Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1914)
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY, MORNING, DECEMBER 13, 1914. COL. HARVEY ANALYZES THE VERDICT AT THE The Editor of The North American Review Comments on the Results of the November Elections as They Affect the' Present Administration. POLLS By special arrangement with the , Ktv York Times, the Sunday Journal la enabled to present here the article by Colonel George Harvey which ap pear In the North American Review . lor December. By Col. George Harvey. r' - was a characteristic American verdict epitomized in the classic phrase of the Farthest West: "Not guilty; but don't do it again!" The administration was not repudi ated at the polls .on November Z: it was sustained; it was not even eii ce ll vely rebuked; but it was unmistaka bly warned. We still adhere to our .declaration In the October number of this Review that the return of a Dem ocratic house of representative, un der the existing distressful conditions, would "signalize, the most striking personal triumph of any president since Andrew Jackson overwhelmed the opposition in 1832." but - in all candor we have to confess that an other such victory might prove em barrassing to the party in power.-. As usual. . everybody is satisfied. President Wjlson calmly' and justifi ably accepts the increased Democratic majority In the senate and the re duced Democratic majority In the house as an Indorsement; Mr. Taft is "reconciled" to the smashing re pudiation Of the First and OnlyjChief of the disappearing Recess! vesT Mr. Roosevelt, again emulating Mr. Bryan, reverts philosophically for consolation 1 to the Scriptures; Mr. Bryan himself but we will pass Mr. Bryan for the moment. Let us turn from the ex ponents of the higher statesmanship to the wls men of politics. Partisan interpretations. X First appears upon the scene from the Kerry of Dobbs, rubbing his eyes, Charles D. llllles, chairman of the Republican national committee, under whose dextrous guidance Mr. Taft triumphantly carried Utah and Venmont in 1012. To his enraptured vision the result in 1916 is not merely foreshadowed; it Is become a positive certainty. Not even an earthquake can prevent-the Republican party from resuming full control of the govern ment for another 60 years. Let us see. Conceding the possibil ityand it is at least that of the election of a Republican president and a republican house o representatives, what of the senate? ,To obaln con trol of that essentials factor, the Republicans must gain at least seven seats. Assuming some-) what optimistically that they hold California, Delaware. Michigan, New Mexico, Utah, Washington and: Wis consin in addition to Connecticut. Mas sachusetts, North Dakota, Pennsyl vania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming, they must still supplant seven Democrats. Assuming further, " and quite reasonably, we should say, that they ran hardly expect to carry , Arizona, Florida, .Maryland. Missis sippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, : Texas, or Virginia, there remain In diana, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New: Jersey, New York, Ohio and West Vir-i ginla eight in all. If Mr. Hill ea really believes, in view of the very recent Democratic gain . of threo senators, that his party can win over seven of these states and lose not one of those now, held, we frankly have to confess a deeper respect for hls'wish than for hla thought. Whatever else may hap-! pen, "complete control by the ReputK llcan party in 1917" is a mirage, to be mistaken for reality only by a. hopeful Rip Van Winkle fresh from the Ferry of Dobbs. Then comes Thomas J. Pence, ' Vice chairman In charge of" the Dem ocratic national committee, who finds himself quite unable to confirm the interpretation of Mr. Utiles. On the contrary, says Mr. Tence, after due re flection. It was a marvelous Democrat ic victory, presaging overwhelming success in 1916. Better yet. he proves . bis assertion from figures real nu merals taken directly from the tables of addition and subtraction, ir, says Mr. Pence, if how we hate that in .truslve monosyllable! If It had been a presidential election, "the Democ racy would have had nearly 100 ma jority in the electoral college," to wit; DEMOCRATIC, STATES, Alabama, 12. Mississippi, 10. Missouri, 18. Montana, 4. . Nebraska. 8. Nevada, 3. North Carolina, 12. Oklahoma, 10. Oregon, 6. Kouth Carolina, 5. " South Dakota, 5. Tennessee, 12. . .Arizona, i. Arkansas, it. California, 13. Colorado, 8. Florida, 6. .. Georgia, 14, . Indiana, 15. - Kentucky, 13. Louisiana. 10. New Mexico, 3. Maine, 6. .Maryland. 8. i exas, zo. . Virginia. 12, 18. Wisconsin, 13. Wyoming, 3. ' Massachusetts, .. Michigan, 15. Minnesota. 12. Total, 307. REPUBLICAN STATES. Connecticut. 7. New York, 4. '; Delaware, 3. North Dakota, S. laano, 4. onto, Z4. " Illinois. 29. Pennsylvania. 38. Iowa. 13. Rhode Island. 6. 'Kansas, 10. Vermont 4. New Hampshire, 4. Washington. ' 7. New Jersey. 1 4. West Virginia, 8. . Total. 220. DOUBTFUL. . Utah, '4. Leaving the ever morally doubtful Utah out of the calculation, this mathematical deduction - provides a ' clear Democratic majority : of 87 a wlinltv auf fid ni mimhAr vn thnttvh materially less than the , more' com , fortable margin of 339 in 1913. But again, for the sake of natural curi ' oslty, with Mr. Pence as with -Mr. - Utiles, let us analyse. Alabama, Arizona. Arkansas? Yes. ' California? How -about that : per ' "nlckety dissociated commonwealth, - with' Governor Hiram Johnson reelec t- ed and eight Republican representa tives out of lit Let California stand I ' aside- for a moment. , . Massachusetts too, with 13 Re j ... publican representatives to four Dein ' oerats, and a total Republican plural ity of nearly 40,000; and Maine, with ' three to one; and Minnesota, with eight to one; and Wisconsin, with , -eight to three: and Michigan, with 11 , .. to two; and Oregon, with . three to .. . none; and Montana and Nevada, most " uncertain. No, no; this will never do; well .meaningly, and confidently as m , duty bound, but with unconscious sur ety, nevertheless, Mr. Pence is elect ; lng a Republican president. Coaced If I !?V' 1 W TijiA." Ill A ik-v Thomas Jng - the 0 electoral votes allotted above In his own table, the Republican candidate would need to get only 46 additional from the following 91 to win : ! j i ' California, 13; New Mexico, 3; Maine, 6; Massachusetts,, 18; Michigan, 15; Minnesota. 12; Nevada, 3; Oregon, 5; Wisconsin, 13; Wyoming, 3. j Total, 91. We cannot abide such figures; they are both illusive and dangerous; and they signify no more nationally than the election of governors- here- and there on local, state, and j religious issues. The one vital fact is that temporarily the Democratic party has lost pretty nearly-everything east of the Alleghenies,- has been ' weakened somewhat in the middle west, and has .rather more than held its own in the ' northwest and on the Pacific slope. The causes are sufficiently obvious.. Why the East Revolted. Take the east. Hundreds of thou sands of workingmen are out of em ployment and have been for months; manufacturing is curtailed by lack of demand for products; business is worse than dull;; real estate is a drug; enterprise ' Is estopped completely by the closing. of the exchanges; reduc tions in dividends that have not yet been made-are anticipated incomes are shrinking; hateful economies are being enforced in shop, . atorej and household; nobody perceives a pros pect of opportunity to make money; everybody feels poor and nearly every body is. j Mr. -Bryan, we regret to- observe, detects the age worn conspiracy of manufacturers to despoil their em ployes and themselves by "suspending operations or cutting down their forces before the election upder con ditfons which left little doubt that they hoped to arouse opposition to the new tariff law." Drearily we deny the accusation.,. We do not question Mr. Bryan's belief in what can only be his surmise, .but we .dq, wish he would acquaint himself with 'the facts. "Such things may have been done for political purposes years ago, but if ever there has been a time when man agements conscious of their responsi bility have strained every nerve, against adverse market and financial conditions, to keep the wheels of in dustry revolving, that time has: been the trying year now approaching its unhappy end. We can only hope that ' Mr. Bryan speaks with accurate fore knowledge when he adds that "now that the election is over the protected manufacturers will resume work." But it is no less futile than it is dis agreeable to touch upon phases of the situation which give rise tft impu tience. The Important task cdnfront ' ing the administration is to regain thf confidence of the great industrial states, for the loss of.which,it is not wholly responsible, but without which, as we have indicated clearly above, it cannot hope to succeed itself. It is a common saying that Vthe war, saved Wilson," and to this extent the saying is true, namely, that if, ;in the last month of the campaign, thousands ef patriotic citizens: who otherwise would not have voted at all had not respond-' ed to the appeal to uphold the presi dent before the world, congress would have been lost to the Democrats. But it is by no means certain that the gen eral effect of n uncontrollable situa tion which not only made. war taxes necessary, but also intensified the common depression, did not more than offset any political gain from higher motives. , The plain facf is that -the adminis tration lost the east because the peo ple of the east had come to suspect, if not quite to believe, that the ad ministration stood between them and prosperity, that its attitude toward business was unnecessarily and un wisely antagonistic,, that it was at tempting too much and accomplishing too little of real benefit, and that, while striving for high and commend able things, It was striving without practical judgment and without due consideration of actual conditions. New England Estranged.' Connecticut affords a striking Illus tration with '.its complete; turnover from five Democrats to five Republi- cans in congress. " Here the i presumed effect of a tariff reduction played the chief part, no doubt; but if a finish ing touch were needed it was fur nlshed, as Governor Simeon Baldwin tartly remarked, by the indiscriminate indictments of New Haven railway di rectors on the day before election. All NevK England resented and still re Bents that proceeding not - merely, as Mr. Baldwin Intimated, as having been l" : Myj V-JLeVv:J ' 7 Ccrrm. li. .11 1 ten li llllllkEi 1,1Lj1 timed for political effect.- but travesty upon justice Itself. This is evidenced beyond question, by the press. It is not surprising' that a strong partisan journal like the Hartford ' Courant should pronounce the prosecution "a gallery play -produced just in time for election effect," and conclude bitterly: -( - - "Some of those indicted never voted for the Operations complained of. But they are offenders with the rest. And Vhy? Because they live in New Eng land." , Denunciation so wholly unwarranted as this from such a source merits little consideration, but it Is time to take notice when the. Springfield Republi can speaks as follows: "There are plainly to be found In the government's net some who do not deserve to be there, because they were as Innocent of the original offending as any of the agents of the department of justice. .It can scarcely be. held 'In common sense that men , who have been called in to help rescue the New York, New 'Haven & Hartford railroad from its difficulties,, so as to protect its stockholders,, are among those who sought to 'monopolize commerce' . in violation of tire Sherman anti-trust law. "It-is difficult to understand how the lines have been drawn in this mat ter. Among the list of the indicted appears the name of Theodore N. Vail, who did everything that he could, act ing from a high sense of public duty, to saye the company from its troubles. Then there- are Edward Mllltgan, of Hartford, and Francis T; Maxwell, of Rockvtlle; two men of first class abil ity and standing, who went into the board of directors in 1910, after the things the government complains of ' had been done. In fact, five members of the present strong board, which has been doing, excellent wori in rehabili tating the property, are Indicted. As if to make the muddle all the -more 'inexplicable to disinterested observers, the man who led in the policy of ag- - - grandizement, of gathering up corpora- - tions, is not among those 'indicted.. . . "It would seem as if Mr. Mellen's . name should lead all the rest, but it is not there. The explanation appear to be that by testifying before the grand Jury the late . president of the New York, New Haven v & Hartford : railroad has secured immunity from prosecution." , Second only to the Springfield Re- publican ' as- a stanch supporter of. -the administration is the Boston Post, which expresses the same opin- ' t ion. Still another is the Waterbury American,' which says: "The feeling of strong criticism ex ; pressed by,. Governor . Baldwin on the political side regarding the gratuitous act of the attorney general's office in dragging into the New Haven's prdse . cution the names of the honored -citi-sens of Connecticut long dead is gen erally shared on all sides. Calling dead men 'conspirators when the case is so evidently futile and malignant is to. damage the government's chances on the, real merits of the question." ' Among other especially indignant . citizens is the Rev. Dr. E. P. Parker, of Hartford, a leading clergyman of Connecticut. He instances as the vie : tims of this desecration men whom he well knew. Luzon Morris, of New Ha . ven, the last Democratic governor pre . ceding- Governor Baldwin; Leverett Brainard. Henry C. Robinson, of Hart ford, and Colonel Frank W. Cheney, e-f Manchester. Whatever thir mistakes of judgment, he describes them, as men who lived lives of public service, of absolute fidelity and integrity. He thus ends hia protest: . . "It is thisparticular part of the in dictment program that seems to me indecent and disgraceful. To rob a grave of the flowers piously strewn . upon-; it or to deface the stone that marks a grave is wanton sacrilege. What then of the useless attempt to assail and dishonor the dead them selves who can no longer reply? . X, for . one, wish to speak plainly for my dear, dead friends, and to protest against what seems to me a heedless If not - wanton sacrilege. One would rather - go .to hell - with some men than to heaven with others. I would rather ray name: should be in that blacklist with such names as- Morris,- Brainard 'Robinson .' and -Cheney than in the of ficial list qf their-detractors, and d- fanaers.' These utterances manifestly indi cate a bitterness of feeling which un happily is more likely, to be intensified than modified as , time goes on. .We are npt. now assuming, to pass. upoa the merits jof the case, but this 'much, at least may b said with confidence: Whether op not Injustice' has been, done, in unfair discrimination between individuals. designated. : to , bear the ignominy ,of indictment, and whether or -not anyreal public benefit' can be derived from" blackening,, the reputa tions of dead, men shorn of the power of self defense', . the facts' should 'not be ' ignoredi 'that ; the departirfent of justice protested Vehemently against the bestowal Of immunity up"dn Mr. Trtellen - by Mr.- Folk.' that Attorney 'General JMcReynolds- -cooperated earnestly in an effort to save the rail way -' property." that Attorney General Gregory has convinced all concerned ot ' the singleness of his purpose - to perform his duties conscientiously, and, finally, that the president him self has had no part whatever in . the making of a general crusade whose, justification or even- excuse has. yet to be demonstrated. Nevertheless, it. is idle, to attempt to blink the fact that New England, whose accord and sympathy j with an administration -whose chief attribute is intellectuality of the highest order, is definitely, and it may proVe to be permanently,' es tranged. Aj pity Indeed it is, but true. '1 ' . New York and Illinois. While the party in power suffered from the' business depression in New York, the,nesult was due primarily' to strife amowg Democratic factions,- to the protest against Tammany recorded ir. the 116,000 votes' cast for the. dis credited Sulzer, and in no small degree to .-the activities; of Mr. Roosevelt, whose campaign I of denunciation ma terially strengthened Mr. Whitman at the finish. The ifact that Mr. Gerard ran 70,000 ahead of the state ticket clearly indicates the -special favor in : -which the administration Is held and f might even with, some -stretch of th , ' imagination, be construed as leaving .a doubt of his defeat if the senator ship had been the sole 1 issue. In any Kse, it is nonsensical to herald the result as fixing New York irretrievably in the Republican column two, years hence. Pennsylvania need not be considered. It -never-yet ha. failed to uphold.' the highest of high ; protection, and probably never will.. Barring Illinois, where also factional strife defeated the Democratic candi : date for senator, the middle west stood well ifor the administration, and the great wheat?. belt, ..which has not yet felt the! pinch of hard times, regis tered unmistakable approval. So, too, on the Pacific slope the. president re-" ceived hearty indorsement, - notably in , California, "whichj elected a Democratic senator, wljlle giving, the Democratic candidate tir governor only one-fourth as many . votes as were polled by : Hiram Johnson, j ; The Recessives land Our Colonel. But whai of our faithful allies tho ! dauntless recessives? Alas, says th:v Outlook: "generalizations are unsafe, ' but' it may be deduced,' perhaps, from the results, that, without , economic prosperity, !the nation has little stom ; ach for political; and social reform" !a wise : saying-and worthy of1-grave consideration by jDemocratlc leaders. -j But let Sir. .Beveridge speak: "Even if we grow ndJ stronger," he Writes. .we nolo Neither ;of tne oaiance or power. jthe told parties can - win And possibly, quite prob- without us. ably, we shall grow stronger. ' We stand for the great-industrial and so- - cial movement which" out. never - mind about that. . "Also," he con cludes, "is lit not fair to say that w outclass the old parties in ' bright ' menT " i 'in - :; : - In one bright i man, assuredly, but there. we draw the line. The PnoenLx of -Indiana' stands alone. "We leavn' him-to struggle manfully, in tha Ashe. of his defeat, and -turn as ever 'with " delight to the prophet become philoso pher Our Colonel. The new spa peril report as follows: "He quoted Scripture to make bis point. When he was asked what ho thought about the election results he drew forth from his pocket a well worn leather bound copy of the New Testament, and with the prefatory re mark that he had carried it with hint, all the way oh his expedition through Africa, proceeded to make the follow ing reply: ... "Xn the Episcopal church lessons taken from the Bible are' appointed for every day of the year. The lesson 'for November 3 includes the 'second Epis tle of Paul to Timothy, chapter IV., verses 3 and 4, which read as follows: " "For the time will come when they will not endure sound, doctrine, but .after their own, lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears and they , shall turn away their ears from the truth and ' shall bo -turned-unto fables.' '"'1 have nothing to add to this at present. Later, after all the returns are in, I may have something more to say." " From the self same lesson, contained in his well worn leather bound copy of the New Testament which he car ried with him all the way on his ex pedition' through Africa, Our Colonel might have continued to quote theso apt and telling passages: - "Alexander the coppersmith ITaft?! did me much evil; the Lord reward him according to his works. "For D&mas Munsey?J hath for ssicen me, having loved this present world. "Only Luke TPerklns? is with me. . 'Take Mark Beverldge? and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. "For I am now ready to be Offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. " "I have fought a good fight, I have, finished my course. "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever." To Which, in common with . Paul t Timothy, we say with fervor: Amen! But alaclcaday! Our Colonel quotes from the wrong lesson. And yet we would not chide him; it may be that a leaf was lost from his well worn, leather bound copy in the African wilds. Be that as it may, he speaks from the lesson for November 4 in stead of November 3, which includes the following of peculiar pertinence. "This know also that per . ilous times shall come. "For men shall be lovers of thilr own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, truce-breakers, false .accus ers, " fierce, desplsers, of those that are good, , heady, high minded, having, a form of godliness, bat denying the power thereof; from such .turn away. ' - "Ever learning, - and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. "But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men." Thus for present purposes endeth that, the true, lesson for November 3. That our Colonel should have mis taken another for.lt is both under standable and pardonable; better; in- deed, could hardly have been expected of a Dutch : Reformer who . presumes to cite a Protestant Episcopal lesson .from an Africanised Testament. ' t What our philosophical Colonel meant to convey to the minds of the eager populace was what he really did say "in a letter (dated September) to a gentleman in Maryland" Bona parte, by chance? who had promised to support him for the Republican nomination in 1916, to wit:- am very - sorry ; to say that I do not think anything ; whatever can. be (done through ttte Republican 'party as i now organised; in any event, as far -- as I am .concerned. - The result here in New York has shown that It is utterly -.useless for ma to endeavor to get any Republican of prominence to come out In such a way to make It possible for there to be cooperation between the Republicans and Progressives on any terms which I would consider. - "In all big states the .Republican party is . more reactionary, more com pletely under the control of the bosses, than it was two years ago. There is literally nothing whatever to be done with it while it continues as it is now; it at present is as far as the poles from the vital principles of Abraham Lincoln Republicanism, and I am sorry to say that actual experience has con-. vlrjced me that any effort to make a combination between the Progressives and the decent Republicans for good government has resulted only in these decent Republicans being forced into subservience to the machine, and the machine gleefully and screamingly an- "nouncing that the Progressives have surrendered to the Republicans, so' that the situation becomes worse and not better. ! "As things are now. It Is worse than useless to support the few . Republi cans who announce that they are for me, but that they intend to remain -in the Republican party, for this merely means that ' if elected they will strengthen the great mass of Repub licans, who not only intend to oppose me, which - is unimportant, but to op pose all the things for which J stand, which is very important." Briefly, our Colonel continues ' to stand upon the burning deck whence pretty nearly sjl but him have f 1 k1. In the course 'of hia constant search for publio policies to square with his personal resentments, he may shift his position occasionally to alleviate the pain of singeing soles, but upon the whole he is as firm for war upon everybody in sight as Mr. Bryan is for -peace among contentious men and voting- women. And praise be! Our Colonel is bap ry. On the. day after election he "made It plain that, however much he may be chagrined by the election of Charles B. Whitman as governor of New Yorlc state, he feels that the nation wide Republican victory has dealt a tremendous blow at President Wilson's prestige and that he is in tensely gratified at that." Compared - with the glee which our Colonel would have radiated at Republican disaster this Is -as honey extracted from a mother cask of vinegar. "He did not say so himself, but the secret of his cheerfulness is his belief that the dan ger of Wood row Wilson's eclipsing him in personal popularity -has passed and that his own chances ot election to the presidency in 1916 have been vast ly bettered, whatever happens to the Progressive party." Wonderful, -wonderful man! 'Ever learning and never . able to come to the knowledge of the truth." .m The President's Next Task. President Wilson enters upon the second stage of his administrative work under conditions wholly dlffer- . ent from those which confronted hi;n upon his inauguration. Committed as he was at the outset to the prompt enactment of remedial legislation, he pursued the course which he had marked out for. himself undeviatlngly and with a -certain scorn of political considerations which could not fail to evoke admiration " for his courage, even though at times tbe expediency of his Insistence seemed question able. The mere keeping of a jaded congress In session for so uncon scionably long a time involved the gravest risk, and the injection of a : war tax measure upon the eve of an election marked the climax of politi cal audacity. A McKinley - would never , have dreamed of doing such a thing, and, even a Roosevelt would have been feazed, if not dismayed by the possible consequences. The country itself balked at first, but wss reconciled finally by realization of the fact that Mr, Wilson simply ; Would not. Permit partisan advantage to supersede a pressing need. That" the Democrats . lost many votes' in con sequence of this persistent urgency : must be assumed, but upon the whole the president Is warranted in regard ing the outcome with complacency. The administration passes now into the second and critical period with all important pledges, respecting do mestic legislation substantially f ul- : filled and with hands free to grapple tha greater problems which have emerged from a worldwide ' catas trophe. ' Chief among these, though hardly precedent to the difficult Mex ican situation, are the conduct of our foreign affairs and the necessity of achieving resumption of common prosperity. With respect to the--former no complaint 1 has come thus : far from ; any. source. The most eager critic is unable to put his. finger upon a single mistake a fact which not only augurs well for future con duct, but takes additional strength from confidence already won. But what win be the condition of the people our own people when the great war shall have ended? Upon that all depends. Compared with it the recent selections are quite barren . of significance. If President Wilson shall carry tha second part of his program to a suc cessful conclusion through the resus citation of business upon a large hd sound basis, to the obvious material advantage of the whole people, there will be no changing the horses In crossing the stream two years hence. If he shall fait in that endeavor, even through no fault of his own, tho , Democratic party will surely g down to disastrous defeat. . Excuses wilt avail nothing. The American -people are not consciously unjust or ungen erous, but they know what they want when they need it; and that 1 some thing just now is better times,-whlcll the party in power must provide or make way for another. When pock ets are full and life is easy humans rather enjoy the nagging of one an other and cheer on the demagogues, but once the pinch becomes universal -they "see there is but . one boat .con taining all: and woe to htm whu rocks 'it. That the president understands this may be assumed with surety. : Even though his keen vision may : have missed such striking symptoms as the killing of the absurd, though presum ably popular. Full Crew bill In thf -. Missouri referendum and the atorht of noes to the twenty-odd radical pro posals in Oregon, the overwhelming , repudiation of our Colonel -and all hia'. Works cannot have escaped attention, to say nothing of certain Democrat io reversals in shall we say with due diffidence? New Jersey and other re-' pCently enlightened commonwealths. Railways and Commission. But it is not necessary to sUrmlsa. . Mr. Wilson proved inclusively' his breadth of view and his grasp of. un derstanding .of the immediate j situa-. . tion when he wrote, in reply o thj v appeal of railway manugers. on' September 10: . H - "You, . asli me to call the attention of thgr country to the imperative need ttiat .railway credits be sustained and' the 4atlroads -helped in every possible , way, whether by private i cooperative i effort or by the action, wherever feas -. --ible, of-governmental agencies, iand1; f am glad to do. so, because I think the -need very-real.- . - . .- "The interest of the prvducer, the .shipper, the merchant, the Investor, "the financier and ' the- whole public in . the proper maintenance and , complete efficiency of the railways is too inani- -fest. They are Indispensuble to our -whole economic life, and railway se curities are at the very heart of most Investments, large and . small,, public and private, by individuals and by In stitutions. 1 ' "I am confident-that there will be active and earnest cooperation in this matter, perhaps the one common in terest of our industrial life. "But the emergency is, in fact,' ex traordinary, ' and where there , is a manifest common interest we ought a'l of us to speak out in Its behalf, and I am glad to join with you' in calling ' attention to it. .This is a time for all. to stand together in united effort to comprehend every interest and to' serve and sustain it in- every legiti mate way." The -present condition could not be , epitomized more succinctly or more accurately. There can be no real re vival of industry while stock ex- ' changes are closed . and owners of bonds and shares cannot market their holdings, and it follows with like cer tainty that an open -market cannot be afforded while hundreds of -millions of American railway securities held -abroad await only an opportunity for liquidation because of uncertainty re- . specting Interest and dividends.; Here is -the keynote, of the whole situation. An increase in- rates by . governmental authority which would help to offset the tremendous loss -of 1120,000.000 of net operating railway revenues in the year ended June SO,: 1914, would do more than any other conceivable thing to make possible the general trading which is essential'to' -renewal 'of confidence and business activities In the United States. , It Is not, moreover, a mere matter of stocks and bonds; a, far more vital thing even than that is credit. ' Railway companies cannot obtain money for extensions, betterments, or even main tenance when hovering in the shadow ' of. bankruptcy? And this means that' manufacturing concerns, ironmakers, . ' steelmakers, tlemakers, and all of .th innumerable others who - ordinarily ' - supply the railway companies with all sorts of material are estopped com- pletely from. performing their normal functions. Why?- Because higher rates are not really needed? No. That fact has been- established beyond question. ' Because the public objects? No. The public long ago was convinced that the higher costs of living and. wages reach to the railway com panies no less than 'to all others. Be cause the interstate commerce com mission cannot or will not perceive the "extraordinary emergency", men tioned ; by the president as making tor a "very real need"? Possibly, to a degree; but clearly the chief ob stacle in the way of first steps to- ward prosperity, in the way of -open -markets, lit the way of the United States government,, the Democratic party, and the Democratic president, is Louis Brand els, counsel and guide of the interstate -commerce commis sion, who solemnly Insists that the' right to "regulate" rates comprises only the right to "reduce" them. The natural assumption is that If that bad been the Intent of congress, congress would have said so, but Mr. BrandelsV holds or at least asserts the contrary view and the amenably antocratlo ' commission obediently acquiesces. ; What to do 4 n such a circumstance? Technically the president Is helpless, and congress. ; too. " - Government by " commission invariably. Involves abon donrnent of authority by the chosen ; representatives of '. the people. ; Th president does right, therefore, even whiier making his own opinion known. . (Concluded on Page Seven)