Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-12-11

possible means delay in achieving the pos
S1bIe, exactly as, on the other hand, the
stubborn defense of what is good and
what is bad in the existing system, the
reSolute effort to obStruct any attempt at
betterment, betrays blindness to the his
toric truth that wise evolution is the sure
safeguard against revolution.
No more important subject can come
before the congress than this of the regu-
lation of interstate business. This coun-
try can not afford to sit supine on the
plea that under our peculiar system of
of government we are helpless in the pres
ence of the new conditions, and unable to
grapple with them or to cut out what
ever of evil has arisen in connection with
them. The power of the congress to regu-
late interstate commerce is an absolute
and unqualified grant, and without limi-
tations other than those prescribed by the
Constitution. The congress has constitu-
uonal authority to make all laws nece-
ssary and proper for executing this power,
and I am satisfied that this power has
not been exhausted by any legislation
now on the statute books. 1t is evident,
therefore, that evils restrictive of COM
mercial freedom and entailing restrain
upon national commerce fall within the
regulative power of the congress, and
that a wise and reasonable law would be
necessary and proper exercise of con-
gressional authority to the end that such
evils SnOuIQ De eraO1caCeQ.
I believe that monopolies, unjust dis
ordinations, which sprevent or cripple
competition, fraudulent overcapitaliza-
ton, and other evils in trust organizations
and practices which injuriously affect in
terstate trade can be prevented under the
power of the congress to regulate COM
merce with foreign nations and among the
several states through regulations and
requirements operating directly upon such
commerce, the inStrumentalitieS thereof,
and those engaged therein.
I earnestly recommend this subject to
the consideration of the congress with a
view to the passage OF a law reasonable
in its provisions and effective in it's OPP
erations, upon which the questions can be
finally adjudicated that now raise doubts
as to the necessity Of constitutional
amendment. If it prove impossible to ac-
complish the purposes above set forth by
such a law, then, assuredly, we should
not shrink from amending the constitution
so as to secure beyond Peradventure the
power sought.
any appropriation for the better enforce
ment of the antitrust law as 1t now
stands. Very much has been done by the
department Of justice in securing the en-
forcement of this law, but much more
could be done if congress would make a
special appropriation for this purpose, to
be expended under the direction of the
attorney general
The Tariff Question.
One proposition advocated has been the
reduction of the tariff a means Of
reaching the evils of the trusts which fall
within the category I have described.
Not merely would this be wholly inefect-
i've, but the diversion of our efforts in
such a direction would mean the aban-
Comment of all intelligent attempt to do
away with these evils. Many of the larg-
est corporations, many of those which
should certainly be included in any prop
er scheme of regulation, would not be
effected in the slightest degree by a
change in the tariff, save as such change
interferred with the general prosperity of
the country. The only relation of the
tariff to big corporations as a whole is
that the tariff makes manufactures profit
able, and the tariff remedy proposed
would be in effect simply to make manu-
features Improbable. To remove the tar
iff as a punitive measure directed against
trusts would inevitably result in ruin to
Cling against them. Our aim should be
not by unwise tariff changes to give for
eign products the advantage over domeS-
tic products. but by proper regulation to
give domestic competition a fair chance;
and hits end can not be reached by any
tariff changes which would affect unfav-
orably all domestic competitors, good and
bad alike. The question of regulst ton OF
the trusts stands apart from the question
of tariff revision. Stability of economic
ic need of this country. This stability
should not be fossilization. The country
has acquiesced in the wisdom of the pro-
tective-tariR principle. 1t is exceedingly
undesirable that this system should be
destroyed or that there should be violent
and radical changes therein. Our past ex-
perience shows that great prosperity in
this country has always come under g
protective tariff; and thai the country car
not prosper under fitful tariff changes al
shout intervals. Moreover, if the tarif1
laws as a whole work well, and if business
has prospered under them and is pros
pering, it is better to endure for a time
slight inconvenience and inequalities in
some schedules than to upset business by
too quick and too radical changes. It is
most earnestly to be wished that we could
treat the tariff from the standpoint sole
" of our business needs 1t is, perhaps
too much to hope that partisanship may
be entirely excluded from consideration OF
the subject. but at least it can be made
secondary to the business interests OF the
countfy-that is. to the interests Of oul
business interests will be served If to
gether with hxity Of principle as regard:
| the tariff we combine system which
will permit US from time to time to max,
the necessary reapplication Of the princi
pie to the shifting national needs. We
| must take scrupulous care that the re
applica ton shall be made in such a way
| that 1T will not amount to a dislocation o.
| our system, the mere threat of which Ono
| TO speak of the performance would pro
| duce paralysis in the business energies o.
| the community. The first consideration II
making these changes would, of course
\ be to preserve the principle which under
| lies our whole tariff system-that is. tn,
! principle of putting American business
interests at least on a full equality witt
interests abroad, and of always allowing
/ sufficient rate Of duty to more thai
cover the difference between the labo
cost here ano abroad The weH-being o
: the wage-worker, like the well-being o