Evening star., 1901-12-03

had almost the binding force OF law, were
once quite sufficient to regulate the accu-
mutation and distribution of wealth. Since
the industrial changes which have so enor-
mously increased the productive power of
mankind, they are no longer sufficient.
The growth Of cities has gone on beyond
comparison faster than the growth of the
country, and the upbuilding of the great
Industrial centers has meant a startling In
crease, not merely In the aggregate wealth,
but in the number of very large individual,
and especially of very large corporate, for
tunes. The creation of these great corpo-
rate fortunes has not been due to the tariff
nor to any other governmental action, but
to natural causes in the business world, op-
Grating in other countries as they operate
in our own.
The process has aroused much antago-
nism, a great part of which Is wholly with
out warrant 1t is not true that as the
rich have grown richer the poor have
grown poorer. On the contrary. never be-
fore has the average man, the wage-work-
er, the farmer, the small trader, been so
well off as in this country and at the pres
ent time. There have been abuses connect
ed with the accumulation of wealth; yet 1t
remains true that a fortune accumulated in
legitimate business can be accumulated by
the person specially benefited only on con-
dition of comforting immense incidental
benefits upon others. Successful enterprise
of the type which benefits all mankind
can only exist if the conditions are such as
to offer great prizes as the rewards of sue
cess
The Captains of Industry.
The captains of industry who have driven
the railway systems across this continent,
who have built up our commerce, who have
developed our manufactures have on the
whole done great good to our people. With
out them the material development Of
which we are so justly proud could never
have taken place. Moreover. we should
recognize the immense Importance to this
material development of leaving as un-
hampered as is compatible with the public
good the strong and forceful men upon
whom the success of business operations
inevitably rests. The slightest study OF
business conditions will satisfy anyone ca
pable of forming a judgment that the per-
sonal equation Is the most important factor
in a business operation; that the business
ability Of the man at the head of any bust-
ness concern, big or little, is usually the
factor which fixes the gulf between strik-
ing success and hopeless failure.
An additional reason for caution in deal
ing with corporations is to be found in the
international commercial conditions of to-
day. The same business conditions which
have produced the great aggregations OF
corporate and individual wealth have made
them very potent factors in international
commercial competition. Business con-
Germs which have the largest means at their
disposal and are managed by the ablest
men are naturally those which take the
lead in the strife for commercial supremacy
among the nations of the world. America
has only just begun to assume that COM
manding position in the international busi-
ness world which we believe will more and
more be hers. It is of the utmost import
ance that this position be not jeoparded,
especially at a time when the overfowing
abundance of our own natural resources
and the skill, business energy, and mechan-
ical aptitude of our people make foreign
markets essential. Under such conditions
it would be most unwise to cramp or to
fetter the youthful strength of our Nation
Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed
out that to strike with ignorant violence at
the interests of one set Of men almost inevi-
tably endahgers the interests Of all. The
fundamental rule in our national life-the
rule which underlies all others-is that, on
the whole, and In the long run, we shall go
up or down together. There are exceptions;
and in times of prosperity some will pros
per far more, and in times of adversely
some will suffer far more, than others;
but speaking generally, period of good
times means that all share more or less
In them, and in a period of hard time all
feel the stress to a greater or less degree.
1t surely ought not to be necessary to en-
ter into any proof of this statement; the
memory of the lean years which began in
1893 is still vivid, and We can contrast them
with the conditions in this very year which
is now closing. Disaster to great business
enterprises can never have It's effects lin
tied to the men at the top. 1t spreads
throughout, and while it is bad for every
body, it is worst for those farthest down.
The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries;
but the wage-worker may be deprived of
even bare necessities.
The mechanism of modern business Is so
delicate that extreme care must be taken
not to interfere with 1t in a spirit of rash
ness or ignorance. Many Of those who have
made 1t their vocation to denounce the
popularity, although with technical inaccu-
racy, known as trusts" appeal especially
to hatred and fear. These are precisely the
two emotions, particularly when combined
with ignorance, which unfit men for the ex-
ercise Of cool and steady judgment. In
facing new industrial conditions, the whole
history Of the world shows that legislation
will generally be both unwise and ineffec-
tive unless undertaken after calm inquiry
and with sober self-restraint. Much Of the
legislation directed at the trusts would
have been exceedingly mischievous had
1t not also been entirely Ineffective. In
accordance with a weIl-known sociological
law, the ignorant or reckless agftator has
been the really effective friend Of the evils
which he has been nominally opposing. In
dealing with business interests, for the
government to undertake by crude and i'll
considered legislation to do what may turn
out to be bad, would be to incur the risk of
such far-reaching national disaster that it
would be preferable<o undertake nothing at
all. The men who demand the impossible
or the undesirable serve as the allies of
the forces with which they are nominally
at war. for they hamper those who would