Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-06-22
THE DEMOCRACY
OF REGULATION
JUDGE eRosscup DECLARES
PUBLIC OPINION GETTING
READY TO CONTROL.
SAYS FAIR VALUATION OF RAIL.
ROAD PROSPECTS ONLY BASIS
OF RATE MAKING.

| road and Industrial WOTlu cOulu HdNs
been originally prevented, and nigh
even now be destroyed That belle
was voiced in the Sherman act whel
it was first passed. and is more o.
less renewed every time the Sherman
act is applied to concrete cases. But
under the very shadow of the Sher
man act, nearly ali of the great com
binations in the railroad and inCus
trial world could have been original
~ prevented, and might even now be-
destroyed. That belief was voiced il
The Serman act when it was frs
passed. and is more or less renewed
every time the Sherman act is ap
piled cncrete cases But, under the
very shadow of the Sherman act. near
\ ly all of the great combinations thai
that We now have. have grown up"
Such was the declaration OF Judge
Peter s. Grosscap of Chicago in an
address last evening before the Acad
envy OF Law on, Democracy, Its Last
Phase.
For nearly twenty years now" de
clared Judge Grosscup, public opin
ion has been getting itself in readi
ness to deal with the combinations In
the railroad and industrial worlds
that modern conditions have brought
into being. Public opinion is still
engaged in getting itself ready. A mi
nority of our pepole, but a large and
iesoureeful minority, want nothing
done. That minority can be counted
on, at every turn, to help the majority
defeat itself. The majority believe
that something must be done. But
upon what that something should be,
majority do not agree.
Some would have the size OF our
corporate enterprises limited. But no
one has yet told us where, in practice,
the line should fall Some think the
great corporations of the country can
be made by law TO compete. To COM
pete with whom-when that particu-
lar corporation already has a monop-
oily OF the field? And some believe
that. laying aside as impossible all
these suggestions, the road to accom-
lish what the majority seek to ac-
complish is by the way of regulation
OF rates. so far as the railways are
concerned, through the interstate
commerce commission. as also the
amount and character of securities
that railroads should be allowed 10 is
sue
ITO this view, President Taft
seems to be sincerely committed But
thus far, President Taft, and those
who stand with him, have not been
able to get in any effective form what
they seem to want in the way of the
regulation of securities to be issued
And my own experience with rate
matters make me doubt whether-fn
the absence of fair valuation of rail-
road properties. to be used as a yard
stick in determining the reasonable
ness oil rates-any regulation of rates.
BY the governmental board. would re-
suit in justice either to the railroads
or to the public.
Judge Grosscup declared that the
vice of the minority. who want moth
ing done, is that they do not look be-
y0nd their own feet, and the circle of
Interests in which their feet are i'm
prisoned. The vision Of this interested
minority fails short of seeing that the
whole movement toC,ay is toward A
tfuer democracy. a democracy in
Egypt, for instance. that will not feel
Itself IuIfy attained while a few for
eisners are kept in and the Egyptian
people kept out; democracy in Eng
land that viii not feel itself fully at
tanned by the mere participation of all
classes OF Engils;lIn,eE in the elective
franchise so long as the Englishman
who this the soil is practically exclud-
ed from ever owning the soil he this:
democracy that, in America. is ran
IDLY coming to believe that if. under
modern conditions, competition in
some fields OF industry must be elm
mated and monopOlies must exist, the
class of property resulting shall not.
merely by reason its being monop
oily. burden the people with excessive
prices, nor, by reason of its being cor
oorate in form, constitute a domain
that the people at large. seeking own.
ership, cannot safely enter.
And where Mr.. Taft's plan fails, .
said Judge Grosscup. sis that should
it accomplish all that its friends hope
it viii accomplish nothing final in its
nature. will even then have been ac-
complished--the old war between
shippers and the railroads viii still
he on; the old crowd, by the manipu-
tation OF corporate securities. wilt
still be piling up stupendous individ.
ual fortunes: the old 66strust OF the
corporate domain as field OF popu-
lar ownership will continue: the old
ascending scale of prices win not
have vanished
rs 4. not time that our American
majority. who wish something done,
should agree upon policy that will
accomplish what il wishes cone? For
my own part | see but one ultimate
remedy, and that is TO deal with the
railroads that are natural monopolies.
and the great industrial combinations
that have made themselves monop-
ol.es that modern conditions have
made necessary: and then, putting
upon them valuation that takes in
EnTTV'C