Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-09-04
ROOSEVELT AND LITTLEFiElp
New York Comfnercial.l

| That President Roosevelt should
have commissioned Representative
Littlefeld Of Maine to draw up bill
for the supervision or regulation OF
corporations, and TO practically take
charge of its passage in the House at
the next session as the accredited
agent or spokesman OF the Admins.
tration. will in one way excite little or
no surprise in the public mind. The
successor OF Nelson Dingley in Con-
gressNis constitutional lawyer with
a reputation reaching beyond his own
district and State; he has been Attor.
ney General Of Maine; and he has
shown on more than one occasion and
In more Than one way that he not only
has brains in a level head" but pos.
sesses many elements Of legislative
leadership along with a measure Of
personal independence and fearless
ness that mark him as among the
coming men" In our Government az
fairs, barring political and other acct.
dents.
But the Maine Congressman has not
the conservative ground Of the Presi.
dent In this matter Of trust" legisla.
ton. The formers deliverance in his
first message is well remembered. His
latest at Pittsburg on Friday last
shows no variation in his attitude TO.
ward the question. He said, amSng
other things:
I'VE have great problems. We can
only solve them by degrees. We can
only solve them by doing well each
particular bit Of work as II comes up
for solution. Much can be done along
the lines Of supervision and regulation
OF the great industrial combinations
which have become so marked a feat.
ure in our civilization, but II we reck.
lessly try without proper thought.
without proper caution, to do too much
we shall do nothing. or else we shall
work a ruin that will be felt most
acutely among those Of our citizens
who are most helpless"
Briefly, the President has no sym.
patty with the antitrust" contingent
the men who want to do things" TO
the big corporations merely for the
sake of doing them and for their own
political advertisement; he would leg.
islate on this subject with the great
est caution. with the utmost delibera-
ton. Mr. Littlefield, as we have init.
mated before now, has at times betray-
ed slight touches Of trustphobia. 1t
10. h.. kt ha. ha In.
troduced early In the last session pro.
viding for compulsory publicity in the
affairs Of corporations engaged in in
terstate commerce. That measure
was. In our opinion, the best OF all on
that subject that got into the Congress.
sional hopper at the last session
never to get out again. But. incident.
ally in the course Of debate, Mr.. Little.
field has shown himself occasionally
to hold rather radical views on some
points involving the relations OF the
Government and the corporations.
They crept out in the final debate on
the Philippines BILL for instance. He
was insistent on the restriction Of cor
porations in the matter Of real estate
holdings in the islands-unnecessarily
SO, as II seems to us; and casual state.
ments in that connection now possess
added significance. Here is one OF
them:
IL will say TO the gentleman from
Connecticut so far as am concerned
!. ! am opposed to any corporation un
dertaking to own stock In other com
panies, for that is the familiar method
' OF forming trusts, and | am opposed tC
that as a general proposition"
Are We TO assume that the Presi
dent Of the United States would &c
that far in restricting the rights Of
corporations? Attorney General Kno,
hardly occupied such radical GROUND
in his institution OF the Northern Sc
. curities suits. II the limited legisla
tion that the President would nov
. have is 10 embrace ideas like that JUS
V quoted from the Maine Congressman
we shall not look for the Lhtlfeld bill
to get a passage in the House.