OCR Text |
Show o GIVES POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY. RESPON-SIBILITY. To substltuto agents personally Irresponsible Ir-responsible for others whoso wolfaro depends on tholr Individual efficiency In tho management of a great business, busi-ness, is not a courso that would bo favored by any merchant or manufacturer manu-facturer or producer possessed of common com-mon senso. Yet that is precisely what is proposed by thoso who would turn tho control of tho vast transportation transpor-tation Interests of tho United States over to politically appolncd commissioners. commis-sioners. Railroad malingers who nro found to bo Incompetent nro removed. Tho results of bad railroad management manage-ment nro so conspicuous that It is easy to find tho causo and to apply n swift remedy when tho Incnpablo official of-ficial Is tho servnnt of a corporation. Every railroad manager Is compolled to bo continually alert. To consorvo and to creato business Is his constant aim and tho measure of his responsibility responsi-bility is over beforo him. No personal penalty attends tho blunders, negllgonco or general Inefficiency Inef-ficiency of tho political cmployo In high place. In tho lnstnnco of an interstate in-terstate commerce commission tho insolvency in-solvency of a railroad caused by tho act of tho commission, or disastrous Interference with tho prosperity of any part of tho United States would not bring dismissal to any commissioner commis-sioner or any number of commissioners, commission-ers, nor would It affect commissioners' incomes In tho least. Tholr standing would not bo Impaired. If a law shall bo enacted thai shall enablo tho Interstate Commerco Com-mlssoners Com-mlssoners to "fix" or mako railroad rates In tho United States, tho practical prac-tical result wlU bo that such Commissioners Com-missioners will control a vast business busi-ness In which thoy havo no practical experience, and will hold In tholr hands, with no penalty to bo attached to their failures, tho Immedlato futuro not only of transportation, but also ot all lines of American commcrco trado and production whoso Interests Inter-ests and whoso location oven aro bound up with traffic conditions that aro now arranged for tholr benefit No sano business man would subject sub-ject his own interests to such risks as aro hero involved. It is hardly to bo supposed that tho citizens of tho United States, collectively, desire that tho entire public prosperity shall bo thus jeopardized. n |