The country is ready, therefore, to
accept, and accept with relief as well as approval, a law which will
confer upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to superintend
and regulate the financial operations by which the railroads are
henceforth to be supplied with the money they need for their proper
development to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the country for
increased and improved facilities of transportation. We cannot postpone
action in this matter without leaving the railroads exposed to many
serious handicaps and hazards; and the prosperity of the railroads and
the prosperity of the country are inseparably connected. Upon this
question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual management and
operation of the railroads have spoken very plainly and very earnestly,
with a purpose we ought to be quick to accept. It will be one step, and
a very important one, toward the necessary separation of the business of
production from the business of transportation.
The business of the country awaits also, has long awaited and has
suffered because it could not obtain, further and more explicit
legislative definition of the policy and meaning of the existing
antitrust law.
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