Evening journal., 1917-03-30
Railroads and The Future
CFrom Daily financial America)

In times much less distracting than
the present the decision OF the Su-
preme Court of the United States as
TO the constitutibnality of the Adam
son law would require a long period
for proper digestion and assimilation
by the public mind. The decision is
far-reaching; it is bound to effect the
future relationships between govern
ment and interstate business, between
capital and labor, to an extent incon-
ceivable at present; It is epoch-mak-
ing in its establishment of law and in
its Interpretation of law.
No mind can forecast with any pre-
cislon the effects which the law itself
and the utterances of the Supreme
Court in unfolding the constitutions
atty OF that law will have upon the
national economy; but the law and
the decision unQuestionably will work
changes very nearly revolutionary in
character, so far as this country is
concerned, in railroad and labor az
fairs. AS these changes will effect
every business interest, every indi-
vidual i'm the country. It behoOves all
citizens Of intelligence to study the
present decision and carefully to fol
low the developments based upon il
with a view 20 speaking and acting
intelllgently in relation thereto in the
future. For public sentiment mus
guide. more than it has in some years
the course Of the government in mat
ters Of this kind; and public senti
ment must soon determine whether j.
desires the interstate transportation
systems OF the country to be owned
and operated by the government.
There are other questions which
await the definite thought and actor
| Of the public. but this question OF SOY
ornamental ownership and operation Ii
now the major one That the time FOL
making a decision upon 10 has beer
| brought much nearer by the nature o
| the Supreme Courts disposition OF thi
| Adamson case must be evident to any
one who has studied the text OF tn
majority opinion as handed down b.
Chief Justice White
Congressional authority over inter
state commerce has been immeasuI
ably widened by the present decision
! the authority is extended into field
! other than those obviously covered b.
the statute at issue. The authority !
made indeed. so comprehensive. am
| the public character OF the servic
rendered by the railroads so largel
| emphasized, that but few steps al
! necessary before government coalro
now actual as 10 law 10 not as to oWr
ership will extend to possession q
| railroad property and the responsible
ties OF operation
Students Of the history Of railroa
regulation are convinced that reguli
tlon of railroads, in its overriding ha
struck q blow at the financial stabuit
of the carrier companies heavier tina
the blow which the roads dealt a
themselves in their era Of mismaI
agement and speculative exploitation
| This blow. chiefly in the form of dive
gent State regulative laws, brough
the Interstate railroads TO favor a
extension OF the Federal control;
urge national charters for all int
state carriers, and thus to make 20
} sible an unloosing of the burden {
regulative laws whose variety is pr
portionate with the number Of State
composing the Union. While the a
thority of the Federal governmel
over interstate carriers has long bee
recognized as transcending tho a
thority OF the States. the latter ha'
succeeded. largely through polite
means, in preventing any adequa
exercise of this authority on the pa
of the Federal government. The c
preston now formulated and decree
as TO the power Of Congress to reg
late the affairs of interstate carrie
not only seems as If it should final
dispose OF State ptetensions as 70
terstate regulation. but bids fair
settle the matter for the long futu
by Fastening the time when the "a
roads shall be taken entirely out