The Paducah evening sun., 1910-06-01
AN ERROR OF PRESUMPTION.


The errors of great men usually
are of presumption. Even the wisest.
most experienced, most judicial are
not exempt from the operation Of the
proverb: Let him that thinketh he
standeth. take heed lest he fall"
When one contemplates the action
of the western railroads entering
into an agreement to arbitrarily in
crease freight rates just at this time,
II becomes a matter OF wonder that
those men OF affairs. with their cab
inets of traffic experts. lawyers and
financiers, bearing the most intimate
relations with certain influential
members of congress-. could not fore
see the very result which they are
bringing about.
No one but the railroad managrs
will be directly affected by the Taft
program of railroad regulation. and
they adversely: yet. IL the president
had needed Just one good strong
boost to put his bill through con-
gress. We do not know where he
could have applied for a better one
than the railroads have given him
Indeed, we fear the boost was too
good. The president. while progress
sive, is conservative. He does not
desire to make the railroads outlaws
or treat them like criminals held in
check; but to make them more eff
cient servants of the public. Yet
the president Is having difficulty in
convincing the general public that
he Is radical enough TO suit its tenn
per. as indicated by the attitude oi
the congressional insurgents. who
better serve as steam gauges than as
governors on the engine of progress
II may be difficult for the president
to check hurtful radicalism, since the
railroads have brought an organizs.
tion of influential shippers into an
Itagonism to them on the eve of a
bitter congressional campaign. Some
of these congressman have got tC
make a spectacular record between
now and next November, and where
better to make II than on the railroad
issue?
This is not criticizing the state
ment OF railroad officials that wage
increases and other costs of operat
ing have made 1t necessary for them
to raise the rates; Il is only an oh.
servatlon of facts as they appear.
We suspect that the railroads
rather expected the business interests
of the country to swing in behind
them and check radicalism, when
ever the cry was raised from infiuen-
tial eastern quarters that national
prosperity was endangered. Just as
they have before; but they made the
mistake OF alternating the very inter
ests, which could be expected to re-
spond to such a call, in the outset
and they have misiudged the temper
Of the people. The public, always
conservative In the main, sometimes
reaches a point under sufficient prov
ocation, where it courts martyrdom
and self-sacrifice, and just now II
would not take much to induce the
people to throw prosperity 20 the
winds until they secured a readjust-
ment of ethical standards.
The president will not be satisfied
with a subterfuge. He will insist on
regulation: and the supreme court
OF the United States, while not re-
versing any previous decisions, has
unquestionably reversed its view
point Of questions, involving property
rights and the public's interests, as
shown by recent decisions, uphold
ing implied authority of the inter-
state commerce commission.
OF course. the effect OF the rail-
roads action will be beneficial to the
public. in now insuring the passage
of the Taft regulation bill; and test
ing the right in the federal court of
the railroads to agree on arbitrary
increases in rates, and we hope that
no evil results will follow: but we
never will be able to figure out how
men of the mental calibre OF our
great railroad financiers could make
such a startling blunde-.