Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-12-12

dence has been restored, and the nation ii
| to be congratulated because of Its present
aboundfng prosperity. Such prosperity can
never be created by law alone, although 1t is
easy enough to destroy It by IN miSchienous &c heov
| upon any country, If flood or drought comes,
human wisdom is powerless to avert the ca
| lamity. Moreover, no law can guard us
against the consequences of our own folly.
| The men who are idle or creduous, the men
who seek gains not by genuine work with
head or hand but by gambling In any form,
are always a source of menace not only to
themselves but to others III the business
world loses its head, 1t loses what legisla-
tfon cannot supply. Fundamentally the well
fare of each citizen and therefore the wei
fare of the aggregate of citizens which
thrift and energy, resolution and intelli-
gence Nothing can take the place of this
individual capacity but wise legislation
can give 1t the fullest scope the largest op-
portunity to work to good effect.
TRUSTS AND COMBINES.
The tremendous and highly complex in
dustral development which went on with
ever accelerated rapldty during the latter
half of the nineteenth century brings us
face to face, at the beginning of the twen-
tieth with very serious social problems.
The old laws, and the old customs which
had almost the binding force of law, were
mutation and distribution of wealth. Since
the industrial changes which have so enor:;
monsliy iD increased te the productive power of
The growth of cities has gone on beyond
comparison faster than the growth of the
country, and the upbuildlng of the great
| Industrial centers has meant a startling in
crease, not merely in the aggregate Of
wealth. but in the number of very large in
dividual, and especially of very large cor
porate, fortunes. The creation of these
great corporate fortunes has not been due
to the tariff nor to any other governmental
action, but 10 natural causes In the business
world. operating in other countries as they
operate in our own.
The process has aroused much antagon-
ism. Il Of iG " H.
out warrant. 1t is not true that as the rich
have grown richer the poor have grown
poorer. On the contrary, never before has
the average man, the wage worker, the
farmer, the small trader, been so well Off
as in this country and at the present time.
There have been abuses connected with the
| accumulation of wealth yet IT remains true
that u fortune accumulated in legitimate
business can be accumulated by the person
specially benefited only on condition of con-
ierring immense Incidental benefits upon
others. Successful enterprise, of the type
which benefits all mankind, can only exist
! II the conditions are such as to offer great
prizes the rewards of success.
! 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 tax
en- place. Moreover, we should recognize
the immense Importance to this material
development of leaving as unhampered 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 any one capable of forming a judg
ment that the personal equation is the most
! important factor In a business operation :;
that the business ability of the man at the
head of any business concern. big or little,
Is usually the factor which fxes the gulf
between striking success and hopeless fall
( urc.
An additional reason for caution in deal
ing with corporations is to be found in the
international Cnmmnrpinl nf tp-
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 concerns
7 which have the largest means at their dis
posal and are managed by the ablo3t 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 commanding posi-
tion in the international business world
which We believe will more and more be
hers. 1t is of the utmost Importance that
this position be not jeopard2ed, especially
| at n time when the Overlooking abundance
OF our own natural resources and the skill
business energy, and mechanical aptitude of
our people make foreign markets essential
Under such conditions 1t would be most un-
wise 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 in
cvitab!y endangers the interests of all. The
fundamental rule In national llfe-the
rule which underlics all others-is that, on
the whole and in the long run, shall go
up or down together. There are exceptions {;
and in times of prosperity some will prosper
far more and in times of adversely some
VIII suffer far more, than others but speak
ing 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
n greater or less degree. 1t surely ought
not to be necessary to enter into any proof
or this statement; the memory of the lean
years which began In 1898 is still vivid
them q
tions in this very year which is now closing.
Disaster to great business enterprises can
never have Its effects limited to the men at
the top. 1t spreads throughout and while
1t is bad for everybody, it is worst for those
f9rthest down. The capitalist may be shorn
be deprived of even bare necessities.
The mechanism Of modern business is so
delicate that extreme care must be taken
not to interfere with It in spirit Of rash
ness or ignorance. Many of those who have
made it their vocation to denounce the great
Industrial combinations which are popular
~. although with technical inaccuracy,
kEown as trusts m appeal especially to
hatred and fear. These are precisely the
two emotions, particularly when combineI
with ignorance. which unfit men for the ex-
ercise of cool and steady judgment. In fac
ing new industrial conditions the whole his
tory of the world shows that legislation viii
generally be both unwise and ineffective un-
less undertaken after calm inquiry and with
sober self-restraint. Much of the legisla-
tion directed at the trusts would have been
exceedingly mlschievous had it not also
@h snvrfY a% t6e
norant or reckless agltator has been the
really effective friend of the evils which he
has been nomlnally opposing. In dealing
with business interests. for the government
to undertake by crude and ill-consdered leg
islation to do what may turn out to be bad,
would be to incur the risk of such far-reach.
ing national disaster that 1t would be pref.
, cradle to undertake nothing at all The
men who demand the impossible or the un-
desirable serve as the allies of the forces
with which they are nominaly at war. for
they hamper those who would endeavor 20
find out In rational fashion what the wrongs
really are and to what extent and in what
manner 1t Is practicable to apply remedies
All this is true and yet it is also true
that there are real and grave evils, one of
the chief being over-capitalzation because
of It's many baleful consequences and a res
olute and practical effort must be made TO
correct these evils.
, There Is widespread conviction In the
minds of the American people that the great