The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-26

gent and SaneSt way. We founded our re-
public on the theory that the average man
will as a rule, do the right thing, that
in the long run the majority are going TO
decide for what is sane and wholesome.
III our fathers were mistaken in that the
ory II ever the mass Of the people do what
IL unwholesOme. what is wrong, then the
republic cannot stand. care not how good
its laws. | care not IN what marvellous
mechanism its constitution may be
bodied Back OF the law, back OF the ad-
ministratiOn. back Of our system Of gov
eminent lies the average manhood OF our
people. In the long we are going TO
go up or go down, according as the average
standard of our citizenship does or does not
wax in growth and grace.
GOOD CITIZENSHIP.
Now when We come TO the question of
good citizenship the first requisite is that
the man shall do the homely. everyday,
hum-drum duties we'll. man is not
good citizen. / do not care how lofty his
thoughts are about citizenship in the alb
stract, If in the concrete his actions do
not bear them out, and ii does not make
much difference how high his aspirations
for mankind at large are. If he does not
behave well in his own family those aspira-
tions are not going TO bear very visible
fruit. He has got to be good breadwin-
ner; he mas got TO take care OF MS Wiz
and children; he has got TO be enlShDoT
whom his neighbors can trust; he has got
to act squarely In his business relations
In fact, he has got TO do all those every
day, ordinary things, or he Is not a good
citizen.
But he must do more than that. In this
country of ours the average citizen mas
got TO devote a good deal OF thought ana
time to the affairs of the state as a whole
or those affairs going TO go backwards;
That time must be devoted steadily ana
intelligently. If there is any one quality
which is not admirable whether in a nation
a a N <
or woman who makes up for ten days IN
difference TO duty by eleven days morold
repentance about that indifference Is OF
very scant use in the world.
Now in the same way 1t is of no posi-
bic TO decline TO go through all the
ordinary duties OF citizenship for long
space of time and then suddenly get up ana
feel angry about something or somebody
not clearly defined in ones mind and de-
mand reform as If it were a concrete sub
stance and could be handed out forthwith.
Now this Is preliminary TO what want
TO say to you about this whole question OF
corporations as affecting the public. There
are very many and very difficult problems
with which we are faced as one of the re-
suits of the forces which. taken all To-
gether, we speak of progress.
Il want laws TO enable us 10 deal with
it, no matter what shape it takes. l want
to see the government able to get at II
definitely. so that the action of the govern
men cannot be evaded by any turning
within or without federal or state statutes.
troll over a big corporation which does
business in more than one State. Frequent
ly the corporation has nothing whatever
to do with the State in which it Is incor-
porated except to get incorporated, and its
actions may be taken in entirely different
mmunities-cOmmunities which may OBJ
ject very much to the methods of incorpora-
ton in the State named. L do not think
you can get action by any State, action by
all the States, that will give us satisfactory
control of the trusts or big corporations,
md h sent hat hoy a
a great, powerful, artificial creation, which
has no creator to which 1t is responsible.
"Of course. it is mere truism that the
corporation is the creature OF the State;
that the State is sovereign. Now | want
to make a real and not a nominal sover-
eign; to have to some one sovereign to
which the corporation shall be really, and
not nominally. responsible.
AT the present, If we pass laws nobody
can tell whether they Will amount TO any
thing. Now that has two bad effects. In
the first place, the corporation becomes
Indifferent to the lawmaking body and in
the next place, gentlemen, the lawmaking
body gets into that most pernicious Gus
TO what will be done under ii, but with
reference TO its effect on the opinions of
the voters. That is a bad thing. When
any body of lawmakers passes a law not
solely with reference to whether that law
will do good i'll with the knowledge that
not much Will come of IL and yet that
perhaps the people, as a whole will likely
]
for the lawmakers and it does not speak
very well for the people either What
hope to see is power given to the national
legislature which shall make the control
real. Ii would be an excellent thing If we
! could have all the States act on somewhat
similar lines, so that ii would be unneces-
! sary for the national government to act
! but all of you know perfectly well the
! States will not act on somewhat similar
| lines.
Nothing has been done in the direction
/ dealing
| collective body with these great corpora
/ lions. Here in Massachusetts you have
| what | regard as on the whole, excellent
corporation laws. j think that most of oul
difffculties-here again remember l am not
! promising the millennium-it is not in my
/ power to promise it-would be in fail
way of solution if we had the power to put
on the national statue books and did pu
/ on them laws for the Nation much like you
! have here on the subject of corporation:
! in Massachusetts.
NATIONAL CONTROL NEEDED.
$50 you can see, gentlemen, 1 am not ad
vocating anything very revolutionary. L an
advocating action to prevent anything rev
dictionary. Now, if we can get adequate
control by the Nation of those corpora
tions, then we can pass legislation which
will give US the power of regulation anC
supervision over them. If the Nation had
that power, mind you, 1 should advocat,
as strenuously as 1 knew how that tina
power should be exercised with extreme
caution and self-restraint No good vii
come from plunging in without having
| looked carefully ahead.
! THE first thing we want is publicity, anC
do not mean publicity favor by some
corporations. l mean it as a right from
/ all corporations affected by the law | wan
] publicity to the essential facts in which
/ the public has an interest. / want th'
! knowledge given TO the accredited repre-
sentatives of the people, of facts which
| those representatives can, If they see fit
base their actions later. The publicit,
/ itself would cure many evils. Some o
! these things l have said can be done now
| y good deal is being done now. AS far al
! the antitrust laws go they will be en-
/ forced. No suit will be undertaken for thu
| sake of seeming to undertake il. Ever
| suit that is undertaken will be begun be
| whom we are so fortunate TO have as at
! torney general, Mr.. Knox, believes tina
| there is a violation of the law which W
can get at and when the suit Is under
/ taken it won't be compromised excepting
! on the basis that the government wins
1t is worse than useless for any of N
/ to rail at or regret the great growth II
industrial civilization OF the last half cen
| tury. Speaking accidentally we can, &C
| cOrding TO our several temperaments re
| gard that the old lights have vanished o
/ not as we choose. Boston and the thrivinj
/ cities of Massachusetts have been built "a
as a result Of these forces There is bu
/ little in regretting that things haV
| not shaped themselves differently. Tn
| pratical thing to do Is to face the cOndi
| tons as they are and see II we cannot ge
| the best there is in them out Of them
| We are not going to get any complete o
! perfect solution for all of the evils whcl
| come TO our minds when We think OF tn