The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-24
STATE MUST CONTROL THE
GIGANTIC CORPORATIONS

lCTs OH MANY dCCOuHtSs Tic Olu StiiuA-
tons Of life under which the average
man lived more to himself and by him.
self, when the average community was
more Self-dependent and where, even
though the standard of comfort was
lower on the average, yet there was less
of the glazing inequality in worldly con-
ditions which we now see in our great
cities.
Poor are Not Poorer.
1T 10 not true that the poor have
grown poorer, but some of the rich have
grown so very much richer that where
multitudes of men are herded together in
limited space the contrast strikes the
onlooker as more violent than formerly.
On the whole, our people live better than
ever before, and the progress of which
we are so proud could not have taken
place had it not been for the great up
building of industrial centers such as our
commercial and manufacturing cities.
But together with the good there has
come a measure of evil. Life Is not so
simple as it was and surely. both for the
individual and the community, the simple
life Is normally the healthy life. There is
not in the cities the same sense of COM
mon underlying brotherhood which there
is still in country localities, and the lines
of social cleavage are far more clearly
marked.
For some of the evils which have at
tended upon the good of the changed con-
ditions we can at present see no complete
remedy. For others the remedy must
come by the action of men themselves In
their private capacity whether merely as
individuals or by combination or other
wise. For yet others some other remedy
can be found in legislative and executive
tofa irin nal
of the complaint against combinations is
entirely unwarranted. Under present day
conditions it is as necessary to have cor
porations in the business world as 1t Is
to have organization among wage work.
ers. But we have a right to ask in each
case that they shall do good and not
harm.
Exactly as labor organizations. when
managed intelligently and in spirit of
justice and fair play, are of very great
service not only to the wage-earners, but
to the whole community; as the history
of many labor organizations has con-
clusiveIy shown so wealth, not merely in
dividual, but corporate, when used Alright,
is not merely a benefit to the community
as a whole, but indispensable to the up
building of the country. upon the condi-
tions. which the country at present has
as normal. This is so obvious that it
seems trite even to state 1t, and yet If
we are to JUICE from some of the argu-
ments advanced against and attacks made
upon wealth as such, 1t is a fact worth
keeping in mind.
When Fortune in a Menace.
"A great fortune If not used Alright,
makes its possessor in peculiar sense
a menace to the community as a whole.
just as a great intellect does, If it is I'M
accompanied by developed conscience, by
char acter. ...
"But obviously, this no more affords
grounds for condenning wealth than II
does for condemning intellect. Every
man of power, by the very fact of that
power, is capable of doing damage to his
neighbors. but we cannot afford to dis
courage the development of such men
merely because it is possible they may
use their power to wrong ends.
"If we did so we should leave our his
tory a blank, for we should nave no
great men of art of letters or of science.
Doubtless, on the average, the most use
full man to his fellow citizen is apt to be
he to whom has been given what the
Psalmist prayed for, neither poverty nor
riches but the great captain OF industry
the man of wealth who, alone or in COM
OlnaIlOn WITH HIS IcilO"os NiiNNS t''i NO -
our great business enterprises, is factor
without which this country is not posi-
bly able to maintain its present industry
nosition in the world, Good. not harm
normally, comes from the piling up OF
wealth through business enterprises
Probably the most serious harm re-
suits to us, the people or moderate
means, and we harm ourselves by letting
the dark and evil vices of envy ano
hatred towards our fellows eat into oui
natures.
Supervise the Trusts.
still there is other harm Of more
evident kind and such harm IT Is our
clear duty to try to eradicate. If possible
and in any event to minimize. The cor
porations. and, therefore, those great cor
porations containing some tendency 10
mononolize which we have grown to
sneak of rather loosely as trusts are
the creatures of the Stae, and the state
not only has the right to control them
hit is in duty bound to control them
wherever the need for such control Is
shown. There is clearly a need of superVl-
sion-need to- exercise the power of regu-
Iation on the part Of the representatives
of the public wherever, as in our owr
country at the present time, business cor
porations become so very strong botf
beneficent work and for work that is moi
always bsneficent.
TT is idle to say that there is no need
for such supervision. A sufficient warrant
for it is to be found over and ovel
again in any of the various evils re-
sulting from the present system or rather
lack of system,
There is in our country peculiar dlt'
fculty in the way of exercising such SUI
pervision and control because of the pc
cuiiar division of governmental power
| When the industrial conditions were sim
| pie, very little control was needed anC
no trouble was caused by the doubt a!
| to where power was lodged under tn
Constitution. Now the conditions are com
| plicated, and we find IT difficult to franz
national legislation which shall be ade
| quate, while a matter of practical eX
| perence, State action has proved entire
ly insufficient and in all human proba
| bility cannot or will not be made sufFi
! cient to meet the needs of the case, SOM
| Of our States have excellent laws, law
which it would he well indeed to hav,
| enacted ny the National Legislature Blu
| the wide differences in these laws ever
| between adjacent States and the uncer
/ tainty of the power of enforcement resu
practically in altogether insufficient con
| troll
Il believe that the nation must ASSUME
this power of control by legislation ant
if it becomes evident that the Constitution
will not permit needed legislation, thel
| by constitutional amendment
THE immediate need in dealing Wit
trusts is to place them under the real
not nominal control of some sovereign. t.
which, as its creature, the trusts shall
owe allegiance, and in whose courts tn
sovereign orders may with certainty b
enforced This is not the case with tn
ordinary so-called trust" today, for tn