The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-12-07

grant an increase of rates on thu
ground referred to is indisputablI
clear and Recommendation by tn,
Congress with regard to such mat
ter might seem 10 draw in question
+, the scope of the Commissions author
ity or its inclination to do justice
when there is no reason to doubt eth
er.
The other suggestions.-th in
crease in the International Commerce
Commissions membership and in its
facilities for performing its manifold
duties, the provision for full public
investigation and assessment Of in
dustrial disputes, and the grant to the
Executive of the power to control and
, operate the railways when necessary
in time of war or other like public
necessity now very earnestly re.
new .j .'.Fs 50. ~
The necessity for such legislation is
manifest and pressing. Those who
have entrusted us with the RESPONSE.
bility and duty Of safeguarding them
in such matters would find 1t hard,
believe, to excuse a failure to act up
on these grave matters or any unnee-
essary postponement of action upon
them. ',. .asr's; ~ T,ts|
Not only does the Interstate Com;
merce Commission now find Ii practi-
cally impossible, with it's present mem
bership and organization, to perform
it's great functions promptly and thor
oughly but ii is not unlikely that it
may presently be found advisable to
add to its duties. still others equally
heavy and exacting. It must first be
perfected as an administrative instru-
ment.
The country cannot and should not
consent to remain any longer exposed
to profound industrial disturbances
for lack of additional means of aTbi-
tration and Cancellation which the Con
gress can easily and promptly supply
And all will agree that there must be
no doubt as to the power of the Rx-
ecutive to make immediate and unin.
terrupted use of the railroads for the
concentration of the military forces
of the nation wherever they are need
ed. .'~ "~~ 1s '1r 50 rtls "nr" /
This is a programme OF regulation,
prevention, and administrative eff
cheney which agrees its own case in
the mere statement of 1t. With regard
to one Of its items. the increase in
the efficiency of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, the House OF Rep
has already acted; it's ac-
ton needs only the concurrence of
the Senate. . ''
would hesitate to recommend, and
| dare say the Congress would hesitate
to act upon the suggestion should I
make il, that any man in any occupa-
ton should be- Obliged by law to con
tinue in an employment which he de-
sired to leave. To pass law which
forbade or prevented the individual
workman to leave his work before re-
ceiving the approval of society in do
ing so would be to adopt a new prin-
ciple into our jurisprudence which
take it for granted we are not prepar-
ed to introduce. But the proposal that
the operation of the railways of the
country shall not be stopped or inter
upted by the concerted action of or
ganiZed bodies of men until a public
investigation shall have been institut-
ed which shall make the whole ques.
ton at issue plain for the judgment
of the opinion of the nation is not to
propose any such principle. 1t is bas-
ed upon the very different principle
that the concerted action of powerful
bodies of men shall not be permitted
to, stop the industrial processes of the
nation, at any rate before the nation
shall have had an opportunity to &C
quaint itself with the merits of the
case as between employee and en-
ployer, time to form it's opinion upon
an impartial statement of the merits,
and opportunity to consider all prac-
ticable means of Cancellation or arbi-
tration. can see nothing in that pro-
position but the justifiable safeguard
ing by society of the necessary pro-
cesses of it's very life. There is moth,
ing arbitrary or unjust in it unless It
be arbitrarily and unjustly done. 1t
can and should be done with a full
and serupulous regard for the inter.
ests and liberties of all concerned as
well as for the permanent interests of
society itself. bod ,..-t."... 49,.
Three matters of capital Importance
await the action Of the Senate which
have already been acted upon by the
House of Representatives: the bill
which seeks to extend greater free
dom of combination to those engaged
in promoting the foreign commerce OF
the country than is now thought by
some to be legal under the terms OF
the laws against monopoly; the bill
amending the present organic law OF
Porto Rico; and the bill proposing q
more thorough and systematic regula
ton of the expenditure of money in
elections, commonly called the Cor
rupt Practices Act. / need not labor
my advice that these measures be en-
acted into law. Their urgency lies In
the manifest circumstances which reI
der their adoption at this time moi