The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-12-05
Government Supervision.

| lutte and practical effort must be made to
| correct these evils.
Government Supervision.
ut is no limitation upon property rights
or freedom of contract to require that when
men receive from government the privilege of
doing business under corporate form, which
frees them from individual responsibility.
and enables them to call into their enterprises
the capital of the public, they shall do so
upon absolutely truthful Representations as to
the value of the property in which the CAPT.
in interstate commerce should be regulated
If they arc found to exercise q license work.
ing to the public injury. 1t should be as
betterment to rid the business world of
crimes of cunning as to rid the entire body
polite Of crimes mes, Of violence Great corpora,
and safeguarded by our institutions and It
is therefore our right and our duty to see
that they work in harmony with these insti-
tutions.
Publicity Remedy for Trusts.
"'The first essential in determining how TO
deal with the great industrial combinations
is knowledge of the facts-publicity. In the
interest of the public, the government should
have the right TO inspect and examine the
wofhings OF the great eorperations engaged
sure remedy which we can now invoke. What
further remedies are needed in the way Of
governmental regulation. or taxation, can
obtained, by process of law, and i'll the course
OF administration. The first requisite is
knowledge, full and complete-knowledge
which may be made public to the world.
Artificial bodies, such as corporations and
joint stock or other associations, depending
upon any statutory law for their existence or
privileges, should be subject to proper gov
crnmental supervision. and full and accurate
information as to their operations should be
made public regularly at reasonable intervals.
The large corporations, commonly called
trusts, though organized in one state, always
do business in many states, often doing very
little business in the state where they are
Incorporated There is utter lack of uniform
ity in the state laws about them; and as no
state has any exclusive interest in or power
over their acts, it has in practice proved i'm
possible to get adequate regulation through
state action. Therefore, in the interest of the
whole people, the Nation should, without in
terlering with the power of the states in the
matter itself, also assume power of super
vision and regulation over all corporations
doing an interstate business. This is espe
cially true where the corporation derives a
portion of its wealth from the existence of
some monopolistic element or tendency in Its
business There would be no hardship in
such supervision banks are subject to it, and
in their case it is now accepted as 4 simple
supervision of corporations by the National
government need not go SO far as is now the
case with the supervision exercised over them
by SO conservative a state as massachusetts,,
in order to produce excellent results.
=! believe that a law can be framed which
will enable the National government to exer-
else control along the lines above indicated;
profting by the experience gained through
the passage and administration of the Inter
state Commerce Act If. however, the judg-
constitutional power to pass such an act,
then constitutional amendment should be
submitted to confer the power.
There should be created a Cabinet officer,
to be known as Secretary of Commerce and
Industries. rs provided in the bill introduced
at the last session of the Congress. 1t should
be his province to deal with commerce in it's
broadcast sense including among many other
things whatever concerns labor and all mat
tiers affecting the great business corporations
and our merchant marine.
Restriction on Immigration.
with the sole exception of the farming
interest, no one matter is of such vital mo.
1nent to our whole people as the welfare of
the wage-workers. # the farmer and the
wage-worker are well off it is absolutely
certain that oil others will be well off, too.
1t is therefore a matter for hearty congratu-
lasion that on the whole wages are higher
to-day in the United States than ever before
in our history, and far higher than in any
other country. The standard of living is also
higher than ever before. Every effort of leg
islator and administrator should be bent To
things and it's Improvement wherever posi-
Bile. Not only must our labor be protected
by the tariff, but it should also be protected
SO far as it is possible from the presence in
this country Of any laborers brought over oy
contract. or OF those who, coming freely,
yet represent standard of living SO de-
ttSSSSA lial lney Gull uuueTSell our men Ia
the labor market and drag them to lower
level. regard it as necessary, with this
end in view, to re-enact Immediately the law
excluding Chinese laborers and to strength
en- it wherever necessary in order to make
its enforcement entirely effective.
so far as practicable under the conditions
made to render the enforcement of the eight
hour law easy and certain. In all indus
tries carried on directly or indirectly for the
United States government women and chill
should bo nrQtertpd
hours OF labor, from night work, and from
work under unsanitary conditions.
The most vital problem with which this
country and for that matter the whole civ
iliZed world, has to DEAL is the problem
which has for one side the betterment of So
cal conditions. neral and physical, in large
Cities and fer another side the effort to deal
with the tangle of far-reaching questions
which we group together when we speak of
labor Very great good has been and will
be accomplished by associations or unions Of
wage-wCrkers, when managed with fore
thought, and when they combine insistence
upon their own rights with law-abiding re-
spect for the rights OF others. The display Of
these qualities in such bodies is a duty to the
Nation no less than to the associations them
selves, Finally. there must also in many
cases be action by the government in order
to safeguard the rights and interests OF all
Under our Constitution there is much more
scope for such action by the state and the
points such as those touched On above the
National government can act.
Our present immigration laws are unsat
isfactory. We need every honest and eff
Gent immigrant fitted to become an Ameri-
can citizen, every immigrant who comes here
to stay, who brings here strong body, a
stout heart good head, and a resoute pur-
pose to do his duty well in every way and TO
bring up his children as law-abdng and
God-fearng members CT the community But
there should be comprehensive law enact
ed with the object of working threefold i'm
provement over our present system. First,
we should aim to exclude absolutely not only
all persons who are known to be believers in
anarchistic principles or members of an
archistic societies. but also all persons who
are of a low moral tendency or of unsavory
reputation. This means that we should re-
quire more thorough system of inspection
abroad and a more rigid system of eXaninu-
ton at our immigration ports, the former be-
ing especially necessary.
THE second object OF proper immigra-
ton law ought to be to secure by careful
and not merely perfunctory educational test
some intelligent capacity to appreciate Amer
lean institutions and act saney as Ameri-
can citizens. This would not keep out all
anarchists. for many of them belong to the
Intelligent criminal class. But it would Go
wnat is also in point. that is, tend to de-
crease the sum of ignorance. SO potent in
producing the envy, suspicion. malignant
passion and hatred Of order, out of which
anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs.
Finally, all persons should be excluded who
are below q certain standard of economic fit
ness to enter our industrial field as COM