease of Goa
lands, power sites. etc. Experimenta
laws would have to be passed, h
thought, to be strengthened if foun
too lenient. or made less drastic i
found to shut out capital.