El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-03

! there began Sucn a struggle as has been
rarely witnessed between the forces of
progress and reaction The progressive
Republicans did not get all they wanted,
nor all they ought to have had, but
| they succeeded in converting a measure
! which in its original form would have
| been a long step backward. into a mea-
sure that is gratifying step forward.
We earnestly cOntended that no in
| creaSes in rates should hereafter go
into effect until approved by the COM
mission. This seems fair and just, mas
much as the carriers made the rates
that are now in force. and it may.
/ therefore, be assumed that they are re-
munerative.
We failed in that effort. but as a
| substitute for it, it was provided that
| the commission can suspend new rates
| for period of 10 months and that
| in all hearings as TO the reasonable
| ness of rates the burden of proof shall
rest upon the railway companies.
| We insisted that no injunction re-
| straining an order of the commission
/ should be issued without notice. and
| that there should be the right of ap-
! peal from any such injunction. The
! bill was so amended.
We contended that the shipper who
! had complained TO the interstate COM
1 merce commission, and had won his
| case, should have the right to appear
| in any suit that was brought by the
! railway companies to annul his victory
/ 1t is now in the law.
| We urged that no greater jurisdic-
| ton over the interstate commerce COM
mission should be conferred upon the
( commerce court than is now exercised
| by the circuit courts, and the DILL was
| so amended.
We kept the antitrust law intact. We
remembered that it had dissolved two
vicious traffic associations; that il
had annihilated the Northern Securi-
ties company; that it had decreed the
death of the american Tobacco COM
pany, and. finally, had sent the terror
! of disintegratiOn into the ranks of the
Standard Oil company, and we did not
intend to see its vigor impaired or its
scope narrowed until something better
| could be enacted in its stead.
We attempted, with all the strength
we had, to put into the bill fair and
effectual provision which would have
prevented the issuance of stocks and
bonds without 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 rail-
way capitalization.
Wall street Interests.
Certain Republicans who are enam-
street joining themselves with certain
Democrats who found no authority in
the constitution for such legislation,
defeated our amendments.
We are not. however. without hope.
for under the recommendation of the
president provision was adopted which
Will insure an immediate investigation
of the subject, and we may shortly be
more successful in our efforts TO regu-
late railway stocks and bonds.
Upon the whole the Republican party
is to- be congratulated upon the blk
as it became a law. 1t is step in the
right direction, and ultimately we Will
reach the end toward which all patri-
OTIS are striving.
I trust 1 will not be accused of any
desire to stir up factional feeling for
saying. as 1 am bound TO say, that had
it not been for the progressive Repub-
licanS in the senate, men who have
been derided throughout the country as
insurgents. the bill would have passed
the senate as il came from the pen of
the attorney general, and the Republi-
can party would have staggered along
in this campaign under a burden too
heavy for any party to successfully
carry.
Postal Banks.
Our platform of 1908 committed the
party to the establishment of postal
savings institutions. 1t is probably
true that Iowa needs such facilities for
union, but nevertheless, 1 am convinced
that the policy is a wise one.
There are many parts of the country
IN which the banks are neither so nu-
merous nor so near the people as they
are in Iowa, and whatever we can do to
encourage and stimulate habits of saw
ing and thrift we ought to do
The r0aSSad
my opinion. two serious defects which
ought TO be removed at the earliest
practicable moment.
First. we have gwen to the board of
trustees, which Is to manage the postal |
repositories, the discretion TO designate
such postoffices as it ses fit This dis
erection will be a never ending irritation
1t goes without saying that the banks |
in any community will not favor the
desi gnatiOn of the pOStoffice in that /
community as q depository. 1t will be !
natural for the banks to resist, because |
the repositories are, in a sense, COM |
petitors in business. Therefore the
board will be from the beginning the |
focal point of all the political influence
that the banks can arouse and direct.
The law should be amended so that |
repositories are selected by some stand
ard, either of population or of business. !
which could be applied inflexibIy to the !
whole country
Second, the most serious objection 10 |
the law will be found in the disposition |
of the money after it is gathered at the !
postoffices. Until a few weeks before !
the bill passed it had never ben sug- !
gested that the money so taken in at |
the postoffice was, under any circum- I!
stances, to be removed from the commu
mites in which it was gathered. except !