Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-09-17

trous management IN the>tands Of un-
friendly administrators. No party
Can safely He Entrasted
with the management OF our national
affairs unless it accepts as automatic
the truths recognized in all progressive
countries as essential TO a sound and
proper system OF finance. In their
essence these must be the same for all
great civilized peoples. In different
stages Of development, different coun-
tries face varying economic conditions,
but at every stage and under all cir
cumstances the most important element
in securing their economic well-Deing
is sound finance, honest money. so
intimate is the connection between in
dustrial prosperity and sound curren-
CIV that the former is jeoparqized, not
merely by unsound finance, but by the
very threat of unsourd finance. The
business man and the farmer are vital
ly interested in this question; but no
mans interest is so great as that OF
the wage-worker. A deprecated cur
rency means loss and disaster to the
business man; but it means grim suf-
" lHC WdS- WI hCis AC SaRA
talist will lose much of his capital and
will suffer wearing anxiety and the
loss of many comforts. but the wage
worker who loses mis- wages must suf-
fer, and see his wife and children suf-
fer, for the actual necessities of life.
The one absolutely vital need OF our
whole industrial system is sound
money.
One of the serious problems with
which we are confronted under the con-
ditions of our modern industrial civ
ihzation is that presented by the great
business combinations, which are gem
orally known under the name of trusts.
The problem is
An Exceedingly Difficult One
and the difficulty is immensely aggra-
waited both by honest but wrong
headed attacks on our whole industrial
system in the effort to remove some of
the evils connected with it, and
by the mischievious advice OF
men, who either think cfookedly or
who advance remedies knowing them
to be ineffective, but deeming that they
may, by darkening counsel, achieve for
themselves spurious reputation for
wisdom. No good whatever is subserv-
ed by indiscriminate denuaciation of
corporations generally, and of all forms
of industrial combination in particular;
and when this public denunciation is
accompanied by private membership
in the great corporations denounced,
the effect is, of course. to give an air
of insincerity to the whole movement.
Nevertheless, there are real abuses, and
there is ample reason for striving to
remedy these abuses. A crude or ILL
considered effort to remedy them would
either be absolutely without effect or
else would simply do damage.
The first thing to do
Is to Find Out the Facts;
and for this purpose publicity as to
capitalization, profits, and all else Of
Importance to the public, is the most
useful measure The mere fact of this
publicity would in itself remedy GER
tain evils, and, as to the others. it would
in some cases point out the remedies,
and would at least enable us to tell
whether or not certain proposed rene
dies would be useful. The State acting
in it's collective capacity would thus
III 81 uuU OuI uAiC laws SAAiA SAANAs w 1880
to take such measures as wisdom die
tated. Much can be done by taxation.
Even more can be done by regulation,
by close supervision, and the unsparing
excision OF all unhealthy, destructive
and anti-social elements. The separate
State governments can do great deal:
and where they decline to cooperate
the national government must step IN.
While paying heed to the necessity
of keeping our house in order at home.
the American people can not, II they
wish to retain their self-respect, refrain
from doing their duty as great nation
in the world
The Parallel
between what jefferson did with Louis
lana and what is now being done in
the Philippines is exact. Jefferson, the
author OF the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and OF the consent OF the gov
erned" doctrine, saw no incongruity
between this and the establishment OF
a government on common sense
grounds in the new territory; and he
rallied at the sticklers for an impossi-
BILE application Of his principle, saying,
in language which at the present day
applies to the situation in the Philip
pines without the change of a word,
though it is acknowledged that our
new fellow citizens are as yet inca
pable of f-government as children,
yet some can not bring themselves to
suspend it's principles for a single mo-
ment." He intended that ultimately
self-government should be introduced
throughout the territory, but only as
the different parts became fit for 1t.
and no sooner. This is just the pol
icy that has been pursued. In no part
of the Louisiana purchase was COM
plete self-government introduced for
number OF years; in one part OF 1t,
the Indian Territory, it has not yet
been introduced, although nearly
century has elapsed. Over enormous
tracts of it, including the various In
dian reservations, with a territory in
the aggregate as large as that of the
Philippines, the Constitution has never
vet followed the flag" the army officer
and the civilian agent still exercise
authority. without asking the consent
of the governed" We must proceed
in the Philippines<with the same wise
caution, taking each successive step as
ii becomes desirable, and accommodate
ing the details of our policy 10 the
peculiar needs of the situation. But,
as soon as the present revolt is put