ROOSEVELT AND TRUSTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 2

ROOSEVELT AND TRUSTS.

Speaking at St. Louis, Mr. Roosevelt wenft on to siiow how the- Constitution was concerned in the question of proper- national supervision and control of .'corporations. ."Many subjects formerly.,under the control of the States have come .under the coutrol of the nation. By the railroad, mails; telegraph and telephone, an immense, part 0r..0ur.-coini merce is inter-Stato. I believe that the nation has the whole governmental power over in-ter-State commerce. There are difficulties arising from our dual form-of government, and if they prove insuperable, resort must ba had to the power-of amendment.'' Let ua first try to meet them by ,an exercise of all the powers of the National' Government which can be found in the Constitution as it is. , . ' ■'■ f' .'' ' , ' .'. INSOLENT RAILWAYS. , . ■• ■, ; "The railroads themselves have been ex«. coedingly short-sighted ini-the rancorous bitterness which they have shown against tha resumption. by tho jiatioil of this long-ne-glected power. The American people will not. tolerate the liappy-go-luckyisystem of no control over ,the great inter-State railroads, with the insolent and manifold: abuses which have so generally accompanied it. The control' must exist somewhere ';■,;' , ■ ■' ' "The National Convention which framed the Constitution resolved 'that the National Government should have', power where the separate States were inconipetent to act with lull efficiency. The inter-State railroad situation is a caso in point. '■ • "Personally, i'firmly believe thatthero should be national legislation to control all industrial corporations doing an inter-State business, including the control'of. theioutput of their securities; but as to these the necessity - for Federal control is less urgent and immediate than is tho case with'the. railroads.. Many of tho abuses will probably tend to. disappear now that the Goyernment-rthe; public—is gradually getting Hie ..upper ljand: as regards stopping rebates and special privileges, but ultimately the ; - complete remedy, lies in direct action by the National Government. That there is constitutional power for national regulation of corporations I have no question." :,..- '■'..> ii: STATE REGULATION; ;i "Two or three generations ago there was just as much 'now ,seeniß ludicrous—to national control dfj banks) . J , Our descendants will regard with like wonder the present opposition to giving .the National Government adequate power ta-controlthose great corporations. Remember, also, that to regulato the formation of these corporations offers one of the most direct and efficient methods of regulating their " My plea is not'lo bring about a condition of centralisation. It isthakthe)Govern, ment shall recogniso a condition! of centralis sation in a field where it .already'exists. When. the National Banking Lay was passed it re-' presented in reality'-not centralisation but recognition of tho fact that,the.,country had so far advanced that the 1 currency was already, a matter of national.concern,,'.and must' bo dealt with at So with .interstate industrialism, and especially interstate, railroad operation' to-day. , -, •■:; " Centralisation has alrcadj- taken place in the world of commerce and, industry.'. AH I ask is that the National popernmont. look this fact in tho face, accepk'.-'dt as'a-fact;-and fit itself accordingly for'va ' policy.; dr. supervision and control over.,this centralised commerce and industry."—Reuter. - : . ■