Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-12-06
Supplement the Little Falls Herald December g. 1901

The growth OF cities has gone on be-
yond comparison faster than the growth
Of the country. and the .upbuilding OF, the
great industrial centers has meant q
startling Increase not merely in the ag-
gregate of wealth. but in the number Of
very large individual and especially OF
ton of these great corporate fortunes
has not been due to the tariff nor to any
other governmental action, but to natur-
al causes in the business world. operat-
ing in other countries as they operate in
our own.
The process has aroused much antago-
nism, great part OF which is wholly
the rich have grown richer the poor have
grown poorer. On the contrary, never be-
tore has the average man. the wage
been SO we'll off as in this country and
at the present time There have been
abuses connected with the accumulation
tune accumulated in legitimate business
can be accumulated by the person spe-
cially benefited only on condition of con-
ferring immense incidental benefits upon
others. Successful enterprise of the type
which benefits all mankind can only ex-
list If the conditions are such as to offer
great prizes as the rewards of success.
Deal with Caution.
The captains Of industry who have driv-
ne nen tue who have si Built up our commerce.
who have developed our manufactures,
have on the whole done great good to our
people. Without them the material devel;,
opment Of which We are so justly proud
could never have taken place Moreover,
we should recognize the immense impor-
tance to this material development. Of
with the public good the strong and force
full men upon whom the success of bust
ness operations inevitably rests. The
satisfy anyone capable of forming a
the most important, factor in q business
man at the head of any business concern.
big or little, is usually the factor which
fixes the gulf between striking 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
corporate and individual wealth have
made them very potent factors in inter
national commercial competition. Bust
means at their disposal and are managed
by the ablest men are naturally those
which take the lead in the strife for COM
the world. America has only just begun
to assume that commanding position in
the international business world which
We believe will more and more be hers. 1t
is of the utmost Importance that this po-
sition be not jeoparded, especially at a time
when the OVERLOOKING abundance of our
own natural resources and the Skill bus1-
our people make foreign markets essen
tial. Under such conditions it would be
most unwise to cramp or to fetter the
youthful strength Of our nation.
Careful Legislation Needed.
Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed
out that to strike with ignorant violence
at the interests OF one set OF men almost
inevitably endangers the interests of all.
The fundamental rule in our national life,
the rule which underlies all others, is that
the whole and in the long run we shall
go up or down together. There are excep-
tons, and in times of prosperity some Will
~ 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 period OF hard times 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
1898 is still vivid, and we can contrast
t::>:': with the conditions in this very year
~-E;e is now closing. Disaster to great
pus4ness enterprises can never have its eff
spreads throughout, and while it is bad
thest down. The capitalist may be shorn
of his luxuries, but the wageworker may
be deprived of even bare necessities.
The mechanism of modern business is so
delicate that extreme care must be taken
uOl w. interfere With IL III q spirit OF RASH
ness or ignorance. Many OF those who
have made 1t their vocation to denounce
the great industrial combinations which
are popularity, although with technical in
accuracy. known as trusts" appeal espe-
cially to ha tired and fear. These are pre-
clseiy the two emotions, particularly when
combined with ignorance, which unfit men
for the exercise of cool and steady judg-
ment. In facing new industrial conditions
the whole history of the world shows that
legislation will generally be both unwise
and ineffective unless undertaken after
calm inquiry and with sober self restraint.
Much of the legislation directed at the
trusts would have been exceedingly mis-
chievous had it not also been entirely in
effective. In accordance with a we'll
known sociological law the ignorant or
reckless agitator has been the really ef-
fective friend Of the evils which he has
been nominally opposing: In dealing with
business interests for the government to
undertake by crude and ill-considered leg
isistfon 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 to undertake nothing
at all. The men who demand the impos-
sible or the undesirable serve as the allies
OF the forces with which they are nomi-
nally at war. for they hamper those who
would endeavor to find out in rational
tashlon what the wrongs really are and To
what extent and in what manner Il is