Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-18
An EnaIish View.

| 1t would almost seem that President
Roosevelt was destined to play as great
a part in United States history as Lin
coin. The crisis which seems to be APP
preaching will. of course, be different
/ from the one with which Lincoln mac
to deal. but should it come, as APP
pears likely, it will not be less impor-
tant nor less far-reaching in its lnfiu-
ence President Lincoln had to lay
hold of and direct the strong popular
sentiment of the North against negro
slavery: President Roosevelt may find
it mis- mission to take hold of and direct
growing sentiment against the en-
slavement~of the whites by huge con-
scierlceless trusts and combines. Such
| a DEVELOPMENT certainly at present
| looks possible and almost probable.
Matters are trending in that direction.
| but whether they will ever. reach to so
definite and drastic an issue it is as yet
| impossible to foresee. The great trust
magnates may tone down their plans,
or they may set their backs up and
DEFY President Roosevelt and the feel
ing of the masses and of the middle
classes; or the trusts themselves may
upon further trial, show better quail
ties THAN lIOSt NHISI ~ idi SiooC O'-
servers deems to be inherent in their
nature. But in any case social and
industrial problem of the first magni-
tude awaits solution-London Daily
News.
The English perspective on American
affairs is usually distorted. and in this
case the London editor takes the
American trust problem much too seri-
ously. There is no foundation for the
comparison he makes The trusts do
not now and never will threaten the
dismemberment of the Union as did the
slavery problem which faced Lincoln.s
Even in the heat of a campaign very
few Americans indulge in such hyper-.
bole as the enslavement of the whites
bv huge, CONSCIOUSNESS trusts and COM
bines." Every intelligent man knows
that the white labor of this country Is
better paid, better fed. better clothed
and better educated than any other
labor in the world. Not only that, but
it is better in all these particulars than
it was. generation ago, or ever before
in our history. Moreover, the census
statistics prove that our trusts, good,
bad ana Indifferent, furnish but a
minor fraction of the industrial en-
ployment of the country, and are not
really a factor in fixing wages or condi-
tons of work.
Thus the London News somewhat
overestimates the danger which TINS
country has to fear from trusts, but
there is nevertheless much truth III
what it SAYS of President Roosevelt
and the part he is playing in putting
the American spirit of fair dealing into
the industrial conditions of the times
1t is inconsistent with our ideals and
our institutions that there should be an
insolence of wealth to curse our lana
as the OLD World is so often cursed by
the insolence of power. The pubic De
q snAnecI 2-sxid 2 --f9UonS sAperiSfvl
millionaire and it is spirit of that ut
terance which makes trust magnates
dangerous men. Against this attltuoe
our energetic President has. set himself
with characteristic courage and VIII
wage war to the end.
There is a danger but it is not great
one. and there is nothing in it to JUSTIFY
a comparison with the crisis of 40 years
ago. The trust problem will work II
GOLF ont without shaking in any degree
the foundations of the republic, ana
its solution will be fastened and the
rights of the public safely guarded
with Theodore Roosevelt in the cN-
ecutive chair.