Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07
Observation-Disclosures FEEL
PARTYISM MAKING PROGRESS
Look for Better Fortune i'm Congressional
Elections Next Year and Presi-
dental Campaign of 1892.

during the period between about 1885
and 1905. The practices unearthed by
many investigations into public utilities
have a curious identity with those
practices by the railroads which, 20 to
40 years ago, made the railroads para:
mount political issue, which provided
the whole material for the leadership of
La Toilette, and much of the material
for the leadership of Roosevelt.
Railroads Only Recovering.
The iniquities of the railroads were
ended by the passage through Congress
in 1906 of regulatory measures so draS-
tic that the railroads are only just be-
ginning to recover from them. AS often
happens-and this is the rule in such
matters-the railroads, during the Pc
Rod when they felt arrogantly secure,
went further and further and yet fur
Their in their iniquities. Thereupon the
public went further and further and
yet further in its resentment. When
the climax came, when Congress acted,
1t went further In its regulatory retail
alton than was really called for. Some
things were done to the railroads in
1905 which We are just now trying to
undo.
That the public utilities should now
follow the parallel Of the railroads is
almost inevitable. Only the public
utilities themselves can avert it. In
deed, it is doubtful if they could avert
it now, for the practices have gone too
far, and too much latent SullenneSs
has been worked up amcng the public.
The minuteness of the parallel be-
tween the railroads of the 1905 and
the public utilities of today Is curiously
Illustrated by some things that each
did in connection with the press. The
railroads universally, until 1906, prac-
ticed small-Scale substituting Of news
papers and newspaper men, as well as
public men and ce-holders, by means
OF free passes. In comparatively few
cases some railroads owned, or other
wise controlled, some newspapers, di-
rectly or indirectly. In q wholesale
way, there was organized on behalf
Of the railroads bureau which kept
intimate records Of the indebtedness
of newspapers, mortgages upon them,
of which the railroads could know what
wire to pull in order to make a weak
newspaper dance.
One Exception to Parallel.
The parallel practice of the public
utilities is of too recent public knowl-
edge to need repetition here. The par
allel runs to many aspects of the two
groups.
There is one exception. The railroads
were accused and convicted of secret
discriminatory freight rates, favoring
one shipper and handicapping his
rival, often fatally. That was the one
of the railroad iniquities that most
enraged the public. No charge has been
any parallel to that.
Parenthetically, it is possible the
power issue may not remain available
to the Democrats. In Washington, in
the Senate cloak rooms, one hears that
Republican Senator Couzens of Mich
igan is studying this subject, and that
he may introduce regulatory legislation
Tor public utilities comparable with
the Hepburn act Of 1906 as respects the
railroads. Senator Couzens has, among
other qualities, the industry, and the
kind OF expert accountant mind, which
is essential to penetrating the financial
chicaneries that accompany some of
the public utilities. Senator Couzens, as
Republican, may be the man who
will, in Gov. Roosevelt's phrase, en-
tighten the average man, give the pub
lie the facts, and bring about cure
Twenty and thirty years before Gov.
Roosevelt, another Democrat, William
Jennings Bryan, occasionally had the
experience of seeing his promising
issues taken away from him by a Re-
publican, Republican who was named
FOOSeVelJ-TheodOre.
In any event, whoever does it, and
whatever party. it contains the pos
sibility OF q major political issue
May Fight Against Tariff.
The other issue which the Democrats
say they will have Is the tariff. AS to
that we shall see shortly.
In the coming fight in the Senate the
Democrats may possibly make a real
night against the tariff. II Is pos
sible-but one prefers to wait and see.
Nearly every Democrat in the Senate
though there are perhaps half a dozen
exceptionS-has in his State at least
one important industry. The industry
wants high tariff and the Senator
from the State, as rule, takes his po-
litical life in his hands If he fails to
work for what an important local in
dustry demands. A whole group Of
Democrats, the Southern one, are en-
barrasSed. for example, by the demand
for high tariff on jute. AS a matter
of practical politics, If the Southern
Democrats in the Senate really want a
tariff on jute, and really work for IL,
they are fairly certain TO find them
selves involved In the heart OF the log
rolling process. They cannot work for
a high tariff on jute and at the same
time oppose high tariffs on manufac-
tured products demanded by Republic
ans from the North and East. They
cannot do this on principle-and most
certainly they cannot do it in prac-
tice If any Senator is known to want a
tariff on jute, he will hardly escape the
obligation Of paying the price, which
will consist of assent to high tariffs on
all products, manufactured or other
wise.
Under the circumstances It will be
interesting to see, during the latter
part of August, whether the Democrats
will be in position to make an issue Of
the tariff. All present speculation Is
futile. The tariff situation, In its pres
ent phase, Is so confused that almost
anything may come out Of it-including
as one quite real possibility no tariff
| revision at all during this session.