The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-04

rive a portion of their importance from the existence of some monopolistic tend ency. The right should be exercised with caution and self-restraint; but it should should exist so that it may be invoked if need arises"
 Quotes Himself Again.
 Last fall in speaking at Cincinnati I said:
 lhe necessary supervision and control In which I firmly believe as the only method of eliminating the real evils of the trusts, must come through wisely and cautiously framed legislation which shall aim In the first place to give definite con- trol some sovereign over the great cor porations, and which shall be followed when once this power has been conferred by system giving to the government the tull Knowledge which is the essential for satisfactory action. Then, when this knowledge-one of the essential features Of which is proper publicity-has been gained, what further steps of any kind are necessary can be taken with the con- fidence born of the possession of power to deal with the subject, and of a. thorough knowledge of what should and can be done In the matter. We need ad- ditional power, and we need knowledge Such egislation-whether obtaIn- able now or obtainable only after a con- sutulonal amendment-should provide for reasonable supervision, the most promi- nent feature of which at first should be publicity; that is, the making public both to the government authorities and to the people at large, the essential facts In which the public Is concerned This would give us exact knowledge of many points which are now not only in douht put the subject of fierce controversy moreover. the mere fact of the publica- tlon would cure some very grave evils, Tor the light of day Is a deterrent to wrongdoing. It would doubtless disclose other evils with which, for the time be- ing, we could devise no way to pran. pie Finally, 1t would disclose others which could be grappled with and cured by further legislative action."
 In my message to congress for 1901 I said:
 Tn the interest of the whole people the nation should, without interferine with the power of the states in the mat ter itself also assume power of super- vision and regulation over all corpora tions doing an interstate business"
 The views thus expressed have now re- ceived effect by the wise, conservative, and yet far-reaching legislation enacted by congress at it's last session
 In it's wisdom congress enacted the very important law providing a department of commerce and labor, and further proyid- ing therein under the secretary of com merce and labor for a commissioner of corporations, charged with the duty of supervision of and of making intelligent investigation into the organization and conduct of corporations engaged in inter- state commerce. His powers to expose H. legal or hurtful practices and to obtain all information needful for the purposes of further intelligent legislation seem adequate; and the publicity justihable and proper for public purposes is satis- factorily guaranteed. The law was pass ed at the very end of the session of con gress. Owing to the lateness of it's pass age congress was not a.Ie to provide proper equipment for the new depart ment; and the first few months must ne- cessarily be spent in the work of organ ization, and the first investigations must necessarily be of a tentative character. me satisfactory development of such a system requires time and great labor. lhose who are intrusted with the admin istration of the new law will assuredlv administer it in spirit of abssolute fair ness and Justice and of entire fearless ness, with the firm purpose not to hurt any corporation doing a legitimate bus- iness-on the contrary to help it-and on the other hand, not to spare any cornora .pii i "hion may pc suilty Of Illegal prac- tices, or the methods of which may make it menace to the public welfare sone substantial good will be done in the i'm mediate future; and as the department gets fairly to work under the law an ever larger vista for good work will be onened along the lines indicated The enactment of this law is one of the most significant contributions which have been made in our time toward the proper solutuion of the problem of the relations to the people
 (Continued on Second Paoel