THE FARMER AND THE RAILROADS. 173 



uation could probably be agreed upon. If we chose to pay in 

 two per cent bonds, we could do so by increasing the valuation. 

 The immediate question is of the method of control.* 

 Unjust control will be defeated in the courts, as it should be. 

 The Constitution protects rich and poor alike, and the rich 

 know how to make its protection effective. Just control can 

 only come from exact information, and to this we are entitled. 

 The fundamental principle whicli, as the first step, must be 

 comprehended, adopted, and acted upon is this: No quasi- 

 public corporation can have any secrets which the public is hound 

 to respect. Upon this must come the second fight. The first 

 fight was over the right to control. That has been won by 

 the people. Logically, the next step is the knowledge requi- 

 site for intelligent control. That demand has never been 



* Many people, including most railroad officials, insist that the public can 

 not control the railroads, and that the only practicable method of removing 

 the glaring evils which largely arise from unrestricted competition is to permit 

 competing roads to form pools, upon such terms as they may mutually agree 

 upon. As they will then have no interest in underbidding each other, they 

 will have no motive to continue the unjust discriminations, which are more 

 injurious to the public than excessive rates impartially applied. The Interstate 

 Commerce Commission, in its report for 1897, intimates that unless the power of 

 the commission is to be increased, railroads may as well be allowed to pool 

 under the supervision of the commission. I am not willing, myself, to con- 

 cede that the large measure of failure which has thus far attended our efforts 

 for control proves that we shall not ultimately succeed. To a large extent fail- 

 ure has been due to prejudice, excited by agitators and demagogues, leading to 

 popular demand for what is not only unjust but opposed to the interests of 

 those who demand it. In the end such demands come to nothing, but mean- 

 while the attention of the people is distracted from the real issues, so that no 

 popular support is given to such bodies as the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion which knows very well how to control the railroads, and will do so if 

 the people will compel their representatives to give them the power. It is 

 my belief that most railroads yvould welcome a control which would control 

 competitors as well as themselves, provided that the control be intelligent and 

 honest. What railroads most fear is control by men who do not understand the 

 transportation business. The short terms of state railroad commissioners expin- 

 before they have had time to learn anything about transportation. Even the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission has never had a member who was a trained 

 railroad man. Probably no really competent railroad man could be got to 

 serve at present, as such men would not work for the salaries of public 

 officers. If the time ever comes when real power and great honor attach to 

 these positions, trained railroad men of the highest character will consent to 

 serve, just as our greatest lawyers accept appointments to the Supreme Court of 

 the United States at salaries which are very small compared with what they 

 earn at the bar. 



