The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-04

! &orld loses its head, 1t loses what legisla-
tion cannot supply. Fundamentally the
welfare of each citizen and therefore the
welfare Of the aggregate of citizens which
makes the nation must rR7t upon individ-
/ ual thrift and energy. 7 I )luton and in
! telligence. Nothing can y g the place OF
! this individual capacity, }St wise legisla-
ton and honest and intelligent admins
tration can give it the fullest scope, the
I largest opportunity to WfrS to good effect.
| The tremendous and eighty complex in
! dustrial development Which went on with
/ ever accelerated rapidity during the latter
/ half of tine nineteenth century brings US
/ face to face at the beginning of the TWEEN
! tieth with very serious social problems.
! The old laws and the old customs which
I 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
enormously increased the productive pow
er of mankind they are no longer suffi-
Gent.
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
| increase not merely in the aggregate Of
wealth. but in the number of very large
individual and especially of very large
| corporate fortunes The creation of these
! great corporate fortunes has not been due
to the tariff nor to any other goverrhlen-
| tai action, but to natural causes in the
business world, operating in other coun-
tries as they operate in our own.
( The process has aroused much antago-
nism, a great part of which is wholly
| without 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 wagework-
er. the farmer the small trader, been so
well off as in this country and at the pres
ent time There have been abuses con-
nected with the accumulation of wealth,
yet it remains true that a fortune accu-
mulated in legitimate business can be ac-
cumulated by the person specially benefit
ed only on condition of comforting i'm
mense 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 success.
Reasons For Caution.
The captains of industry who have driv-
en- the railway systems across this conti-
nent, who have 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
we should recognize the immense impor-
lance to this material development of
leaving as unhampeFed as is compatible
with the public good the strong and force
full men upon whom the success Of bust
ness operations inevitably rests. The
slightest study of business conditions will
satisfy any one capable of forming
Judgment that the personal equation is
the most important factor in business
operation: that the business ability of the
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
| have produced the great aggregations OF
| corporate and individual wealth have
made them very potent factors in inter-
national commercial competition. Busi-
! ness concerns 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 com
mercial supremacy among the nations OF
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-
]
| when the overfowing abundance OF our
own natural resources and the skill, busi-
ness energy and mechanical aptitude of
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.
Interests of All Endangered.
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
| on the whole and in the long run we shall
| 20 I'D or down together There are excep-
tons, and in times of prosperity some will
prosper far more and in times of ADVERSE
ty 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 q period of hard times all
feel the stress to q 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 its ef-
| fects limited to the men at the top. 1t
spreads throughout, and while 1t is bad
| for everybody II is worst for those far
| thest down The capitalist may be shorn
of his Iuxuries, but the wageworker 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 it in a spirit Of rash
ness or ignorance. Many of those who
have made it their vocation to denounce
the great industrial combinations which
are populary, although with technical in
accuracy. known as trusts" appeal espe-
cially to hatred and fear. These are pre-
cisely 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
Iesislatio 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 eff
fective friend Of the evils which he has
been nomlnally opposing. In dealing with
! business interests for the government to
undertake by crude and i'll considered leg
islation to do what may turn out to be
bad would be TO incur the risk Of such
farreaching national disaster that it
would be preferable to undertake nothing
at all The men who demand the impossi-
BILE 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
fashion what the wrongs really are and to
what extent and in what manner it Is
practicable to apply remedies.
! Evils of Observation-Disclosures.
All this is true. And yet it is also true
that there are real and grave evils. one of
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