Evening star., 1914-01-20

not ALL of the great railroad systems of
the country by the way in which they
have been financed and their own dis
tinctive interests subordinated to the IN
! terests of the men who financed them
and of other business enterprises which
those men wished 10 promote. The
country is ready, therefore, to accept,
and accept with relief as well ap-
proval. a law which will confer upon the
Interstate commerce commission the
power to superintend and regulate the
financial operations by which the raj
roads are henceforth to be supplied with
the money they need for their proper de-
velopment to meet the rapidly growing
requirements of the country for increas-
ed and improved facilities OF transporta-
ton. We cannot postpone action in this
matter without leaving the railroads cX:-
posed to many serious handicaps nd
hazards; and the prosperity of the rail-
roads and the prosperity of the country
are inseparably connected Upon this
question those WHO are chiefly RESPONSE
Bile for the actual management and oper-
alton of the railroads have spoken very
plainly and very earnsstiE. with q pur-
pose We ought to be quick to accept. 1t
will be one step, and ver. important
one, toward the necessary separation of
the business of production from the busi-
nssi of transportation.
The business of the country awaits also.
has long awaited and has suffered be-
cause it could not obtain. further and
more explicit legislative definition of the
policy and meaning of the existing anti
trust law. Nothing hampers business
like uncertainty. Nothing daunts or dis
courages it like the necessity to take
finances, to run the risk of falling I'M
der the condemnation of the law before
it can make sure just what the law is.
Surely we are sufficiently familiar with
The actual processes and methods of
monopoly and of the many hurtful re-
straints of trade to make definition pos
rib 70 ftra Of
what experience has disclosed. These
practices. being now abundantly dis
closed, can be explicitly and item by item
forbidden by statute in such terms as
law itself and the penalty being made
equally plain. ., Il.
Guidance for Business Men.
And the business men of the country
desire something more than that the
menace of legal process in these matters
be made explicit and intelligible They
desire the advice the definite guidance
and information which can be supplied
by an administrative body, an interstate
trade commission.
The opinion of the country would in
stantly approve of such a commission.
1t would not wish to see it empowered
sort to assume control of business. as if
tine government made itself responsible.
1t demands such a commission only as an
indispensable instrument of information
and publicity, as a clearing house for
the facts by which both the public mind
and the managers of great business
undertakings should be guided, and as an
instrumentality for doing justice to BUSH
ness where the processes of the courts
or the natural forces of correction out
side the courts are inadequate to adjust
the remedy to the wrong in a way that
will meet all the equities and circum-
stances of the case.
Producing industries, for example,
which have passed the point up to which
combination may be consistent with the
public interest and the freedom of trade
cannot always be dissected into their
component units as readily as railroad
companies or simi ar organizations can
be. Their dissolution by ordinary legal
process may oftentimes involve financial
consequences. likely to. overwhelm the
security market and bring upon it break
down and confusion. There ought to be
an administrative commission capable Of
directing and shaping such corrective
processes, not only in aid of the courts