should be regulated and supervised by the national government. He goes so far as to say that if the federal government as a sovereign has no right to regulate and supervise corporations, it may be necessary to adopt an amendment to the Constitution. It is at this point that the message really marks a distinct advance in the constitutional development of the United States. It is not that President Roosevelt suggests any new doctrine, it is rather that he has formulated sharply the de facto situation which has arisen throughout the country. Corporations have grown up under very miscellaneous legislation on the part of a great number of lawmaking bodies, yet a corporation of New Jersey is engaged in interstate commerce. The legislation of the various states has shown itself incapable of any effective control of corporations, and to a large degree has handicapped or prevented legislation by Congress. President Roosevelt insists that the federal government, rather than the state government, is the real sovereign over corporations which are engaged in interstate business. With this view the great mass of people will heartily coincide, the sneers of certain members of the Republican party notwithstanding. Rate Regulation The President's attitude on railway rates is more conservative than many had expected. He reiterates his belief that some administrative body created by Congress should be given the power to regulate rates, suggesting that such a body might be a reorganized interstate commerce commission made unequivocally administrative. The most important provision which he would suggest for a law governing rates is that whenever a case is brought before a rate-regulating body and is found to be unreasonable and unjust, that body should have the power to prescribe the maximum reasonable rate, its decision to go into effect within a reasonable time, though subject to review by the courts. In case rates given to shippers are too low, this commission should have the right to fix this minimum rate as the maximum, a proceeding calculated to check unjust discriminations. The President calls attention to the fact which has been gratuitously misrepresented by the enemies of his policy, namely, that his proposal is not to give the commission power to initiate or originate rates generally, but simply to regulate a rate already fixed by the roads upon complaint and after investigation. As a further provision against misuse of rates he suggests that in case of commission paid on freight shipments, whether real or fictitious, it might be wise to confer on the government the right of civil action. against the beneficiary for at least twice the value of the rebate. In the interest of the railroads he suggests that it might be well to permit under specified condi ones; the reform of public land laws; the extension of reclamation methods in the West; the doing of justice to traveling Chinese students and business and professional men; the regulation of immigration; the protection of Indians; the revision of the copyright law; the establishment of great national parks, including one at Niagara; a pure food statute, and the digging of the Panama Canal. As regards the tariff, however, President Roosevelt's attitude is likely to cause considerable disappointment to those men of the Central West who desire revision. He holds that it is not advisable to make any serious change in the methods of raising revenue, and particularly undesirable to do so in the interest of any one section of the country. He suggests in a general way the matter of reciprocity, but he has evidently no intention of forcing tariff legislation upon Congress. This may be good politics from the point of view of the Atlantic seaboard, but it is not likely to win many friends for the Republican party in the Middle West. The Central Clause of the Constitution In his message also President Roosevelt carries still further his idea of the sovereignty of the national government and favors national regulation of insurance. In this he sees the only remedy for the failure of men at the head of insurance corporations to distinguish between honesty and dishonesty. This is interesting, but not nearly so much so as it is suggestive as a commentary on the reconstruction of our Constitution. This right to control insurance companies, railway rate regulation and corporations generally, is grounded by the President in the provision of the Constitution. giving Congress the power to regulate commerce between the states. Nothing could be more typical of the change which has come over the country since the Constitution was drawn up. Sections which seemed to the fathers of the nation of the utmost importance are now all but forgotten, but around this interstate commerce clause there is being built up a new conception of government and, in fact, really a new nation. If a new Con stitution were to be drawn up, about all the power needed by the federal government would be contained in this single clause. As now exploited, it is a new Constitution. On the strength of it we may become all but Socialists. The New Bill The Esch-Townsend Railroad Bill, which passed the House at the last session but failed to pass the Esch-Townsend Senate, has been somewhat modified and reintroduced into the House. The chief changes are in the interest of more precise specifications as to the new duties of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It enlarges that body to seven members, increases their term of office to seven years and their salary to $10,000, provides that all complaints must be decided within ninety days, gives the commission power to inspect all books and memoranda of the railroad company, and provides that the railroads shall make as full as possible detailed reports of their business and their business relations. It is a bill which will find favor among the people at large and with most shippers. The attitude of the Senate, however, although possibly less hostile than in the last session, is not at all friendly to rate legislation, and there is being formed a strong opposition group of Republicans under the lead of ON MR. HUGHES CIRCULAR TRACK Webster in the Chicago Tribune JOHN JACOB ESCH Joint author of the Railroad Bill now before Congress Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island. The moderation of the bill, as well as the olive branch held out by the President in his suggestion that pooling might in some cases be legalized, ought to go far toward assuring the final passage of some form of effective rate legislation. The Republiean party will lose political capital if it does not in some way meet the popular demand. The Panama Canal The farther we dig the Panama Canal the more do we sympathize with the perplexity of France in the same condition. The canal must be dug, but the task is much bigger than was commonly supposed. A board of advisory engineers consisting of Eugen Tincauser, Germany; M. L. Quellenec, France; Henry Hunter, Great Britain; Adolphe Guerard, France, and G. W. Walker, Netherlands; General Henry L. Abbott, Isham Randolph, Frederick B. Stearns, Joseph Ripley, Alfred Noble, Professor Wm. H. Burr, General George M. Davis and Mr. Wm. Barclay Parsons, all of the United States, has reported that a sea-level canal will require fifteen years of work and will cost $230,000,000. The original appropriation has been all but exhausted, and as yet only the preliminaries of construction have been attended to. Sanitation, the amusements of the workmen and the possible supply of laborers have been carefully and fairly successfully handled. But back of these matters lies the fundamental question as to whether the canal shall be on a sea level from ocean to ocean, or one with locks. The board of consulting engineers have by a small majority voted in favor of a sea-level canal. Its American members, however, favor a canal with locks. As experts discuss, the country grows impatient. One of the first matters which the House took up was an emergency bill urged by the President favoring an appropriation of $16,500,000, but the bill was criticized by John Sharp Williams, leader of the minority of the House. His chief objection concerned the. issuance of bonds while there was $40,000,000 of United States money on deposit without interest in national banks, but the canal management came in for further criticism on both sides of the House as regards expenditures and estimates and the appropriation was reduced to $11,000,000. The Senate bids fair to discuss the matter indefinitely. Evidently we have just begun with our isthmian difficulties. Cuba The Republic of Cuba has again shown its capacity to weather the storm which has wrecked so many of the southern republics. The ordinary political program in these countries is for the party of the opposition to label itself "liberal" and to declaim vigorously over the tyranny tyranny and alleged unconstitutional procedure of the administration. Then generally comes civil war. This program was undertaken in Cuba. The disaffected portion gathered themselves together under the liberal banner and made the customary charges against President Palma's administration. For a few weeks it looked as if there might be revolution, but the government acted with promptness and without undue severity, and General Gomez judged it necessary to make a rather dramatic flight for safety to the United States. The election of December 1 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the administration. The senate will have fourteen moderates as over against ten by other parties. The house will have forty-one moderates as over against a mixed minority of twenty-three, and despite some apparent friction between the heads of various departments, the government seems firmly established without civil war. The amicable relations existing between the United States and the Republic of Cuba were for a few days The Isle of in the latter part of NoPines vember threatened by the Americans in the Isle of Pines. These emigrants issued a declaration of independence from Cuba, appointed territorial delegates to the United States and demanded annexation to the latter country. Such an act of rebellion is not without attempted justification. The treaty of Paris provided that Spain should relinquish sovereignty over Cuba and cede to the United States Porto Rico and other islands of the West Indies then under Spanish sovereignty. It is claimed that this would cede the Isle of Pines to the United States, and at the start many United States officials thought that the cession was accomplished. Official maps marked the island as belonging to the United States. Such action, however, was unwarranted. The Isle of Pines had |