... On ...

Its report

uses strong language

has been forced

of events. 

utterances on this very

subject

is a conservative body, 

the most deliberate and

citizenship, and for many reasons it refrains from doing or saying rash or radical things. It is therefore with the greatest deliberation that we have reached the conclusion to which the logic of events has driven us. Within the last few weeks the chairman of this committee has read and examined all the reports of the interstate commerce commission, including the last one issued Jan. 17, 1902. After wading through the mazes of this vast fund of railroad information it is impossible to reach any other conclusion than that arrived at by the commission, that the present interstate commerce law is wholly inadequate and inconsequent to accomplish the purposes contemplated. 

"The accumulated evidence would indicate that railroad managers are 'habitual criminals' of which the coal-carrying roads of Pennsylvania give a striking illustration. The constitution of Pennsylvania provides that 'no incorporated company doing the business of a common carrier shall, directly or indirectly, prosecute or engage in mining or manufacturing articles for transportation over its road.' The interstate commerce law prohibits combinations between common carriers. The common law forbids agreements in restraint of trade, especially when the supply or price of necessities of life is affected the the agreements. 

"As surely as all roads lead to London, all economic roads lead to government ownership of railroads, or in the language of Prof. Ely, 'We have, however, simply the two alternatives - on the one hand, public control of private property; and on the other, public property with public management.'"