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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1902)
The Commoner, Juiy 18, I90J A r E : iw.v- V' t 11F '" 4'"' tt " i i 1 JV.r l trusts, -why doesn't the president enforce the pres ent law and destroy them.? If a new law is neces sary, why has the president failed to suggest such a law? Every day between the opening of con gress and its adjournment afforded him an op portunity to recommend a specific law for dealing with the trusts, hut he recommended none His party was in power Jn both house and senate and every day presented an opportunity for the party to Introduce and pass, a , bill dealing effectively with the trusts, but nothing was done. Has the president just discovered what the trusts are do ing? On the contrary,, before he became president Ilo seemed to Jmow,moro about the subject than' ho does -now, for when he spoke on the trust question, ,then he did. not use so many qualify ing and limiting words as he does now. Is the republican party ignorant of the existence pf the trusts? Not at all. Just before the adjournment of congress in -1900 the republicans of the houao of representatives had a spasm of virtue and passed a bill with the aid of the democrats, pro viding what they considered an additional rem edy. The bill was pointed to all through the cam paign, but when the administration was indorsed by a large majority the bill was put to sleep in the senate and never oven considered. It had served its purpose. It had furnished arguments for campaign speakers, and then it was thrown into the waste-basket. This year the republicans enter a campaign without even having passed an anti-trust bill through the house, and to remedy their failure" the president, fresh from his visit to Mr. Frick of Pittsburg, fresh from his eulogy of Mr. Knox, the greatest trust attorney In the United States, now attorney general by demand of the trusts, causes it to be announced that he Is going to take the subject up "just as soon as con gress convenes" and do something no' one knows what. The voters will be credulous, Indeed, If they accept a campaign promise of future activity as an atonement for six months of inactivity 'when action was possible, nay, even imperative. If the republicans make gains in the congres sional campaign this fall the trusts will point to it as an indorsement of them, and will scare the republicans into inaction again. If, on the contrary, the democrats make gains in the coming election the - republicans may be frightened into doing something. If the republicans who want the trusts destroyed will quietly vote the democratic ticket this fall and make the country show de cided democratic gain, the republicans will be so frightened that they may pass a law. before the next campaign. No action need be expected from the dominant party so long as everything is running smoothly and the people indorse Mr. Hanna's doctrine of - "letting well enough alone." JJJ Compensation for Mail Trains. Dr. C. S. Taylor, editor of the Medical"World o Philadelphia, has called the attention of the public to the fact that tho government is paying to tho railroads for the carriage of mail a great deal more than is necessary or reasonable. He asserts - that we are now paying to tho railroads about thirty-four millions -a year for the hauling of mail, with about three millions additional for the rental of postal cars. He quotes as follows from the Investigation made by Professor Frank Par eons: In France the railways carry tho mails free, with the single exception that where tho government runs a postal car of its own tho railway receives 2 centimes per kilometre, or ' about 1 cent per car mile, which is so near nothing that the railway official, when ques tioned about the mails, usually makes tho broad statement that the government pays nothing for the railway carriage of tho mails, and "it takes a cross-examination to bring out the, fact of the 2 centime special charge in 1 "case of government postal cars. The free car riage of the malls is a part consideration for their franchises. In Switzerland the miniator of railways In answer to my question said: ''On the great railways the government pays nothing for tho mails; their concessions require them to carry the malls free. On tho small lines if tho . dividends fall below 3& per cent, tho gov ernment pays tho fair cost of carrying tho mails; when tho road attains 3 per cent It must carry the mails free." This is the law relating to private railways. All tho railways Of Switzerland aro private as yet. Tho trans fer to government management, under tho provisions of tho referendum voto of 1898, has not yet taken place. i In Germany the malls go free on the rail ways up to. one car per train... If a second postal par isN needed on any train, .the gov- . '.eminent pays 5 pfennig per axle per kilo metre; br 10 pfennig if the car belongs to tho railway. There are usually two axles por car, sometimes three, so that the outside charge is 8 to 12 cents per car mile, and this only for extra mall cars. The great bulk of the mail goes free, and tho excess beyond ono car per train pays merely tho actual cost of haulage. This law applies to both public and private roads, and was in force long be fore the government took over tho leading railways. I In Austria it Is provided in tho railway concessions that the letter post shall bo car ried free, and that all mall shall be free up to one car per train. Beyond this tho rail way receives 18 heller per axle, or 10 to 15 cenfs per car per mile, which is intended to cover the cost of transportation of the excess beyond one car per train. This is the law In respect to the Nordwest, one of the principal private systems of Austria, and is a fair example of the policy of the company in respect to rail way carriage of tho mail; the theory being that "the roads should carry the mail as part return, for the franchises given4 them by tho state. Tn Italy the minister of railways told me that the government pays nothing for the railway carriage of the mails. It ,1s so, provided in the railway contracts,. In Belgium a similar policy prevails, and even "in England, where the house of commons is crowded with railway directors and others more or less under railway Influence even 'in England with tho postoffice carrying a largo part of the parcels that go by express in this country even in England the postal payment to the railways is only about one-ninth of tho ' total expenditure, instead of one-third as in the United States. If the government would reduce to a fair basis the compensation paid to railroads there would be no trouble about 2Cond class mail mat ter, but so long as the railroads control the repub lican party, and the republican party controls tho government, the postoffice officials are not likely to protest against the exorbitant rates paid to tho railroads. The figures furnished by Professor Parsons will, however, prove useful to those members "'of congress who Interest themselves in reform legis lation. - " " ' ": The McCall Amendment. Mr. Hoar, while denouncing tho republican policy in the Philippines as a wicked policy, ad heres to the republican party because he insists the "irrevocable step" has not yet been taken! There are also many republicans who, while not having the slightest sympathy with the policy of imperialism, "lay the flattering unction to their souls" that they may interpret the administration policy along American lines when, in fact, that policy leads directly along imperialistic lines. Mr. Roosevelt, in a recent speech, said that the flag having been put in tho Philippines would "stay put." And yet even after that speech was delivered there were many republicans who in sisted that tho republican policy did not mean colonialism and imperialism. During the proceedings incident to the pass age of tho Philippine bill in the house, the re publican party had an opportunity to define its position on this" question. Mr. McCall, a re publican member from Massachusetts, offorcd as an amendment to the ponding bill the following: In this first organic act, creating a civil government for tho Philippine Islands, It is heroby solemnly declared to be the sottled pur poso of tho congress to extend to tho Inhabi tants of those Islands every aid in enabling thorn to dovelop the capacity for self-govorn-ment, and when such capacity shall havo boon developed wo pledgo tho faith of tho ro- public to confer upon them tho right of self government after tho fashion of tho really frco nations. Mr. McCall's amendment would not exactly suit thoso who bellevo It to bo tho duty of tho American people to pledgo to tho Filipinos a gov ernment of, by, and for the pcoplo of thoso islands. But it will be observed that Mr. McCall's amend ment carries with it the spirit and almost tho exact words used by President Itoosovelt in a public address. Mr. McCall's aniendmont did not provide, as ' the Kansas City platform provided in explicit words, that tho people of the Philippine Islands were to havo a ropubllc, to tho establishment bt which they were to bo helped by the'Amerlcau people and to tho maintenance of .which they woio to be aided by that people. There was, indeed, to Mr. McCall's amendment a bit of ambiguity, -but the amendment was doubtless framed In order that it might be fairly In lino with tho position which Mr. Roosevelt has taken in his public ad dresses. Indeed, we may detect In tho McCall amendment terms and phrases which Mr. Roose velt used. ' What was It that Mr. McCall proposed? Mr. McCall proposed that tho republican congress give its promise to extend to tho Filipinos "every aid in enabling them to develop tho capacity for self government and whon such capacity shall havo . been developed we (tho congress) pledgo the faith of the republic to confer upon them tho right of self-government after the fashion of tho really free nations.,r ' This does not involve the "scuttle" policy even as that policy Is defined by the most r&dieat' republican. It does not pledge tho establishment of a republic under the protection of tho United? States. It does pledgo, however, in tho form .ftf law, and it would therefore become a most solemn pledge, that the things which tho republican poli ticians, the republican editors, and oven tho re publican president havo been assuring tho Ameri can people that the republican party stood for, would be carried out in all fairness. The reason the McCall amendment was not adopted was that tho republican leaders do not dare to incorporate into a formal law any of tho pledges they havo been making on thq stump and through tho columns of republican news papers. Those pledges were made to bo brpken. Whatever the republican president may have said, whatever tho republican editors may have written, whatever the republican orators may have spoken, the purpose of the republican party in tho Phil ippines is imperialism and colonialism, nothing more and nothing less; and nothing proves thi3 more clearly than, the refusal on the part of tho republican congress to adopt the McCall amend ment. That amendment is not what democrats would ask. It was clearly, however, in line with every speech made by Mr. Roosevelt and by other re publican "leaders whenever they found It neces sary to deny that tho republican policy meant im perialism; and if Mr. Roosevelt's public addresses, and If republican editorials and republican speeches that have been made in protest against the charge that the republican policy meant im perialism were true, then the McCall amendment would Mve been adopted unanimously by the re publican members of congress. The republicans have made many mistakes, hut they have made no greater mistake than when they refused to adopt the McCall amendment That amendment will provide one of -tho most interesting and important features during the coming campaign, so far as concerns the Philippine question. In the defeat of that amendment the American people, already knowing that it is not tho inten tion of the republican party to establish a re public in the Philippines, know that the republi can party does not Intend to give the Filipinos any aid in enabling them to develop a capacity for self-government, or to confer upon them any of tho practical rights of self-government as the president of the United States in his public ad dresses said, "after the fashion of the really free nations." -j -. -. '1 ""- it f) rt - - - I' y'. zr "