The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1902-12-12

unbounded prosperity. This prosperity
is not the creature of law, but undoubt-
edly the laws under which we work have
been instrumental in creating the condi-
tions which made 1t possible, and by un-
wise legislation 1t would be easy enough
TO destroy it. There will undoubtedly
Dc periods of depression. The wave will
recede; but the tide will advance. This
nation is seated on continent f1anked
by two great oceans. 1t is composed
OF men the descendants of pioneers, or
fn a sense. pioneers themselves: of men
winnowed out from among the nations
of the old world by the energy. boldness.
and love of adventure found In their own
eager hearts. Such a nation. SO placed,
Will surely wreSt success from fortune.
AS @ people we have played a large
part in the world and we are bent upon
making our future even larger than the
past. In particular. the events of the last
four years have definitely decided that,
for woe or for veal, our place must be
great among the nations. We may either
fail greatly or succeed greatly; but we
cannot avoid the endeavor from which
either great failure or great success
must come. Even IL we would, we can
not play small part. If we should try,
all that would follow would be that we
should play a large part ignobly and
shamefully.
plane of material well-beng than ours
at the present moment. This well-being
is due to no sudden accidental causes.
but to the play of the economic forces
in this country for over century; to
our laws. our sustained and continuous
policies; above all, to the high individ-
ual average of our citizenship. Great
fortunes have been won by those who
have taken the lead in this phenomenal
industrial development. and most of these
fortunes have been won not by doing
,evil, but as an incident to action which
has benefited the community as a whole.
Never before has material well-being
been so widely dffused among our peo-
pie Great fortunes have been accum-
.ulated and yet in the aggregate these
fortunes are small indeed when COM
pared to the wealth of the people as
whole. The plain people are better off
than they have ever been before. The
Insurance companies, which are prac-
tically mutual benefit societies-especially
helpful to men of moderate meanS-rep-
resent accumulations of capital which are
among the largest in this country. There
are more deposits in the savings banks,
more owners of farms. more well-paid
wage workers in this country now than
ever before in our history. Of course,
when the conditions have favored the
growth of so much that was good, they
of what was evil. 1t is eminently neces-
sary that we should endeavor to cut out
this evil but let us keep a due sense OF
proportion: let us not in fixing our gaze
upon the lesser evil forget the greater
good. The evils are real and some OF
them are menacing, but they are the
outgroWth not of misery or deCadence,
but of prosperity-of the progress of our
gigantic industrial development. This
industrial development must not be
checked but side by side with it should
go such progressive regulation as Will
diminish the evils. We should fall IN
our duty if we did not try to remedy the
evils but we shall succeed only If we
proceed patiently. with practical common
sense as well as resolution, separating
the good from the bad and holding on to
the former while endeavoring TO get rid
OF the latter.
National Action to Control Trusts.
In my message to the present Congress
at its first session l discussed at length
the question of the regulation of those
big corporations commonly doing an in
terstate business, often with some ten
dency to monopoly. which are popularity
known as trusts. The experience of the
past year has emphasized, in my opin-
ion the desirability of the steps l then
proposed fundamental base of civil
ization is the inviolability of property;
but this is in no wise inconsistent with
the right of society to regulate the eX-
ercise Of the artificial powers which it
confers upon the owners of property, un-
der the name Of corporate franchises in |
such q way as to prevent the misuse |
of these powers. Corporations, and eSpe-
cially combinations of corporations, |
should be managed under public regula- |
tion. Experience has shown that under |
our system of government the necessary |
ha q
action 1t must therefore be achieved |
by national action Our aim is not to do |
away with corporations; on the contrary, |
these big aggregation are an inevitable |
development of modern induStrialism, and |
the effort to destroy them would be futile |
unless accomplished in ways that would |
work the utmost mischief to the entire |
body polite. We can do nothing Of good |
in the way of regulating and supervising |
these corporations until we fix clearly in |
our minds that we are not attacking the |
corporations. but endeayoring to do away |
with any evil in them. We are not hos
tile to them: we are merely determined /
that they shall be so handled as to sub |
serve the public good. We draw the line
against misconduct not against wealth.
The capitalist who. alone or in conjunc-
lion with his fellows. performs some |
great industrial feat by which he wins
money is q welldoer, not a wrongdoer
nrOVl0e0 only he VOTES III proper ana
legitimate lines. We wish to favor such |
a man when he does we'll We wish to
supervise and control his actions only to
prevent him from doing i'll. Publicity
can do no harm to the honest corpora
tion: and we need not be overtender
about sparing the dishonest corporation.
The Necessity for Care.
In curbfng and regulating the combina
tions of capital which are or may become
Injurious to the public we must be careful |
not to stop the great enterprises which
have legitimately reduced the cost of pro-
d,iction. not to abandon the place which
our country has won in the leadership of
the international industrial world. not to
strike down wea 'th with the result OF
closing factories and mines. OF turning
the wage worker idle in the streets and
leaving the farmer without a market for
what he grows. Insistence upon the i'm
possible means delay In achieving the