Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-08-11


with respect TO the merger and consol,
dalton of railways, and 10 substitute for
II the unreviewable discretion OF the com
merce court exercised in an ex parte pro
Ii proposed. In effect. to validate the ex-
listing capitalization of railway companies,
and the regulation with regard 10 the flu
ture issuance of stocks and bonds was at.
tended hy a series of exceptions which
Practically legalizes every known method
OF decentralization.
1t proposed to create useless and ex.
pensive court of commerce to do the work
which the circuit court now does.
the eRce gao 90 ~ o me court Of Commerce
way w to 0t the graveyard Of legislative heresy
and reaction, and there hope they will
All that was good In the bill was care
fully preserved, and all that was bad
was either wholly rejected or materially
modified.
Remade the eii.
With the introduction of the bill there
began such struggle as has been rarely
Witnessed between the forces or progress
and reaction. The progressive republicans
did not get all they wanted, nor all they
ought TO have had. but they succeeded In
converting measure which In Its original
form would have been long step back.
ward into a measure that 10 gratifying
We earnestly contended that no In
creases In rates should hereafter so into
effect until approved by the commission.
This seems fair and just, inasmuch as the
carriers made the rates that are now In
force, and ii may. therefore, be assumed
that they are remunerative.
We failed in that effort, but as a sub
sttute for IL. IL was provided that the
commission can suspend new rates for
period OF ten months, and that In all
bearings as to the reasonableness OF rates
the burden of proof shall rest upon the
railway companies.
We insisted that no induction restrain
fSGnpd there
should be the right Of appeal from any
such Injunction. The bill was so amended
We contended that the shipper who had
complained to the interstate commerce
commission. and had won his case, should
have the right to appear In any suit that
was brought by the railway companies to
annu his victory. IL is now in the law.
We urged that no greater Jurisdiction
over the Interstate commerce commission
should be conferred upon the commeree
courts. and the bill was so amended.
We kept the antitrust law intact We
remembered that IT had dissolved two
initiated the Northern Securities company
that II had decreed the death of the Amer
lean Tobacco company and, nnaily, had
sem the terror of disintegration into the
ranks of the standard oil company, and
we did not intend 10 see Its vigor impaired
or it's scope narrowed until something bet
ter could be enacted in its stead.
We attempted, with all the strength we
he'd, to put into the bill fair and eff
fettual provision which would have pre-.
vented the issuance Of stocks and bonds
w'lhout full compensation, and that would
have rendered impossible hereafter the
exhibitions OF dishonesty and extravaganza
that have so startled the world In the
last few years in railway capitalization.
Wall Street interests.
Certain republicans who are enamored
with the manipulations OF Wall street,
joining themselves with certain democrats
who found no authority in the constitu-
tton for such legislation, defeated our
amendment.
We are not however, without hope, for
under the recommendation Of the presi-
dent a provision was adopted which will
insure an Immediate Investigation OF the
subject, and we may shortly be more sue.
cessfuI in our efforts to regulate railway
stocks and bonds.
Upon the whole. the republican party Is
became law, 1t is a step In the right
direction. and ultimately we will reach
the end toward which all patriots are
striving. .r
/ trust I will not be accused of any de-
sire to stir up factional feeling for say,
ing, as l am bound to say, that had II
not been for the progressive. republicans
in the senate, men who have been derided
throughout the country as insurgents. the
bill would have passed the senate as II
came from the pen Of the attorney gener'
staggered along In this campaign under
burden too heavy for any party to success
fully carry.
Postal Banks.
Our platform of 1908 committed the par
ty to the establishment Of postal savings
institutions. 1t is probably true that Iowa
needs such facilities for savings less than
any other state In the union, but never
theless, l am convinced that the policy
is a wise one.
In which the banks are neither so numer-
Gus nor so near the people as they are In
Iowa. and whatever we can do to encour.
age and stimulate habits of savings and
The law passed by congress has, in my
opinion, two serious defects which ought
to be removed at the earliest practicable
moment.
First we have given to the board Of
trustees which is to manage the postal
repositories. the discretion to designate
crctinn will be a never ending irritation.
1t goes without saying that the banks In
any community will not favor the designa.
ton OF, the post office in that community
the banks to resist because the repositories
are, in a sense, competitors In business.
ginning Tbe focal point of all the political
Influence that the banks can arouse and
The law should be amended so that
depOs.tor are selected by some standard,
either of population or of business. which
could he spilled inhexibly TO the whole
country.
the law viii be found in the disposition
OF the Inoncy after it is gathered at the
postoniccs. Until few weeks before the
bin PASSED it had never been suggested s6sf
office was, under any circumstances, 70
be removed from the communities in
which it was gathered. except as 1t went
out under the ordinary laws OF commerce
The subject has been considered by
more than one postmaster general, Bills
had been introduced, and reports made
by committees, but it had never been in
timated that 1t would be wise to with
draw these funds from the locality Of the
postofice and invest them In government
the fundamental idea that the money put
in the postof1ces should not be with
drawn by the government from that COM
The power Of the east over the west In
controlling the supply of money Is already
too great, and what we have done will add
immeasurably to the eastern influence.
Protect Country Banks.
In nv Judgment, II we want to popu-
larize postal savings repositories, and al
had in view, we must speedily amend
the law so that the country banks Will
not be injured, and so that money will
be permitted to perform us iuil Iunctions
in the localities to which 1t naturally
In this connection l must be permitted
to dwell upon the proposition Tor cen
trail hank. 1t will soon be live question
in American politics, and 1t is high time
that Republicans should give It that ire
ties all public problems. Leaders may
fret and fume about it; they may write
books about it committees and commits.
sions may sit upon it; the Congressional
ing il, but finally the quiet reflection Of
the farm and factory the shop and store,
the street corner and the roadside VIII
enter the judgment.
rrbo nronosal has not vet taken definite