Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1910-08-10
INFORMATION ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS.
The Railroad Bill. Gore and Honest Ser
want, and Other Things Of Interest.


Washington correspondent for this
newspaper.
Washington, Aug. S.-All over
the land the regular Republican
candidates for Congress are pre-
pairing to ask for election or re-
election on the record of President
Taft and the last Congress.
Aside from the tariff revision,
with which the public Is already
familiar, the predominating feat
ures of the platform on which the
standpatters will make the final
desperate stand are the postal
bank bill and the 50 called rail-
road regulation bill.
The railroad bill as passed was
better than existing law, improve
ments having been forced by
Democrats and INSURGENTS. The
original draft was one of the most
vicious pieces of legislation pro-
posed in Congress in years. Presl-
dent Taft sent this bill to Congress
with his personal endorsement
and asked that it be passed with
out amendment.
It provided for a commerce
court which would have destroyed
the usefulness of the interstate
commerce commission, and made
appeal to the higher tribunals i'm
possible.
It took the railroads from un-
der the antitrust law and would
have permitted them to make what
rates they pleased without any
effective check.
It legalized existing mergers
between existing lines it contain-
ed a joke provision to regulate
the issuing of railroad securities.
The Democrats and insurgents
forced some improvements but
were prevented by administration
influence from putting in pro-
visions which would have been of
real value to the people, such as
physical valuation of the roads as
basis of rate regulariou.
Such was the rat ,ad bill that
would have become law had Presi-
dent Taft had his way.
AS TO THE POSTAL BANKS.
Congress passed the kind of
savings bauk bill that Mr.. Taft
wanted. The effect will be, it is
thought by those who have given
study to the act as passed, to
drain local communities of the
money deposited i'll postal savings
banks. Had the Democrats and
insurgents had their way, a postal
bank bill such as was desired by
the people, would have been pass
ed. But through the influence of
the administration. Aldrich was
able to thwart the will of the
people, and to secure the passage
of bill which will give Wall
street the control of the peoples
money as never before.
THE TARIFF COMMISSION.
Still another feature of the
Taft record is the tari IF
commission law, also gold brick.
Is creates commission without
powers, and gives the special in.
terests $250.O00 of the peoples
money to carry on the campaign
against honest revision of the tar
if on the basis of equalization of
the cost of production at home and
abroad.
PINCHOT WISE TO PROTECTION.
Ex.Forester Clifford Pinchot has
ideos on other things beside con-
cervation. At a dinner given re-
Gently he declared that the nation
had lost confidence in Congress
because it represented special in
terests rather than the people.
Continuing, he said:
''And of this there could be no
better illustration than the tariff
The tariff, under the policy of pro-
tectio1, was originally means to
raise tho rate wages. 1t has been
made q tool to increase the cost of
living"
"The cotton cloth schedule was
was increased in the face of the
uncontradictedpublic testimony of
manufacturers themselves that it
ought to remain unchanged.
'The steell interests by a trick
secured an indfensible increase in
the tariff on structural steel.
"The sugar trust stole from the