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3ULT-17, 1908
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The Commoner;
Trusts
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PEMOORATIO PLATFORM
private monopoly i indefensible and intolerable. Wa there-
for, favor the vigorous reform of the criminal law against guilty
trust magnates and officials, and demand the enactment of such
J additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impossible
for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. Among the
tuuuaoiuu remecues, we gpecny turco: jcirst, x. i&w preventing a
duplication of directors among competing corporations; second, a
license system which will, without abridging the right of each state
to create corporations, or its right to regulate as it will foreign cor
porations doing business within its limits, make it necessary for a
manufacturing or trading corporation engaged in interstate com
merce to take out a federal license before it shall be permitted to
control as much as twenty-five per cent of the product in which it
rdeals, the license to protect the public from watered stock and to
) prohibit the control of such corporation of more than fifty per cent
; of the total amount of any product consumed in the United States;
' and, third, a law compelling such licensed corporations to sell to all
. purchasers in all parts of the country on the same terms, after mak
ing due allowance for cost of transportation,
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
The republican party passed the Sherman anti-trust law over
democratic opposition and enforced it after democratic dereliction.
It has been a wholesome instrument for good in the hands of a wist
and fearless administration. But experience has shown that its
effectiveness can be strengthened and its real objects better at
tained by such amendments as will give to the federal government
greater supervision and control over and secure greater publicity
in the management of that class of corporations engaged in inter
state commerce, having power and opportunity to effect monopolies.
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Railroad Regulation
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
We assert the right of congress to exercise complete control
over interstate commerce and the right of each state to exercise
control over commerce within its borders.
We demand such enlargement of the powers of the interstate
commeroe commission as may be necessary to compel railroads to
perform their duties as common carriers and prevent discrimina
tion and extortion.
We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of rail
roads engaged in interstate commerce. To this end we recommend
the valuation of railroads by the interstate commerce commission,
such valuation to take into consideration the physical value of the
property, the original cost of production and all elements of value
that will render the. valuation made fair and just.
We favor such legislation as will prohibit the railroads from
engaging in business which brings them into competition with their
shippers; also legislation which will prevent the overissue of stocks
and bonds ; also legislation which will assure such reduction in trans
portation rates as conditions will permit; care being taken to avoid
reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent adequate
service or do injustice to legitimate investments. . We heartily ap.
prove the laws prohibiting the pass and the rebate and we favor
any further necessary legislation to restrain, correct and prevent
such abuses.
We favor such legislation as will increase the power of the
interstate commerce commission, giving to it the initiative with
reference to states and transportation charges put into effect by
the railroad companies, and permitting the interstate commerce
commission, on its own initiative, to declare a rate illegal and as
being more than should be charged for such service. That the pres
ent law relating thereto is inadequate by reason of the fact that the
interstate commerce commission is without power to fix or investi
gate a rate until complaint has been made to it by the shipper.
We further declare that all agreements of traffic or other asso
ciations of railway agents affesting interstate rates, service or classi
fication, shall be unlawful unless filed with and approved by the
interstate commerce commision.
We favor the enactment of a law giving to the interstate com
merce commission the power to inspect proposed railroad tariff
rates or sohedules before they shall take effect, and, if they be
found unreasonable, to initiate an adjustment thereof.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
We approve the enactment of the railroad law and the vigorous
enforcement by the present administration of the statutes against
rebates and discriminations, as a result of which the advantages
formerly possessed by the largo shipper over the small shipper have
substantially disappeared; and in this connection we commend the
appropriation by the present congress to enable the interstate com
merce commission to thoroughly investigate and give publicity to
the accounts of interstate railroads.
We believe, however, that the interstate commerce law should
be further amended so as to give railroads the right to make and
publish tariff agreements subject to the approval of the commis
sion, but maintaining always the principle of competition between
naturally competing lines and avoiding the common control of such
lines by any means whatsoever.
We favor such national legislation and supervision as will pre
vent the future over-issue of stocks and bonds by interstate carriers.
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Banking
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The panic of 1907, coming without any legitimate excuse, when
the republican party had for a decade been in complete contr A of
the federal government, furnishes additional proof that it is either
unwilling or incompetent to protect the interests of the general
public. It has so linked the country to Wall Street that the sins of
the speculators are visited upon the whole people. While refusing
to rescue the wealth producers from spoiliation at the hands of the
stock gamblers and speculators in farm products, it has deposited
treasury funds, without interest and without competition, in favor
ite banks. It has used an emergency for which it is largely respon
sible to force through congress a bill changing the basis of bank
currency and inviting market manipulation, and has failed to give
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
We approve the emergency measures adopted by the govern
ment during the recent financial disturbances and especially com
mend the passage by congress at the last session of the law designed
to protect the country from a repetition of such stringency. The
republican party is committed to the development of a permentat
currency system, responding to our greater needs, and the appoint
ment of the national monetary commission by the present congress
which will impartially investigate all proposed methods, insures
the early realization of this purpose. The present currency laws
have fully justified their adoption, but an expanding commerce, a
marvelous growth in wealth and population, multiplying the cen
ters of distribution, increasing the demand for movement of crops
in the west and 'south and entailing periodic changes in monetary
conditions disclose the need of a more elastic and adaptable system.
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