River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-12-25
PRESIDENT INGALLS,.
Watterson Lauds Head of the Big
Four Railway.
a Recent Number of the Louis
willie Courier-JOurnaI.

current outlook in the United States
from the president of the Big -Four
railway system, which, says Mr.. Wat
terson, in the Louisville Courler-Jour-
nal, is so suggestive, and drawn upon
lines SO JeffersOnian, as to invite the
serious attention of intelligent readers
and to justify more than passing COM
5nent. Mr.. Ingalls, is a democrat.
Born, like SO many successful Amer
leans, farmers boy, he has merged
the man of affairs enough with the
man of books to evolve in one and the
same personality both the thinker and
the actor upon the stage OF real life.
Whatever he says is weighty because
it springs from mind richly endowed
and highly trained, and fortified by
varied experience.
In this latest contribution to the res
ervoir of contemporary thought, Mr..
ingalls, recognizes the reVolutlonlzed
elements no less than the mo-
mentous problems with which we have
to deal. Upon the very threshold of
the new century, as he clearly points
out, political events and business con-
ditions are crowding each other so fast
that we stop and wonder what is to
happen next. New developments, new
methods, new conditions, new obhga-
tions, are upon us. To many the clouds
in the horizon have an angry look ana
they fear for the future of the nation.
While optimists, like Mr. ingalls,, may
not share their fears, they agree that
the national safety depends upon the
virtue and integrity of our citizens,
and it is just as well to look the SIT
uation over and make up our minds
as to what should be done to meet the
danger, if there be any. In fact, there
is nothing better for an individual or
a community than to stop and think.
We rush along in our mad race, need
less of the future. To many people the
close of the nineteenth century and
the opening of the twentieth is not
full of promise for the higher ideals
of life; it seems to them that every
thing is being sacrificed to the desire
of getting rich; that religion, con-
science, truth and virtue are at dis
count, and the world only thinks of
who will win in the race of piling up
millions 1t is certainly a time for
serious thought. Heretofore we have
been a nation in isolation, a law unto
ourselves, but fast ships, cables, the
intercourse of people, the demands OF
commerce, circumstances over which
we had no control have forced us from
this position and we stand forth to-
day full grown and compelled to take
our share of the responsibilities of the
world.
The crisis, as Mr.. ingalls, shows, is
upon us. Our fleets and armies are in
the orient; we are in possession of
new lands and countries; we stand, as
it were, sponsor for all the republics
and nations of North and South Amer
lea. When President Cleveland took
his stand in the Venezuela case and the
country supported him we were COM
mitted to certain duties and RESPONSE
bilities in reference to all our neigh
bors, and we cannot get away from
them. The Spanish war and subse-
quent negotiations placed on us the
burden of controlling and developing
other countries.
In connection with these imminent
and overwhelming international issues,
as Mr.. Ingalls, proceeds to show, we
are confronted with further serious
question, which is continually raised
and which must be considered-the
struggle between capital and labor
The organization of the most immense
trusts or corporations ever known has
brought this to the front. Certainly
there are grave issues to be settled by
us as a people and as nation. Are
we prepared to assume all these re-
sponsibilities and can we successfully
manage them and still maintain our
republic, still preserve ga government
of the people, for the people and by the
people?"
We quote the following:
'Ts there danger in the future from the
great business combinations that are now
being made-from the trusts? You hear it
on every street corner. At every gathering
men are inquiring and discussing it. Has
the struggle between capital and labor
actually commenced, and is the conflict
irrepressible? My observation in the last
25 years has been that labor has steadily
won. and capital lost in the struggle which
always exists more or less. The compen-
sation of labor has constantly risen, the
cost of the necessities of life has de-
creased. On the other hand, the earnings
of capital have grown less and less each
year, and the responsibility and trouble of
keeping it employed has increased. The
rate of interest in this country is only about
one-half what it was 25 years ago. A citizen
who retired from business then and de-
cided to live on his income is to-day in COM
paratively poor circumstances In other
words, if he has stood still he has seen
the interest upon his capital cut in two
while his expenses have at the best stood
still.
Capital has been able to exist and in
crease only when it has been actively en-
ployed, anG if it has been active, it has
had to employ labor in order TO exist. Our
law of equal distribution of estates and
the prevention of entails scatters wealth
About the only large estate in this coun-
try to-day that | recall which will not be
separated and divided among heirs is Car
negie's, and it looks as though he might
divide that up himself. 1t is rarely that
large estates last long in republic. Chill
dren left with large wealth soon dissipate
it. The saying that it is only three genera
tionS from the millionaire ID the clerk in
shirt sleeves is generally true. and it is
we'll for society and for the nation that it
is true.
Has the danger to labor increased by
the organization of the vast combinations
Of to-day? The trust is no new danger
It is an aggre cation Of capital under new
name. Ii may be a greater one. but il is
only a large cCrporat.on-the outgrowth Of
business and competition. How 20 control
it IS the question
Publicity and taxation. all agree, is one
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