The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-23

by the danger of unthoughtful and un-
disciplined action. that those measures ana
tiously adopted, executed with sanity and
judgment.
ION the other hand, this development is
having its beneficial effect upon the CAPT.
talsts themselves. Responsibility always
brings a broader understanding and a
gentler consideration of others. And deal
cies OF production and exchange are, with
all the people of the Nation, and wel-nlgh
with all the world a new comprehension
of those people is forced upon the capital
list, whether he will or no. The financier OF
the twentieth century has got 10 be more
than a fnancier. The modern hnancier
must must be statesman The day OF the the local aI
Wall-street capitalist is passed. The hour
when the wizard of tricks sat in his office
and considered that the world or money
was compa sseG by his eyesight, was struck
yesterday. and that hour is no more for
ever. To-day the capitalist can no longer
indulge in the legerdemain of mere stock
speculation. He must build machinery; ne
must erect mills; he must construct rail-
roads. he must buy steamship lines There
fore he must understand the people, he
must consider the people. The financial
rashness of the black Fridays of our his
tory was as much a manifestation OF our
undisciplned and capricious mode of unde-
velopment was the burning of railroad
properties at Pittsburg in the red days now
almost forgotten.
MUST CONSIDER THE PEOPLE.
And so we see capitalists have got to
understand that the opinion of the people
is as definite factor in their great plans
as the quantity of coal remaining in the
mine or the producing capacity of mill.
AS much a factor? Yes. infinitely more of
a factor. For, after all, it is the consum-
ing and producing capacity of the people
upon which all industries are built. 1t is
the thought and settled resolve of the peo-
pie which is the most important element
in the mosaic of our national economy.
Thus have the constructive capitalists of
America come TO understand that public
opinion must be taken into account as
much as the amount of cash on hand or
bills receivable. They have been forced TO
this, let us say, or they have learned it.
No matter, they have come to understand
it; and so we see that voluntarily the great
est corporation of the world has published
to all the people statement OF its business
and its operations, of its assets and its Ii
abilities, of its products and its sales, of its
history and its prospects. That is the thing
which the financier of ten years ago would
have called chimerical, foolish. the unwise
pandering of the theorist to the curiosity of
the crowd. But the financier of the twenti-
eth century no longer calls IL so. He knows
it is not so. He knows that it is a neces-
sity of his business-a thing essential to
the popular support Of his enterprise.
Another great corporation of Illinois
whose managing mind appears to be a
statesman as well as a financier, began
some three or four years ago to distribute
ployes, and to sell shares at lowest terms
TO the people living along its line. Ten
years ago that would have been called So
cialism-tO-day ii is business. 1t is con-
servatism. 1t is the realization OF things as
they are and the adjustment of the meas
ures of wisdom and humanity to existing
conditions, in order that the best of exist
ing conditions may be preserved and from
them still better conditions may be evolved.
Ali this is sanity: all this is calm and gen.
tie and considerable thought: all this is the
beginning a
from self-restraint and the respect for the
rights and opinions of our fellows.
LABOR TRUSTS.
Organizations of labor are cognate to
the organizations of capital. Each is the
outgrowth Of that principle of cooperation
which is the very spirit of civilized society.
The family is cooperation; a partnership
is cooperation; the simplest form of
state is cooperation; and the state
grows more perfect, its citizens more and
more cooperate each with all and all with
each. Neither labor organizations, there
fore, nor those of capital are unnatural or
harmful. But the tyranny of greed may
pervert the one; the tyranny of passion
may ruin the other. COnsiderate modera-
tion is the safety of both, and If each were
to adopt it, it would be their glory well.
And if capital will not be reasonable if
labor will not be reasonable the people will
be reasonable for them. There is no place
in this country for the abSolutiSt of riot
The bully of wealth shaking his clenched
INST or go!d, is wealth. worst enemy. The
bully of labor shouting denunCiatiOn, is la
boris worst enemy. Let the wiser laborer
elbow from his company him of the fam
ing utterance and untruthful tongue. Let
the wiser capitalists suppress their would
be Cars. Out with the element of unreason
in both camps, and the divided hosts will
be one! Out with unreasOn everywhere in
the Republici Let the spirit of Washington
be monarch of the hearts and minds of men
everywhere beneath the flag which Wash
ington established.
GAS the twentieth century financier must
be a statesman, so the twentieth century
labor leader must be a statesman, too. He.
too, must consider the peoples thought.
He, too must measure popular tendencies.
He, TOO, must counsel no act without
weighing the effect that act will have
throughout the whole complicated machin-
cry of related and interdependent indus
tries. And such craftsmanship is being
evolved. A man cannot long remain the
head of one of the great armies of organ
lied workers without developing powers of
conservatism. Necessity teaches him the
value of moderation When he feels his
hand upon the lever that directs the move
ments of a hundred thousand toilers, his
awful responsibility inStructS him in the
value of self-restraint. The events of the
last two years have proved that the direct
ing heads of two of the greatest labor
trusts are conservative counseors. Their
number will increase. More and more the
organizations of labor will insist that their
leaders shall be men of thought slow to
wrath, steady in action. More and more,
they will come TO appreciate that a leader
is none the less loyal because he is wise
How majestic is the majesty of modera-
ton!
TARIFF REIMBURSEMENT.
These are the aggressive tendencies of
the times when the calm of Washington
counsels prudence, self-restraint, the hold
ing we'll in hand of the peoples thought
and action by the people themselves. And
there are retrogressive tendencies as we'll
to which the spirit of Washington equally
applies. The fanaticism of existing condi-
tions is the reverse of the shield. 1t Is as
unreasoning to say that an outgrown law
shall not be modified as ii is to say that i'm
mature statutes shall be enacted One is
the hysteria of precedent: the other is the
hySteria of alarm. Men say Down with the
tariff. Men say Maintain the tariff or
You both are wrong-adjust the tariff to
conditions. Tariff merely for protection is
no fetish; tariff for mere revenue is no God
No system of taxation is sacred. 1t is mere
ly a means to an end or many ends. 1t is
not an end in ITSELF This is the voice of
and soberness.
Even self-government is not an end In
itself. 1t is a means TO end With Anglo
Saxon peoples self-government is the
means to the end of individual and collect
i've human happiness. And all the laws of
self-governing peoples just that and
nothing more. Tariff laws are no exception
If they are wise, they grow out Of condi-
tions; and so they become unwise when the
conditions out of which such laws have
grown. have themselves outgrown the
laws. When this becomes true. such laws
need readiuStment me very Same raa-