It is not a political but an economic question that the country has to consider and solve. The adjustment of tariff taxation, the regulation of railroads and all other similar matters over which the legislative power has control and which are essentially economic and non-political are held deliberately within the range of current controversy for the advantage of party politics. So long as they can be kept from a fair and permanent settlement on the basis of economic justice, they will furnish rallying cries for the unthinking of one political party or the other. The country cannot rise to the level of its duty or its opportunity until the scientific knowledge of the expert and the action of the just judge are applied to the settlement of such economic issues. The American people must soon begin to realize how injuriously they are themselves affected by a game that has been played for so many years with their business prosperity and their future welfare. Meantime the practical questions that I have presented and that grow straight from the root of the present situation remain. The wisdom, the desire for justice, the intelligent self-interest of the whole country should be concentrated upon the answer, which is not really difficult to find. The people must first realize that regulation must not be strangulation. Every restriction compatible with the public interest may be applied without impairing the position of the railways, or their ability to continue serving the public; because their interests at bottom are one. It is high time that a rational perception of this identity should put an end to hostile discrimination against the railroad, and a policy be shaped which will permit the railways of the country to lay a broad foundation for transacting the future business of the country, by providing the machinery without which that business cannot be done.