Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], May 22, 1913, Page 2, Image 2

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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2
GOV JOHNSON’S FINAL DECISION
In its future dealings with the Japanese
government the Wilson administration is
already strengthened hr its record of in
contestable, if unsuccessful, effort to re
strain the California Legislature and gov
ernor. The Japanese masses may have
difficulty in understanding how it is that
a great nation like America is so utterly
unable to control a single state or locality
in such a matter, but the Japanese gov
ernment must be convinced that Califor
nia is not the United States, and that
California opinion is not American opin
ion. It will be the easier for the Tokio
government to be moderate and pacific,
and to seek an amicable adjustment of
an awkward situation.
Gov Johnson’s final statement of bis
reasons for refusing the federal govern
ment’s request that he veto the anti
alien legislation is, from our point of
view, vitiated by special pleading that
brings into prominence unessential facts
and ignores other facts essential to the
last degree. He cites a clause of the
California constitution bearing on orien
tal immigration which is entirely irrele
vant, unless he assumes that a state may
override the national government with re
gard to immigration legislation—in itself
an impossible position. Nor does he help
his case by citing an alleged clause in the
immigration bill vetoed by President Taft.
That clause was objected to while the
bill was before the Senate as creating
difficulties with the Japanese government,
and before the bill reached the president
it was modified, according to our recol
lection.
Gov Johnson knows well that if one or
two other states have enacted antialien
land laws like California's, without arous
ing a protest from Japan, the fact has
been due to the indisposition of the Tokio
government to raise an issue when its
subjects in America had nothing imme
diately at stake. Such a law in Califor
nia forces the protest because that is
where the Japanese hold land. Statis
tically. those holdings are so small as to
be negligible; we know this from the fig
ures themselves, and, besides, there is
abundant California testimony to that
effect. It is impossible, therefore, to view
the action of the Legislature and gov
ernor as anything but a display of racial
feeling, which acts in a way entirely in
considerate of national opinion or national
interests, and with a palpable discourtesy,
at bottom—in spite of very decorous lan
guage—toward the national government.
It has never been our disposition to
argue the case as one merely of strict
treaty interpretation. The California leg
islative lawyers may be within the treaty,
but they would feel more comfortable if
the fleet in the Pacific were somewhat
larger. The next stage of this affair will
not be war, of course, but when the next
naval appropriation bill comes up for de
bate the California delegation is likely to
surpass all others in demanding increased
appropriations for battleships. Mr Roose
velt once derided “law honesty,’’ meaning
that honesty that kept just within the
law was nothing to boast of. There is
something in the conduct of international
relations besides a bare observance of the
cold text of a treaty. The spirit back of
the observance means everything.
The administration will doubtless do
its best to smooth over the affair. It must
even defend California, under certain cir
cumstances. The state is entitled to pro
tection against any foreign power. The
Californians are our own people. One
cannot help feeling, however, that this
country’s relations with the Orient have
taken a turn for the worse on account of
the episode.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE RIDER.
The sundry civil appropriation bill
•with its rider exempting labor unions
and farmers’ organizations from prosecu
tion under the antitrust law. so far as
the funds carried by the bill are con
cerned, remains in conference committee.
There is probably no reason for the de
lay in the committee's report and the
sending of the bill to the president, ex
cept the widespread protest from busi
ness men against the rider.
Congress doubtless will not change its
attitude concerning that feature, in view
of the fact that both houses hare voted
twice in favor of it within a year. If
the president should sign the bill, how
ever, be would bring upon himself all
the denunciation which might prop
erly be meted out to Congress,
in addition to the criticism his
own share in the responsibility would
merit. In view of the fact that the
president is understood to object to gen
eral legislation by means of riders on
appropriation bills, he would be fully
justified in vetoing the measure and forc
ing Congress to pass it again by a two
thirds vote of each branch if that body
insists upon having its way.
One gets the impression that on the gen
eral question of exempting trade unions
and farmers' associations from the anti
trust law, President Wilson disagrees with
President Taft, whose veto was baaed on
a deep conviction that no such exemption
should ever be made even by direct amend
ment of the Sherman act. Much cf the
current denunciation of the rider is based
upon the same conviction. Yet many of
the senators who voted against the rider
favor amending the Sherman law to get
the same result by direct means. Senator
Cummins of lowa, who is one of that
group, after listening to a three-days’ de
bate, arose in the Senate and said:—
It is obvious that a great majority of
the Senate believe that the antitrust law
should be modified with regard to its appli
cation to labor unions and farmers’ organi
zations.
He moved, therefore, that the interstate
commerce committee be instructed to pre
pare an amendment, along that line, to the
antitrust law and report it to the Senate
not later than May 14. His motion was
defeated, but bis statement concerning the
views of "a great majority of the Senate”
was not contradicted.
If the president holds die same views
Senator Cummins does in support of modi
fying the antitrust law, he could consist
ently veto the sundry appropriation bill
on the ground that its enactment with the
rider in question would delay rather than
accelerate n real change in the Sherman
act. For many of those voting in favor
of the bill as it is doubtless have done so
in the hope that, by this sop to labor
unions, the main issue of amending the
antitrust law may be indefinitely post
poned.
MR BRYAN’S VINDICATION.
The student of our political history will
have to admit that William J. Bryan, sec
retary of state in the cabinet of President
Wilson, is the original and faithful pro
gressive among those in the political life
of to-day who claim the name of pro
gressive. That was a very striking pas
, sage in Mr Bryan’s address to the Penn-
I sylvania Legislature last week, when be
said: —
Twenty-three years ago I advocated that
United States senators be elected by the
people. I have fought and fought for
that principle and yesterday I was noti
fied as secretary of state that the ,'Wth
state had ratified the senatorial amend
ment. And in a few days it will be my
pleasure, my delight, to affix my signa
ture to that document that will put the
United States Senate into the hands of
the people.
Here is a mighty interesting revolution
in the whirligig of time. Turning to the
platform adopted by the democratic na
tional convention meeting in Kansas City
in 1900. which was adopted on the Fourth
of July, we find this plank:—
We favor an amendment to the federal
constitution providing for the election of
United States senators by direct vote of
the people, and we favor direct legisla
tion wherever practicable.
There is the progressive doctrine laid
down at a time when most of the orators
of the progressive party of to-day were
pouring their contempt upon the man st
whose torch they have lighted their pres
ent fiery oratory, and who led the forces
on that memorable Independence day over
a score of years ago.
The vision which made Mr Bryan the
leader of things that time was to bring
has not faded from his mind and heart,
but the years have brought a riper phi
losophy with no lessening of resolution.
He has ample right to speak for the pro
gressive cause, and here is a passage in
his talk at Harrisburg that is more than
mere oratory:—
I lay it down as a proposition, and I
am prepared to defend it anywhere, that
the representative who secures office upon
a platform and then holds the office and
betrays the people who elected him is a
criminal worse than the man who em
bezzled money intrusted to him. What
is money to government if you would
compare their value? Does this sound radi
cal doctrine to you? There was a time when
I seemed radical, but now I have to hurry
to keep up with the procession. The
country has already caught up with this
doctrine. We have gone through a great
controversy in this country, and the fight
has been finished and the victory has been
won, and if there are any who have not
yet caught the spirit of the times they
are as dead, but unburied. My fight is
on the side of truth. When I was a
young man I was impatient. I thought
because a thing was right it ought to be
secured at once, but I have learned to
be patient. I have found that only those
who are in error need to win at once.
Those who are right can wait. There is
nothing that grows but the truth. Noth
ing is sure of victory but that which is
right, and if you will look over the his
tory of the last few years you will find
much to encourage you to believe that
nothing is impossible if it is a thing that
the people need.
Yes. the Commoner is the battle-scarred
veteran of the progressive cause in the
United States, even though those who fol
low the light that he kindled are many
of them unwilling to recognize the source
of their belated illumination.
SECRETRY REDFIELD S WARNING
If producers or manufacturers here and
there should reduce the wages of their
employes for the loudly proclaimed reason
that the new tariff had forced the reduc
tion, thus unquestionably attacking the
fiscal policy of the administration of the
day, the right of the administration in
mere political self-defense to utilize exist
ing law by sending its agents into an
industry to investigate the conditions un
der which it was conducted could not rea
sonably be denied. That it is the settled
purpose of the Wilson administration to
meet attacks of that character by gov
ernment investigations can no longer be in
doubt. Mr Underwood, in closing the tar
iff debate in the House, spoke in no un
certain words:—
When great manufacturing institutions
are ready to threaten their laborers with
a reduction of wages because they say
there has been adverse action and legisla
tion in Congress, or to reflect on the ac
tion of the government of the United
States, that bureau has the power to walk
into their offices and ascertain whether
there is real reason for their cutting the
rates of wages of their labor or whether
it is merely a selfish attempt to put money
into their own pockets.
The bureau Mr Underwood referred to
was that of foreign and domestic com
merce in the department of commerce.
Its powers of investigation along the lines
indicated are inherited from the old bu
reau of labor, originally authorized by
Congress in 1888. The legislative, execu
tive and judicial appropriation bill last
August transferred these powers to the
newly created bureau of foreign and do
mestic commerce, which was a consolida
tion of the old bureau of manufactures
and bureau of statistics. It is of interest
now to note the extent of the power of
investigation into a manufacturing indus
try authorized by the act of 1888, for
hitherto it has been a power almost never
utilized. The act charged the bureau:—
to ascertain, at as early a date as pos
sible, and whenever industrial changes
shall make it essential, the cost of produc
ing articles at the time dutiable in the
United States, in leading countries where
such articles are produced, by fully speci
fied units of production, and under a
classification showing the different ele
ments of cost, or approximate costs, of
such articles of production, including the
wages paid in such industries a day, a
week, month, or year, or by the piece;
and hours employed a day: and the profits
of manufacturers and producers or such
articles: and the comparative cost of liv
ing. and kind of living: what articles are
controled by trusts or othep combinations
of capital, business operations, or labor,
and what effect said trusts or other com
binations of capital, business operations,
or labor have on production and prices.
The pottery industry is the first one that
Secretary Redfield has determined to in
vestigate with reference to the assertions
of manufacturers concerning the tariff and
wages. His blunt speech before the
national association of employing lithog
raphers in Washington showed that the
lithographers may be investigated next in
order, if they should carry into effect the
threat contained in their circular that the
new tariff “means workmen thrown put
‘of jobs. It means that wages must go
‘down.” Undoubtedly, too, the department
of labor could co-operate in investigating
labor conditions, especially in case of
strikes. The old federal bureau of labor
investigated the Lawrence strike a year
ago, and that was caused by a reduction of
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY. MAY 22, 19X3. .
wages following the enactment of a state
law, not a federal law.
Federal investigations, indeed, could be
amply justified on various grounds. If
certain manufacturers should use their
power as employers to cut down Wages or.
shut down plants in retaliation Upon the
federal government for adopting a new
fiscal policy, the government certainly
would retain the moral right of political
defense. It would be justified in such cases
in having it demonstrated that the real
cause of the wage reduction or the shut
down was the cause publicly assigned. If the
department of commerce could show that
the business had been run inefficiently, or
was disadvantageous^ located to compete,
such facts could be brought out with fair
ness to all concerned.
During the recent strike at the Auburn
(N. Y.) plant of the International har
vester company, the officials voluntarily
explained their action in ordering the
plant's removal to Germany as due to the
fact that, strike or no strike. Au
burn was an unprofitable place in
which to make twine. Many old fac
tories now owned by trusts are kept
going for local or sentimental reasons, like
that Auburn plant of the harvester com
pany. Some of them, under the naw tariff,
may be shut down. Is the administration
to remain quiescent under charges for
political effect that the changes in the
tariff forced the shut-downs when, as a
matter of fact, the plants had been run
at a loss, or without profit, for years’ It
would be a weakling, if it did. The coun
try is full of trusts which have scattered
about these badly-located or worn-out
plants, extravagantly absorbed during the
combination process. The facts concern
ing them should be published, in case at
tempts are made to make political capital
out of their abandonment under the new
tariff.
On the other hand, if a plant is gen
uinely crippled or put out of business by
lower duties, the facts may well be studied
thoroughly in order that the administra
tion and Congress may be fully and truth
fully advised of the conditions. Manu
facturers in such cases should court
investigation. If they had not sought to
use possible business troubles as a politi
cal weapon, if they had not threatened
curtailment of production or reductions in
wages in order to injure the party in pow
er. thus mixing politics with business of
their own accord, they could count on fair
treatment doubtless from the present ad
ministration. Secretary Rediield is no
academic theorist. He is a business man
himself of long experience and he must
be fully disposed to give every industry
a square deal.
THE INCOME TAX STRUGGLE
Criticism of the income tax section of
the tariff bill has taken different forms.
Some want collection at the source aban
doned entirely, and this change would
greatly please corporations responsible for
bond issues and the banks. It is worth
while to note, consequently, what Prof
Seligman, in his work on “The Income
‘Tax,” says on this point. In the chapter
describing the English system, he writes: —
Fourth, the system of stoppage at
source. This is, perhaps, the chief cause
of the great success of the English in
come tax. The original lump sum income
tax was, as we know, abandoned as un
workable, and ; t has been the universal
testimony of all English officials that any
attempt to return to this early and dis
credited system would be fraught with dis
aster. If there is any one point to which
the English authorities tenaciously cling,
it is this system of dividing the tax into
schedules and of seeking, as far as pos
sible, to secure the revenue by stoppage at
source.
During the recent discussion of the in
come tax section of the Underwood bill,
suggestions have been made that, while
the system of collection, or stoppage, at
the source, might work well in England,
it. is not well suited to the United States.
Let us observe what Prof Seligman's stud
ies led him to conclude as to that:—
In the United States the arguments in
favor of the stoppage-at-source income tax
are far stronger than in Europe, because
of the peculiar conditions of American
life. In the first place, nowhere is corpo
rate activity so developed, and in no coun
try in the world does the ordinary busi
ness of the community assume to so over
whelming an extent the corporate form.
Not only is a large part of the intangible
wealth of individuals composed of corpo
rate securities, but a very appreciable part
of business profits consists of corporate
profits. In the second place, in no other
important country are investments to so
great an extent domestic in character.
The one great difficulty in England, as we
have learned, is that connected with for
eign securities. ... In the United
States, on the other hand, the situation is
the reverse. . . . We are, therefore,
fortunately exempt from the chief embar
rassments which confronts Europe; and
there is every likelihood that this situation
will not be changed for some time to come.
The arguments that speak in favor of a
stoppage-at-source income tax abroad
hence apply with redoubled force here. The
stoppage-at-source scheme lessons, to an
enormous extent, the strain on the adminis
tration ; it works, in so far as it is ap
plicable. almost automatically; and where
enforced, it secures to the last penny the
income that is rightfully due.
While Victor Morawetz. in his recent
criticism of the pending measure, pub
lished in the New York Times, attacks va
rious defects of the scheme proposed as
likely to produce “endless litigation” and
defeat the purpose of the legislation, he
accepts the principle of collection at the
source and embodies it in an alternative
scheme of income taxation which he out
lines. The only questions confronting Con
gress would seem to be matters of detail
in applying this principle.
In view of the long English experience,
the practical difficulties encountered ought
not to he insuperable. Undoubtedly, the
exemptions and deductions allowed com
plicate the system of collection at the
source. So do they in any country. There
is a particular snarl over the question of
collecting the tax on income from coupon
bonds, and those who read closely the
speech of Congressman Hull in the House
must have felt that he was most unsat
isfactory in demonstrating that, at this
point, the bill is now wholly workable.
Rond coupons are usually payable to the
bearer for stated sums, and are deposited
by the holder in banks like currency.
The S4OOO exemption is not allowed in the
case of income derived from interest on
corporate and United States bonds in or
der that the tax may not be avoided. Mr
Hull explained I—
This is the only available means of col
lecting taxes from this source of income.
The interest on most corporate bonds is
represented by coupons payable to bearer.
Any holder of those coupons, no matter
how large the amount, could easily divide
them into amounts under the exemption of
S4OOO and send them through different
sources for collection or otherwise dispose
of them so that when they reached the
corporation owing the same no appreci
able tax could probably be collected there
from.
Yet the whole subject was left in a mud
dle by Mr Hull,. suggesting even double
taxation, when he concluded his remarks
on this point by saying:—
In my judgment, Mr Chairman, this
method is not only feasible, but it is the
only feasible method of dealing with this |
situation as it relates to corporate indebt- ।
edness, and it is far more simple and far I
more expeditious than any other method ;
in use in other countries. The corpora- .
tions owning the bonds would only retain I
the tax once. The coupons are taxable ;
income in the hands of the bondholder, '
but no subsequent purchaser could claim
any exemption or deductions with respect
to them, because they then become prin
cipal. '‘ r ■ ’
There is another difficulty suggested in
the fact that bonds often contain a clause
providing that all taxes shall be paid by
the issuing company. The United States
steel corporation bonds, which Mr Car
negie holds to the amount of something
like $200,000,000, contain such a clause.
This clause, however, is sometimes qual
ified by the words, “in so far as may law
fully be done,” or their equivalent.
It is entirely possible that the income
tax section may need recasting in some de
gree to avoid the practical difficulties'that
have been suggested. This might be done
without sacrificing the principle of collec
tion at the source.
TARIFF TEST IN THE SENATE.
The test of the administration’s present
strength in the Senate on the tariff bill
must be regarded as meeting expectations.
The vote on the Penrose-La Follette mo
tion in favor of public hearings by the
finance committee reveals only two dem
ocratic senators, those from Louisiana,
voting against the administration, while an
accession to its strength is noted in Sena
tor Poindexter, progressive.
It does not follow that Mr Poindexter
will continue to support the administration
on the tariff issue, but there is unquestion
ably considerable support for it in the pro
gressive party, as is shown by the progres
sive vote cast for the Underwood bill in
the House and by the indorsement given
to it by such a prominent progressive
newspaper organ as the Kansas City Star.
Senator La Follette’s final course remains
much in doubt. It is hardly conceivable
that he will travel with Penrose, the re
publican tariff leader in the, Senate, all
the way. Any democrat leaving his party
must travel with Penrose.
The Louisiana senators furnish the
nucleus for the democratic opposition to
the Underwood bill, and Louisiana’s atti
tude has not been in doubt for a genera
tion. Senator Ransdell’s effort, however,
to show that free sugar is inconsistent
with the democratic platform, was de
cidedly strained in view of the fact that
the Underwood bills in the last Congress
placed sugar on the free list. The Balti
more national convention indorsed those
bills. Louisiana had- ample warning as
to what was coming. The free sugar idea,
in the first place, was southern in origin,
speaking in a legislative sense: and Ala
bama furnished-in Mr Underwood the
man who fathered tbn free^ugar project.
President Wilson accepted it and.got free
wool in return.
There is every, indieationthatthe presi
dent is prepared to make a last-ditch
fight for free wool and free, sugar. If he
should permit the special interests,
through the Senate, to “put it over on
’him,” as they did on President Taft four
years ago, the Wilson administration
would “go broke” by the end of its first
half-year.
CALIFORNIA AND OHIO LAWS.
Both the Ohio and the California Leg
islatures have adjourned, with records not
able in the line of legislative achievement.
It would be difficult to determine from the
character of the laws passed which Legis
lature was the more progressive, as that
word is now commonly used in politics.
Here is a brief list of laws enacted in
Ohio at the session just ended: —
A “blue sky” law.
Torrens system of land tenure.
State bank regulation with regular in
spections.
State survey of public schools to pro
mote efficiency.
Jury verdicts in civil suits by a three
fourths vote.
Women made eligible to certain public
offices.
The short ballot in state elections.
Primary elections for the nomination of
all candidates for office.
A model city charter law and home rule
in municipal affairs.
Thirty million dollars for good roads, ex
penditure being distributed over 10 years.
A state commission for licensing and
regulating the liquor traffic.
A widows’ and mothers’ pension act.
A blind man’s pension act.
A compulsory workmen's compensation
act.
Restriction on number of work hours
per day in women’s employment.
Convicts placed under indeterminate
sentence system, and prison authorities
granted power to release those making
good records when it can safely be done.
A similar list of the more important
laws passed by the California Legisla
ture, not including the anti-Japanese act,
follows:—
Workmen's compensation act, which cre
ates a state insurance fund.
Mothers’ pension act, establishing a fund
for the benefit of orphans.
Rural credits commission to study Euro
pean systems. , „ ,
Minimum wage act, establishing wel
fare commission.
A "blue sky” law.
State water commission controling pow
er and irrigation supplies.
Teachers' pension act.
“Red light” abatement act, placing re
sponsibility for houses of ill-fame on prop
erty owners,—to be voted on by the peo
ple
Lnw providing aid for discharged con
victs and providing for wages to be pa>d
convicts during incarceration.
Act applying the principle of the federal
white slave act to intercounty traffic in
women.
Act requiring all male applicants for
marriage licenses to show health certifi
cates.
Roth lists are of much interest, and,
read in connection with the work done by
the New York Legislature, they reveal the
marked tendency of the time in legisla
tion. The legislation concerning convicts
in both Ohio and California is to be noted
particularly as indicating a new spirit in
dealing with the difficult question of crime.
California's new laws concerning the so
cial evil and marriage are also of yjtnl
interest. The new Ohio constitution has
made possible, of course, the more rad
ical legislation of that state.
It remains to be said that the Legists;
ture and the governor bf California"ate
strongly attached to the progressive party.
The Ohio Legislature and governor are
quite as strongly attached to the demo
cratic party.
RAILROAD BILL IN LEGISLATURE
, ' ■' . IL,
। -The advance of 4 per cent in freight
< rates on the railroads of Great Britain,
i to go into effect on July 1, is the some
' what belated outcome of the railroad
I strike of the summer of 1911, when the
I government preventedjhe tie-up of the
I roads by promising an increase of rates
j to the companies if they would make con
• cessions to their employes in wages.
Parliament has now redeemed the gov
ernment’s pledge to the carriers, in spite
of the opposition of shippers, for Parlia
ment has the power of railroad regula
rijn precisely as the American Congress
Or any American state has. The final
effect of the increase in rates will be
to enhance the cost of living, inasmuch
as the consumer in the last analysis pays
the freight.
The petition of the eastern trunk lines
for a 5 per cent increase in freight rates,
filed last week with the interstate com
merce commission, is not the result ex
clusively of strikes, like the increase in
Great Britain, although concessions in
wages decreed by arbitration boards to
engineers and firemen the past year to
avoid strikes have been a real factor.
The American railroads present a case
( much more comprehensive than the British
roads could make out in their demand
for increased freight charges. Not only
have wages increased, but so have taxes,
interest charges on borrowed capital, and
new expenditures ordered by legislative
enactments, such as extra crew, accident
compensation and grade crossing elimina
tion laws. The public demands for im
proved accommodations in transportation
increase with the raising of the standards
of the public taste and the public ideals
of comfort and health. Anyone who can
remember the style and extent of the
physical equipment of railroads in this
country 30 years ago, or even 20 years
ago, notes readily the striking advance
made in that period in all that pertains to
safety, comfort and even luxury in travel.
These extraordinary improvements in the
past have cost an immense amount of
money. Continued improvements must
also cost money. Even social reform in
all directions is expensive in a money
sense, as the increasing municipal, state
and national taxation demonstrates.
Notwithstanding the huge expenditures
to improve railroads in this country dur
ing the past 20 years, or following the
period of railroad construction and exten
tion, the carriers to-day face enormous de
mands upon their treasuries. They seem
to be on the verge of a revolution in
electrification which must “scrap” the best
and largest portion of their motive pow
er. Radical changes such as are neces
sarily involved in electrification will call
for heavy expenditures. It is also true that
gross traffic, both passenger and freight,
increases steadily with the growth and de
yelopment of the country, and consequent
ly rajlroads must increase their trackage
facilities and their rolling stock to do the
business offered, them by the people. Rail
roads- that, fail tp develop apd stand stock
still will wear out, in a short time, if
their plant is not constantly renewed; and
then they quickly become so inefficient
that their patrons almost rise in rebellion.
New England's experience with the Boston
and Maine system is a case in point. But
American railroads must not only be re
newed, physically speaking; their financial
resources must answer to their needs in
becoming much more efficient and much
larger in traffic capacity and far more
responsive to humanitarian demands than
ever before. Railroads cannot be de
veloped on such lines without money.
How to secure this money is the prob
lem. If operating expenses increase at
a greater rate than gross income, the net
earnings will decline and dividends will
suffer. If the returns to invested capital
tend to shrink or are endangered, then
fresh capital can be secured only at a
higher price—higher perhaps than the
railroads can afford to pay. It is the
privilege of anyone to rail against capi
tal, but so long as capital is in private
hands it will seek the most profitable em
ployment. The railroads will get it less
and less easily if the roads are, for any
reason, handicapped in making their se
curities attractive to investors. If the
credit of railroads suffers from any cause,
their borrowing power is impaired, and
their credit will be permanantly impaired,
under a state regulative regime, with
public demands for costly improvements
incessant, unless their ability to earn an
adequate net income is well established
and maintained. The bankruptcy of pri
vate ownership means public ownership.
The people of this country thus far have
sought to avoid government ownership
of railroads, while subjecting the private
owners and managers of the railroads to
a stricter supervision. This system will
work only so long as the private owners
will endure it, only so long as they get
what they consider a fair return on their
investment.
Commissioner Prouty said not long ago
that the system of private ownership and
strict government regulation of railroads
had never succeeded hitherto in the
world’s history. It would be far more
likely to succeed in this country if the
great railroads of to-day had not been
integrated under such abominable finan
cial conditions. The trunk lines to-day
in many cases—and we have an excellent
illustration right here in New England—
are being bled almost white by the exces
sive prices paid for and the excessive
dividends absorbed by the stockholders of
certain subsidiaries—dividends guaranteed
by long-term contracts. Such was the
extortionate price often paid for amalga
mation. One cannot be sure that the
American railroad situation can be
whipped into decent shape before many of
those leases are rectified. But, aside from
them and certain other shameless evils of
the amalgamation period, the immediate
practical problem Is keeping the railroads
a going concern under the present sys
tem.
The interstate commerce commission
Will soon decide whether to grant the pe
tition of the carriers for an increase of 5
per cent in rates, snd doubtless their judg
ment will be shaped by considerations of
justice and the best interests of all con
-1 corned. The railroads must prove their
i axsert iona. But if they are able to prove
I them, the advance Should undoubtedly be
granted. It would conserve, meanwhile,
the public’ interest very much indeed if
Congress would now amend the Erdman
arbitration act to the end that the public
would be assured of a square deal in the
future struggles over wages between the
companies and Upeif employes.
DR ABBOTT ON WAR AND PEACE.
With much of Rev Dr Lyman Abbott’s
: statement of his position concerning war,
delivered in his presidential address at the
Lake Mohonk conference, one cannot quar
rel. He indorses unqualifiedly interna
tional arbitration as “a better plan than
‘war for establishing justice between na
‘tions ” Yet Dr Abbott undoubtedly sep
arates from the more radical peace advo
cates on the question of preparation for
war, and as well the conditions under
which the saber may properly be rattled.
There has always been this division, how
ever, among persons interested in restrict
ing war and the spirit of militarism. Un
less one is much in error, Dr Abbott in
recent years has leaned more and more
toward militaristic ideals on the theory
that great armaments insure peace—a
theory which is utterly fallacious ac
cording to the tests of experience. While,
therefore, this eminent preacher of ethics
and Christian idealism still fellowships
easily with many of the Lake Mohonkers,
his forced retirement from a vice-presi
dency of the more radical American peace
society appears to have been logical and
proper.
Dr Abbott’s warning to the country con
cerning the sanctity of its treaty obliga
tions was timely. To be sure, the three
illustrations he offered of America's ten
dency to disregard its obligations to other
nations are not, as yet, bo flagrant as
they might be. The Russian treaty by
its express terms gave our government the
privilege of abrogating it at its pleasure,
“by an official notification,” so that the
United States cannot he accused of break
ing an international compact. We decline
to concede, moreover, that the question
of the violation of the Hay-Pauncefote
canal treaty has yet passed into the stage
where international arbitration is hopeless.
Nor, even in the case of the California
antialien land legislation, is it so much
a question of actual treaty violation as
a question of policy and the maintenance
of friendly relations with a sensitive and
proud people.
It must be admitted, however, that in
each of these cases there has been alto
gether too much disposition to ignore the
feelings and point of view of the other
party to the treaty in force and to insist
upon having one’s own way without giving
due consideration to the sentiments of the
foreign nation concerned. Dr Abbott is
able to use this tendency on the part of
many of the American people to point his
arguments and, we are sorry to admit,
to fortify his position that American pub
lic opinion does not yet sufficiently sus
tain efforts to make a resort to force both
needless and impossible.
This country could just now reassure the
world and inspire with fresh confidence
its best wishers in no better way than
by insisting that the controversy over
canal tolls should be referred to interna
tional' arbitration, in case Congress does
not repeal the: obnoxious discrimination.
RAILROADS AND THEIR FUTURE.
The overwhelming majority in the House
in favor of the railroad bill, as amended
in accordance with the recommendations
of the state railroad commission, obliterat
ed party lines entirely. The vote, indeed,
might almost be described as unanimous,
inasmuch as but 13 members were finally
recorded in the negative. This action does
not end the contest over the bill by any
means. The governor will have the last
word, and his ingenious mind may find
reasons for a veto. The railroad situation
is such a storm center of controversy and
acrimony that it would be rash to forecast
the conclusion of the legislative end of it.
The bill as amended and passed by the
House seems in itself a very good measure.
The strengthening of section 16 so as to
establish firmly the power of the state
commission to regulate the issue of rail
road securities by the New Haven com
pany, except when the proceeds are to be
used on improvements outside of this com
monwealth, seems to have made that sec
tion finally acceptable on the whole to Mr
Washburn himself. Objection to the other
financial section, known as section 15, ap
pears to have grown much weaker, and
evidently the opposition of the savings
banks has been greatly lessened since the
two sections were recast
It should be frankly admitted that the
inclusion of short-term notes within the
compass of section 15 is excellent. The
New Haven and Boston and Maine com
panies now have outstanding these short
term securities to the amount of over
$60^000,000, and all have been issued
necessarily without the sanction of the
railroad commission. It is well known, of
Course, that railroads resort to short
time financing of their urgent require
ments when long-term bond issues or sales
of stock are unwarranted by the condition
of the investment markets. To have notes
maturing early issued in such great quan
tities without the slightest supervision may
create problems quite as serious as any
others connected with railroad finance.
With a strong public service commission
in office, the public interest will not suffer,
in our judgment, from the provision of
section 15 extending the privileges of the
railroads in issuing debenture bonds and
other evidences of indebtedness—the entire
amount outstanding not to exceed twice the
amount of the paid-in capital stock. For
no issue of these securities would be pos
sible without the approval of the commis
sion.
These financial sections, however, may
still encounter serious opposition, owing to
the general railroad situation and in case
they appear to endanger the bill in its
later stages, it would be wise to eliminate
them in order to obtain the railroad rate
law to which all parties are pledged. The
republicans, who control the Legislature,
cannot afford to enter the next state cam
paign without a law on the statute book
giving the railroad commission mandatory
power to fix rates.
Not even a veto of this bill by Gov Foss,
with the financial sections retained in it,
would excuse the republicans in the opin
ion of the people. It is possible for them
to keep their pledges by sending to him a
straight-out. rate bill. The financial sec
tions now seem good; they may be highly
desirable: they cannot be said to be ab
solutely essential at this time.
WIPING PATERSON OFF THE MAP.
The conviction of Patrick Quinlan, I-
W, W. lieutenant of Haywood in the
Paterson silk mill strike, seems to have
made him the more vociferous. He was
quite sure in his. Union square speech in’
New York. Saturday afternoon, that “ne
‘are going to win this strike or Paterson
‘will be wiped.off the map.” Mr Quinlan
meant, of course, that there would be
an end of Paterson in the industrial sense,
owing to the refusal of workers to be
employed there any longer". .In that sense,
Paterson would be “a howling wilder
'ness."
Mr Quinlan is in error, like so many
excited people who have lived before
him. Paterson will be doing business
long after he has been translated into
dust and the I. W. W. has been
forgotten. With hundreds of millions of
backs to be clothed and mouths to be
fed, the world's work will not pause be
cause of Mr Haywood or Mr Quinlan or
Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. The theaters
of Paris were crowded even in-the blackest
days of the French Revolution and the
whole country did business in quite the
ordinary fashion during the reign of
terror. Nothing much .will be wiped off
the map, in an industrial sense, because
of the industrial workers of the world
and all their strikes.
If production and distribution were ever
seriously interfered with on a large scale,
so that millions nnd millions of inhabi
tants were threatened with dire suffer
ing, there would be a revolution against
the revolutionists. Hitherto, the campaign
of such revolutionary labor organiza
tions as this one now so conspicuous in
the public eye has been scarcely more than
a campaign of pinpricks in its effect upon
the country as a whole. Fortunately, it
will never be anything more serious under
its present leadership.
What is liable to happen ultimately is
that persons like Mr Quinlan will be
“wiped off the map,” in some gust of ex
citement or passion, started by their mili
tant activities in making themselves a pest
to numerous other people concerned in
keeping the wheels of industry in motion.
We should all be very sorry to see any
thing happen to Mr Quinlan and his com
rades that might put an end to their pub
lic careers, but, in the last analysis, any es
tablished society will seek to protect itself
against attacks that severely try its pa
tience or tend to exasperate it beyond en
durance. It is to be feared, therefore, that
when Mr Quinlan bawls in public about
“wiping Paterson off the map” unless the
strike succeeds, he is courting some sort
of extinction as a labor agitator.
The struggle in Paterson is apparently
assuming a bitterness of spirit on both
sides that is highly deplorable. All the
desperation of which the I. W. W. leader
ship is capable seems to be thrown into it.
This may be due to a feeling on the part
of the leaders that the future of their or
ganization is staked on victory. On the
other side, the spirit of resistance is grim
ly resolute. No basis of compromise or
conciliation is in sight.
TEA AND COFFEE FOR CHILDREN
A test on a "great scale of the effect, of
coffee and tea on children is to be made
during the coming month in the public
schools of New York by Dr C. Ward
Crampton, director of physical training,
assisted by specialists. Elaborate tests
will be made of the strength of thousands
of boys and girls who drink tea and
coffee and an equal number of abstainers.
The test mainly depended upon is the
strength of grip. Tables of normal
strength of hand and wrist for children
of different ages have been compiled and
will be taken as a basis of the scope of
the work. Dr Crampton says:—
In the present investigation, we shall
limit our data to the effect of tea and
coffee on the muscles of school children.
Save as general physical condition affords
a certain index to the mental efficiency of
a child, we shall not try to gain definite
data as to the effect of these stimulants
on the child's studies or deportment. The
grip test supplies a good_ index to the
general strength of the child, and can be
taken much more quickly than other more
delicate tests in blood pressure, etc. The
wrist strength still affords a good way of
determining general muscular efficiency
just as it did in primitive .times, where a
wrist enabled the child to cling to his
mother, hang to a tree branch or climb be
yond the reach of wild animals. Children
to day have no such defensive function put
upon their wrists, but Nature, unless seri
ously interfered with, still provides her
children with wrist strength fairly pro
portioned to general muscular well-being.
We may trust, however, that it is a mis
representation to say “The experts hope
‘to show that coffee drinkers are not mere
ly below the normal of the Hastings table,
‘but are inferior in strength to the fellow
‘schoolmates who do not drink coffee at
‘all.” Obviously an investigation conduct
ed in that spirit would lose seriously in
scientific value. And for that matter why
should anyone “hope” to discover that,
coffee or any other favorite article of diet
is injurious and should be abandoned?
Would it not be a more pleasing and valu
able discovery to find that something un
der suspicion is really quite harmless? It
would, Co be sure, have an awkward effect
on the movement for getting as many boys
as possible to sign a pledge not to drink
tea or coffee, but on the other band it
would make such a pledge needless, and
thus save work and worry, to say nothing
of doing away with the risk of backslid
ing. The test is an excellent thing, but
it ought to be conducted in a spirit of
scientific impartiality—to discover the facta
and not to support a propaganda.
That the general movement for a more
healthful regimen for children is gaining
ground is obvious, and it is a valuable off
set to some conditions of modern life
which have caused apprehension. Children
used to do about as their elders did; they
had tea and coffee if they wished, and if
the effects were not ruinous it may have
been partly because they were less exposed
to other kinds of stimulus. In Europe,
too, tea and coffee and in many cases wine
or beer are given to children with no ob
viously disastrous results; much must de
pend upon the environment as a whole.
Old populations are conservative; they
stick stoutly by old customs. In America
the reform spirit, is much stronger, and
idealism is not content with the old ways.
Health foods of all kinds are sought; open
air treatment is eagerly adopted; the quest
is perfection. It is a fine trait, and even
)f mistakes in method pro sometimes made
the results are likely to be good. The re-