The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-10-12

\ "
De r e Ed
ltion. Such a change in the Amer
lean plan Of government would be
OF stlpendpus importance.
The issues Of today concern vast
property interests, and the future
| policies Of state and nation on many
grave questions Of business are Vi
tually concerned.
After reviewing the Minnesota
rate case ana the decision of the
United States supreme court. Mr..
Thorne said: The court said that
the question as to whether federal
Regulation Of commerce shall sup
plant state regulation is not ques-
ton for the judiciary to determine;
ut is legislative and not judicial in
character. 1t now becomes, not q
question Of precedent or Of statute.
but one Of expediency, Of wisdom. !"
Vital Issue.
Within the next twenty-five years
substantially all our commercial af-
fairs will be carried on by com
panies doing both state and inter-
state business" said Mr.. Thorne.
What is good for railroads will be
good for others. Shall we abandon
our state governments, SO far as the
regulation Of business is concern
ed? Here is an issue which strikes
at fundamentals; which has to do
with the method Of government.
In striving after the new, we
frequently fail to realize the .intrin.
sic value Of the old. What Is the
fundamental characteristic OF our
government? It is the creation Of a
nation, large and strong enough to
assert its Independence among the
world powers; at the same time com
bined with form OF government Sc
curing real tangible home rules to
the various independent sovereign
ties making up that nation.
II the national government IA
permitted to gradually absorb these
functions formerly exercised by the
states, 1t will only be a question Of
time until some greet evil will de-
mand some great remedy. Agitation
will follow agitation. There viii
be no opportunity to try out the new
proposals; the nation as a whole must
adopt 1t or reject 1t.
New wNationalism Wrong.
We believe the federal plan as
conceived by our fathers, is better
than the new nationalism. We he
lieve the states are distinct fac
tor in our scheme Of government
This federal plan is sort Of safe
ty valve against political and indus
trial revolution; and 1t is the great
est ever devised by the makers Of
government"
Tracing the history Of railroad re-
gulation, Mr. Thorne pointed out that
practi cally every important advance
step In the regulation Of railroads.
corporations and great consultations
OF our generation has originated
with the states,n and called atten-
ton to the establishment Of state
railroad commissions with power to
NJ maximum rates in 1887, seventeen
years before the same power was
granted to the interstate commerce.
commission.
"As one state after another finds
the action of their neighboring COM
monwea1th to be wise and good" he
said, they have followed her. and
adopted similar provisions. In this
way. progress or reform is gradually
brought about in the nation as a
whole. The states form a sort OF
experiment station; and where thew
have gone wrong, the courts are quick
70 check them, or there Is developed
a tremendous public sentiment in
the country as whole which quietly
destroys that which Is not wise.
In view Of the remarkable his
tory Of the origin Of these move
ments. 1t is little wonder that the
carriers are extremely SOLICITORS in
their efforts to prevent and to re-
move the possibility Of further adj
vance steps in the different states, ),
Answers Argument.
Answering the argument that
the railroad transportation business
Is OF such national character that
It requires single national tribunal
to regulate 1t. Mr.. Thorne said:
Our sentence will contain an an
swer to claims of this character. that
1t Is difficult to separate the ex-
penses ON local and through hanIs.
even after you have removed the
state lines. the problem or reason
able local rates still remains.
The real issue is practical" he
said rather than theoretical n char
acter- It is not whether we shan
abolish all state regulation: but. In
stead. whether this or that Is pronar
function to be performed by the stata
It is wholly new and unheard Of
proposition to do away with state
regulation. This Is doctrine that
1eopardizes our institutions.
The great benefit urged on be-
half Of exclusive national control ia
uniformity. But there Is somethine
even better and more important than
uniformity and that is wise reguia-
ton. Rates may be uniformly hirh
or uniformly low: rules or service
3