The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-17

that the person who owns the highways l owns both the land and the people,
 "There is an inherent right to equal use of the highways and the right of the great railway systems has not altered this in the slightest. The have absolutely re- placed the old highways for long hauls. With the ancient usage clear it may well be said that the duty of the government 10 regulate railroads and to enforce equal use of their facilities bY all the people is just as imperative as though the owner ship of the railroads was in the govern ment.
 aIt is regarded as settled. therefore, that the large shippers must not he fav- ored over the small shipper, that commu- mites may not suffer from discrimination in rates. that schedules may be exam ined by the government, that rebatinE and ether evil practices shall be punished and that unfair rates may be changed.
 ''The power 10 change rates has been given by Congress to an administrative tribunal The railroad and the public are inter-dependent and il is the function of this tribunal to>determne the right in all controversies The shipper is not always the underdog so 10 speak,
 Tt is my obserYation.s continues Judge Knapp. that most of the evils of which complaint has been made are the out
 
 my deliberate opinion that railroads should be permitted by law to associate for the purpose of making reasonable uni form rates and for fhe abolition of de- structive competition.
 'Our whole future depends on tine solu- ton of these problems of interstate com merce If we are to go forward the rev enues of the railroads should be sufficient to pay such a return upon honest invest
 .r-- I.a, t ft1~gf a construction and extension of railways and the development of regions that await us. 1t may surprise you to know that in the old state of Maine there is terri tory larger than the whole state of Mas sachusetts which has not one mile of rail- road
 "Our methods of dealing with the rail- roads are still in the experimental stage. see serious danger in the present con dition. Congress is constantly agitated. So are the legislatures of all the states. There is the menace of stubborn conflict between the railroads and their two mil lion organized employees. Finally there is the menace of political influence. IT the regulation which is now sought to he enforced shall be found inadequate, gov- ernment ownership of the railroads is the only alternative.'
 At the present time, Judge Knapp states, the problem of the nouf+ IS lndl tHe rev enues of the railroads should be large enough to pay all employees wages which will make for national progress. The fun damental social problem confronting this country. he declares, is the more equit- able distribution of wealth. This, he says, must come from a general increase in ths wages of railroad employees. Likewise, he argues, there should be an increase in the revenue of railroads that there shall be betterment of existing lines without the need for ncEeased capitalization. Such methods, he continues, mortgage the fu- ture and impose burdens upon the genera tions to come.
 Judge Knapp, who has made long study of the railroad question in the coun- try, has been chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission and later organ ized the new commerce court, sums up by saving that the method of dealing with the railroads is still in an embryo condition, but that out of it all proba- bly will arise the necessity of extended government regulation or government ownership.