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Show RAILWAY SEIZURE. The New York Sun has a special dispatch from Washington indicating that President Roosevelt has a scheme to -'scizo some of the railwa3s of the country" and operate them under the Interstate Commerce Commission. Tho road b' which this end is to bo reached is a passage of a law through Congress, under Presidential compulsion, which shnll enlarge the powers of the Interstate Inter-state Commerce Commission to a point where transportation companies "which do not render proper public service can be taken over and directed by tho executive authority of tho Government. The Sun is usmilly well informed; but in this case it, would seem that an undue fear in behalf of the railroads or an undue antagonism against President Presi-dent Roosevelt must have nnimatod the publication. The President quite cvidcntl- is fond of doing things, as well as sa3'ing them and fond, too, of doing inn 113-things 113-things at once, and all kinds of things; but. it is inconceivable that he desires to overwhelm himself with troubles at this particular juncture of his enreer. The operation of a great railway S3s-lem S3s-lem makes a ilcmand upon oxecutivo abilit3' quite equal to that which has been demonstrated hy the a vera go President of this country. The work mn' not be along tho same lines, but it is of the same character administra lion: for the general manager of a big railwaj' sj'stcm must deal with all the questions, material and social, of tho communities which patronize his lines. To double tho Presidential work at this timo by taking over even one single sin-gle system of transportation would be a piece of f ol ly which no friend of President Roosevelt would wish to see. Besides, there is another point that of the citizen. Tho merging of tho railways under government, control would, in the hands of an ambitious man, give to the Chief Executive of this Nation the power of a dictator. He would be moro easily able to con trol the political affairs of tho couniry than if he were backed b- an arm' devoted to his will. The- part" in power, if not tho President himself, might hold sway in perputuit-. Tho dangers, both to tho public service ser-vice and the Presidential office itself, are so great and so manifest that even Mr. Roosevelt's daring would pauso before be-fore crossing the threshold of railway seizure under un3 excuse. |
