INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 



3022 



INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT 



widely in language, in customs, in dress, and, 

 indeed, in hopes and aspirations. There is 

 little to bind the millions of one crowded coun- 

 try to the people of another; only the neces- 

 sity of buying and selling among them to 

 provide the essentials of life creates a feeling 

 of interdependence. 



All Europe contains only 3,850,000 square 

 miles, including its islands, and its separate 

 governments and languages are more than 

 twenty in number. North America, above the 

 sluggish Rio Grande, contains over 6,750,000 

 square miles, and this vast area, nearly twice 

 as large as Europe, has but two central govern- 

 ments and but one language. Jealousies may 

 color the utterances of Europeans, yet, what- 

 ever they say openly, they realize that the 

 United States has been the world's inspiring 

 example in free government; within the 

 twentieth century they are finding that Can- 

 ada offers the same quality of peace, prosperity 

 and happiness, and essentially the same kind 

 of democracy. 



Had Abraham Lincoln consented to the se- 

 cession of the Southern states ; had he admitted 

 that each state could at any moment, and on 

 any plea, take its departure from the Union, 

 he would simply have given his consent to 

 the complete rupture of the federation. The 

 Southern states would have gone; the border 

 states might have followed them; the Pacific 

 states doubtless would not have long remained. 

 Where the practice of secession, once com- 

 menced, would have ended, would be difficult 

 to say. Petty republics would have covered 

 the middle of the continent; each would have 

 had its standing army; each would have had 

 its standing feuds; each would have viewed its 

 neighbors with suspicion, and the stronger 

 would always have been ready for aggression. 

 Canada, in consequence of such conditions, 

 would in self-defense have been compelled to 

 arm, and would always have had to keep a 

 close watch upon the disunited and discordant 

 powers to the south. All this would have been 

 a misfortune, not only for America, but indeed 

 for Europe; for then the potent influence of 

 two nations always at peace and without de- 

 fenses of concrete and of bristling guns would 

 have been lost on the burdened masses of the 

 Continent. 



To-day what do Europeans see in America 

 that they must inevitably wish for them- 

 selves? They have a vision of the world idea 

 of internationalism. That world idea which 

 America offers to all the continents is a bound- 



ary line between two proud, high-strung, ag- 

 gressive nations, four thousand miles from 

 ocean to ocean, but across which in more than 

 a hundred years neither nation ever has 

 launched a menacing army or fired a hostile 

 gun. 



Grasp that idea. Measure that achievement. 

 A thousand miles up the majestic Saint Law- 

 rence; a thousand miles along the Great 

 Lakes; a thousand miles across the open prai- 

 rie ; a thousand miles across a mighty mountain 

 range four thousand miles where nation meets 

 nation, where sovereignty greets sovereignty, 

 but with never a fortress, never a battleship, 

 never a gun, never a sentry, never a guard. 

 Thus are international relations fostered in 

 America, an example to all the world. J.A.M. 



INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT, a. meas- 

 ure passed by the United States Congress in 

 1887 to regulate commerce between the states 

 of the American Union. It was demanded as 

 a means to check abuses which had developed 

 from the nation's lack of system in controlling 

 private enterprises which existed solely to 

 serve the public. In European countries gov- 

 ernments either own the railroads and various 

 other public utilities or exercise arbitrary 

 authority over them; the policy of the United 

 States until within a few years gave to indi- 

 viduals absolute control of what their capital 

 produced. 



After the War of Secession the rapid growth 

 of commerce between the states, the almost 

 incredible increase in railway mileage and the 

 utter dependence of all communities upon rail- 

 way facilities led to the possibility of abuses. 

 By a system of rebates the large shipper could 

 put his goods upon the market at less cost than 

 the competitor who paid full freight rates; 

 shipping facilities could be' extended to one 

 and withheld from another; higher rates for 

 short than for long hauls could be exacted; 

 and pooling agreements between roads were 

 possible. Individual states had passed restric- 

 tive laws to correct such of the above tenden- 

 cies as they could reach, but their authority 

 could not be exercised beyond the boundary of 

 the state; interstate traffic was not affected by 

 any measure a state might adopt. 



Several attempts had been made in Con- 

 gress to remedy existing evils, but without 

 result until in 1886, when a Congressional 

 committee again investigated the entire field 

 of common carriers and recommended the 

 passage of a law to regulate interstate traffic. 

 The next year, 1887, the Interstate Commerce 



