Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-10-27
CUM MI Ms AT
MARSHALL
Continued Froms Page -

structure commodious enough tc
house every man who believes
lin the fundamental principles
of the republican party as
they have been held for more than hall
a century, and as they have been ex
empifed in every republican platform
from the time of John G. Fremont anc
Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roose
welt and William Fl. Taft. The political
philosophy Of the existing situation car
be embodied in a single sentence; the
misapplicaticn. OF sound principle is
a temporary evil, but any application
of an unsound principle is permanent
wrong. 1t is cas-! to correct a mistake;
it Is impossible to reform vicious
theory
There are many important and
difficult subjects which will in the
| future, as in the past, challenge the
attention and care of the congress OF
the United States, but there are three
Of these subjects which, by common
consent, are lifted high above all
t, others so that they long have been,
and will continue pre-eminent in the
region of statecraft.
First. The regulation and control
Of corporations, including the super.
vision of all such forms OF combined
concentrated wealth and industry as
affect interstate commerce. and In
Guiding of course. all railway and
other transportation companies en-
gagged in interstate traffic.
Second. The adjustment from time
to time of duties upon imports, or as
it is most commonly known, the tariff.
Third. The conservation of those
natural resources which are still the
property of the whole people
The Trust Issue.
"For years the national government
has been attempting to protect the peo-
pie against unreasonable or discrim-
inatory railway rates. Every student
of the subject has known during all
this time that our efforts in this direc-
ticn could not be wholly successful I'M
til the commission which supervised
the rates knew the amount of railway
capital on which a reward could be
fairly demanded. 1t is absurd to eX-
pect that the interstate commerce
commission can intelligently prescribe
the maximum of railway revenues un-
less it, or some other tribunal, has
determined the capital upon which In
terest or dividends must be paid. The
history of railway capitalization is
simply recital Of bonds and stocks
issued at the pleasure of promoters
with no regard for the investment in
the properties. and with little regard
for their value, even from the stand
point of the railway companies. The
result is that we have something like
seventeen and half billions of rail
way securities in existence which are
clamoring for adequate returns, but
we are in absolute ignorance of either
the amount of money which the rail-
ways have cost, or the value, which
computed according to any proposed
standard, should be accorded to them.
without inquiring into the subject
further, or concerning ourselves at
this time with any one of the various
plans for repairing the wrongs OF the
past, take up the accepted Judgment
of all disinterested men that Their can
be no adequate regulation OF our rall-
ways their rates and their practices
unless we can for the future see to
it that there shall be no capitaliza-,
ton of common carrier corporations,
either by way of bonds or Of stocks
that does not truthfully represent
money actually used by the common
carriers in the betterment or enlarge
ment of their properties. This restric-
ton. SO vital in it's character and so
acknowledged in it's necessity, can be
put upon these corporations only
through legislative act; and here the
real difficulty appears. 1t must be
done either by state legislatures or by
congress. We now have forty-six
eight The man who believes that
there is any hope of securing from
these state legislatures with their
varying interests a series of laws that
will cooperate with each other so that
the capitalization of our great railway
systems can be efficiently guarded Is
living example of fatuous 1mbec1llty
Every sound and thoughtful person
knows that if we are to have ade-
auate legislation upon this subject 1t
must come from congress.
The Party Viewpoints.
"The republican party, as whole,
believes that the restriction of the
Capitalization Of interstate railway
companies is regulation of inter-
state commerce The democratic party
as whole, believes that it is not a
regulation of interstate commerce.
There are some republicans who, con-
ceding the power, are so blind to their
duty that they are not willing to ex'
ercise the power, and they ought to be
relieved from the responsibilities OF
Office with the utmost expedition; but
it would be sad commentary upon
the intelligence of our voters to SUB
stitute for such republican, demo
crat who denies the existence OF the
power, and whose presence IN once
would add strength to an organlza-
ton which refuses upon constitutional
grounds the relief SO imperatively re-
quired
Personally, shall employ what lit
tie influence / have to induce repub'
lican voters to nominate for public
place men who are in sympathy with
such reform, but will never con-
sciously aid in the election OF candl-
date whose party denies the congress
of the United States power, fairly
bestowed which the welfare OF the
country so insistently demands. |