The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-19
commerce court. First of all 1t would expedite matters, he asserted
Delays of Justice

commerce court. First of all 1t would expedite matters, he asserted.
 Delays of Justice
 The one thing," said the President, which disgraces our civilization today Is the delays of civil and criminal justice. And these delays always work in favor Of the man with the longest purse. Hence they work in favor of the railroads rather than the shipper. The commerce court, by avoiding the convenient delays of the past will be long step toward that reg ulatlon of the railroads which we have been looking for"
 "A second provision of the bill allows carriers to make traffic agreements among themselves,' said the President, subject to the approval of the inter state commerce commission. My prede- cessor in his every message to Congress recommended this The provision does not permit pooling. It allows that which the railroads have to do any way, whether the law forbids it or not I am in favor of allowing the railroads. if run rightly and justly, to run within the law.
 other provisions of the pending bill were taken up one by one by the Pres ident. MT. Taft explained the necessity of giving the commission power to read just classification of freight rates, to sus- pend increased rates until time is al-
 
 their justice. to supervise the issue of stocks and bonds. and to prevent water ing. to fix through rates. and to give shippers a choice of rates and routes. Lastly he came to that provision of the law which has been the subject of recent attack in the House of Representatives, that of permitting railroads owning 5O per cent of stock in another to purchase the remaining control.
 Toe Much to Railroads
 Some gentlemen seem to think this gives the railroads too much leeway" said the President. "As matter of fact, 1t was inserted to give the minority stock holders a market. If a railroad already owns that per cent of the stock 1t is in control to begin with. The House com mittee has stricken out this provision but my impressions are that after full consideration 1t will be found advisable to give this opportunity to the minority stockholders to market their holdings ade- quately. and that the people least inter ested in the provision are the railroad companies"
 From the railroad bill the President passed to the postal savings bank meas ure, which already has passed the Sen ate. He said he hoped it would pass the House, and he felt the enactment of the bill would prove the worth of the institu- ton. In the end he predicted that instead
  of hurting the banking business 1t would improve it
 The President next discussed the so- called anti-injunction bill. That, too, pre- sents some aspects that would be dis couraging to a person less optimistic than I am" said the President. Our friends Gompers and the American Federation of Labor are opposed to the bill because they don't think 1t goes far enough. Our friend Van Cleave and the Manufacturers asso- citation are opposed to it because they say it will hamstring the courts and prevent them from giving needed relief. The truth of the matter is, the bill is one of the most reasonable provisions as could be as it carries out the platform to the let ter Some people ask why we should wish to pass the bill If it does not satisfy the labor organizations We did not agree to satisfy labor. We agreed to adopt the bill because we believed it to be right"
 Tired of Conferences
 q am tired" said the President, amid a storm Of cheers, "of conferring with particular interests to see whether a thing ought to go through. ] see the logic of their arguments and will attempt to give justice to every interest. I want to know if thing is right. If 1t is right we can convince the people that 1t Is right and they will be with us
 In speaking of the conservation meas ures the President said he hoped at least Congress at this session would adopt the bill which gives to the President specific authority to withdraw lands from public entry until such time as Congress can adopt laws for proper disposition of the valuable resources of the lands After this bill Is passed, the President said, he hoped the SS0,0o0,ooO issue of bonds or cer- tificates would be granted to carry for ward the reclamation projects in the west.
 This work he said, has gotten ahead of the money in hand in an effort to sat- isfy the hopes of those expecting to be benefited by the reclaimed land. The President referred to the right of the ex- ecutive to arbitrarily withdraw lands from entry, a subject which has formed part of the testimony taken in the Ballnger- Pinchot controversy.
 "Originally," said he the constitution provided that the public domain should be disposed of by Congress. But there grew up the practice that when the gov ernment needed a military reservation, or lighthouse site, the President would reserve the necessary land. Proceeding upon the theory that that right had been fully established millions of acres of lands were withdrawn by the last and the present administration that Congress might deal with, and that it might deal with lands in other ways than the pres ent laws prescribe, we must find remedies"
 Right of tie Executive
 "The right of the executive,' said MT. Taft, lis a very dubious one to my mind. and if tested might not stand. Already test is being made as to the right to withdraw oil lands in California" he said
 "The law that ought to pass first" said the President, Ifs the one giving the President definite authority to withdraw