278 Presidential Addresses 



and, on the other hand, not to spare any corporation 

 which may be guilty of illegal practices, or the meth 

 ods of which may make it a menace to the public 

 welfare. Some substantial good will be done in the 

 immediate future ; and as the Department gets fairly 

 to work under the law an ever larger vista for good 

 work will be opened along the lines indicated. The 

 enactment of this law is one of the most significant 

 contributions which have been made in our time to 

 ward the proper solution of the problem of the re 

 lations to the people of the great corporations and 

 corporate combinations. 



But much though this is, it is only a part of what 

 has been done in the effort to ascertain and correct 

 improper trust or monopolistic practices. Some 

 eighteen months ago the Industrial Commission, an 

 able and non-partisan body, reported to Congress the 

 result of their investigation of trusts and industrial 

 combinations. One of the most important of their 

 conclusions was that discriminations in freight rates 

 and facilities were granted favored shippers by the 

 railroads and that these discriminations clearly 

 tended toward the control of production and prices 

 in many fields of business by large combinations. 

 That this conclusion was justifiable was shown by 

 the disclosures in the investigation of railroad meth 

 ods, pursued in the fall and winter of 1901-1902. 

 It was then shown that certain trunk lines had en 

 tered into unlawful agreements as to the transporta 

 tion of food products from the West to the Atlantic 

 seaboard, giving a few favored shippers rates much 



