Evening journal., 1902-08-27

winner: he has got to take care OF his
wife and children. he has got to be a
neighbor whom his neighbors can
trust: he has got to act squarely In his
business relations. In fact, he has got
to do all those everyday, ordinary
things or he is not a good citizen.
But he must do more than that. In
this country of ours the average citi-
zen has got to devote a great deal Of
thought and time to the affairs Of the
State as a whole or those affairs are
going to go backwards. That time
must be devoted steadily and intelli-
gently. If there is any one quality
which Is not admirable, whether in a.
nation or in an individual, 1t is hys-
terics The man or woman who makes
up for tencdays' Indifference to duty
by an eleven days morbid repentance
about that indifference is of vely scantI
use in the world.
"The practical thing to do is to face
the conditions as they are. and see i'll
We cannot get the best there is in them
out of them. We are not going to get
any complete or perfect solution for all
" NA' tNAAo iOilit W OuI lnlOUSl
when VIE think of the trusts by any
single action on our part. A good
many actions in good many different
ways will be required before we get
many OF those evils even partially rem
edied We have got to first of all think
clearly; we have got to, probably. ex-
pertinent somewhat We must, above
all, show by our actions that our in
terest Is permanent and not spasmodic.
and we have got to see that all the
steps are taken toward the solution.
Every one who thinks knows that the
only way in which any problem ofI
great Importance was ever successfully
solved was by consistent and persistent
effort toward a given end, effort that
ala not end with any one election OF
with any one year, but was continued
steadily temperately and resolutely.
when grent corporation is sued
for violating the antitrust law il is not
move against property; it is a move
IN tavor OF property because when you
can make il evident that all men, big
and small alike. have to obey the law.
you are putting the safeguard of law
around all men. When you make ii
evident that no man shall be excused
for violating the law you make it evil
dent that every man will be protected
from violation of the law. / am in
clined to think that much the greatest
trouble in any immediate handling of
the question OF the trust comes from
our system OF government.
Now when this government was
rounded there were no great individual
or corporate fortunes, and commerce
and industry were being carried on very
much as they had been from the days
when Ninevah and Babylon stood in
the Mesoptoamian Valley. The wagon
train and the pack train and the sail
ing craft-those were the methods of
commerce. Everything has been revo-
lutonized in the business world since
and the progress of civilization from
being a trickle has become a torrent
There was no particular thing at that
time to bother as to whether the ma
ton or the State had control of the
corporations They were easy TO con-
trcl. Now. however, the exact reverse
Is the case, and remember / say cor
porauons.' / do not say merely trusts.
merely combinations of corporations or
corporations under certain peculiar
conditions. For instance, some time
ago the Attorney General took action
against a certain trust There has been
considerable discussion as to whether
the trust aimed at would not seek to
get out from under the law by becom-
ing a single corporation.
Il want laws to enable us to deal
with it, no matter what shape IL takes.
want to see the Government able to
get at 1t definitely. so that the action
of the Government cannot be evaded
by any turning, within or without Fed
eral or State statutes. At present we
have really no efficient control over a
big corporation which does business
in more than one State Frequently
the corporation has nothing whatever
to do with the State in which il is in
leorporated, except to get incorporated,
and its actions may be taken in en-
irely different communication
ties which may object very much to
] the methods of incorporation in the
State named. / do not think you can
get action by any State, action by all
the States. that will give us satisfac-
tory control of the trusts or big cor
porations, and the result is at present
that we have a great powerful, arti.
fetal creation which has no creator x
} which it is responsible.
|.
Y What l hope to see is power give1
G to the National Legislature which shal
make the control real. 1t would be al
excellent Thing if we could have all tn,
P States act ON somewhat similar lines
n so that it would be unnecessary for tn
, National Government to act, but all O
you know perfectly we'll the States vii
not act on somewhat similar lines.
The first thing we want is pub
. licity and do not mean publicity as
favor by some corporations. / mean
as a right from all corporations affeci
ed by the law. want publicity as {
,r,l the essential facts in which the nrbll