East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-04-15

here 1 reread 1t and also the letter
that / sent to Roosevelt accompanying
it, 1t was a mighty good statement.
| put 1t into his hands but he never
wrote the letter to the interstate
commerce commission and he never
made any speeches for valuation He
never put it up in the front of his
message and urged it upon congress
and he never put the administration
behind my bill for valuation and the
only time l can find he mentioned
valuation in a speech was the follow
ing 30th day of May at Indianapolis
when he took the position that there
was no watering generally speaking
in the capitalization of the railroads
of the country
II do not know who saw him after
/ talked with him but I imagine Aid
rich heard of it and Morgan and his
friend Perkins and they said to him
if you touch upon this subject at all
you will bring panic in Wall street
for they have a lot of money in these
securities and it will bring on panic.
| do not know what appened-some-
thing happened.
Now, my friends, the railroads of
this country are capitalized at eight
cen billions of dollars; we know in
Wisconsin what railroad building
means and / will tell you here this
afternoon, and l stake my reputation
on it not only for 1912 but for 1916,
1920 and so along. 1 give you plenty
of time to look it up. l tell you II
all the railroads, and railroad termi-
nals and engines and cars crumbled
to dust and ashes within the next
thirty minutes you could rebuild them
for little more than eight billions
of money and they are capitalized for
eighteen billions. What you buy for
your homes and farms pays tribute
more than double what it ought 1t
is more than that. They not only
take to pay interest on the eighteen
billion but they build up surplus.
They built the New York terminal out
of the surplus. Every dollar of that
is raised from the people. I believe
they should have enough to pay in
terest and dividends on what they
put in the business; enough more to
maintain the property. Enough to keep
capital good and enough more to op-
crate the business but not another
cent more. But they haven't any
right To build new lines out of the
surplus and go on and on in an end
less chain soaking the people time
without end.
Let me tell you a few years ago
fxVn fhnpCann q
competing lines in the United states
by 1897 twelve hundred Today
there are just six systems. The old
companies keep their original names
but they are without any voice or au'
| thority. The system is the controlling
| thing and we have six systems and
| Morgan and Standard Oil dominate
| in each of those six systems and they
are controlled by just eight men
| Sometimes you know in my audiences
| see a smile of derision or incredul'
ity on the face of some man and ther
| | am kind of sorry for him. Now hear
Let me tell you right now. SenC
me a postal card tomorrow and ad
| dress it to me at Washington, d. c.
and ask me for proof of what l saiC
/ in Pendleton and you will get bacl
a document and / will ask you t
read il. 1t is a speech made in thu
senate of the United States and
will undertake to say that there ism
a man or woman in this audience VIII
won't be interested in reading it 70
it tells the story of the control of tn,
railroads by eight men. The eigh
men who control the railroads yol
will find on the board of directors o
the United States steel company, thu
beef trust, the harvester trust anC
the big banking institutions of thi
country.
"The business of this country il
the last ten or eleven years has beei
woven together into one compact or
ganization; 90 men acting together oil
the board of directors of all the biz
institutions in America; controlling
the business of this country and o
those ninety-six men only fourteen o
them represent any capital in theil
own right The Others are dummie!
serving the big men behind and bacl
of the IA men are two powerful or
nizations-Morgan, for he is ar
organizer. He is more than man
and the Standard OIL.
"You know what the matter will
the cost of living is? You know why
1t has tripled in eleven years? / vii
tell you. Every time they consodli'
dated and merged these twenty roads