The Broad Ax

WASHINGTON LETTER

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
MOST IMPORTANT ON RAILWAY RATE

WASHINGTON—
President Roosevelt has his annual message completed, a finely engrossed copy ready for filing away and carefully typewritten copies, tied with ribbon, to be presented to the house and senate and read before those bodies and about 10,000 copies printed and ready for distribution as soon as the important document has been read in congress.

This is probably the most important message the president has ever sent to congress and is the longest. It contains from 20,000 to 25,000 words which is an unusually lengthy communication for an executive to send to congress.

As the country knows pretty generally, Mr. Roosevelt makes railway legislation the chief feature of his message. When congress adjourned last winter without doing anything on this subject the president announced that he would take every opportunity to keep it alive and he has done so. In his own speeches he has told very clearly what he will ask congress to do and Secretary of War Taft and Senator Knox, of Pennsylvania, former attorney general, have aided in promulgating the administration policy. The president proposes that congress authorize the interstate commerce commission or some other governmental body to declare when a railroad rate is unreasonable and then to fix a rate which is reasonable. The railroads are to be given recourse to the federal courts if they are not satisfied.

The president will treat of a great number of subjects in his message in addition to railroad matters, prominent among them being federal control of insurance companies, the Santo Dominican treaty, the Panama canal, preserving the Niagara falls, our relations with foreign governments, but it is said he will not have any observations to make on the tariff.