The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-09-13

cast Approximately 40 per cent Of the
total vote refuses to put In It's plat
form any statement that the question
ii settled. A determination to remain
silent cannot be accepted as equivalent
to d recantatlon.
As for what our opponents say IN
reference to capital and labor, individ-
uai or corporate. here again all we
need By way OF answer is to point to
what we have actually done and to say
that If continued In power we shall
continue to carry out the policy we
have been pursuing and to execute the
laws as resolutely and fearlessiy In the
future as we have executed them In
the past.
The Trusts.
lsn The action Of the attorney general IN
enforcing the antitrust and interstate
| commerce laws and the action Of the
| last congress In enlarging the scope Of
| the interstate commerce law and in
| creating the department Of commerce
| and labor, with bureau Of corpora
| tions. have for the first time opened
| chance for the national government to
! deal intelligently and adequately with
| the questions affecting society. wheth-
er for good or for evil. because OF the
accumulation Of capital In great corpo
lfations and because OF the new rela-
lions caused thereby. These laws are
now being administered with entire ef-
| ficiency, and as in their working need
| is shown for amendment or addition to
] them, whether better to secure the
| proper publicity or better to guarantee
| the rights of shippers or In any other
! direction, this need will be met
! 1t Ii now asserted shat the common
/ law as developed affords a complete
legal remedy against monopolies." But
| there Is no common law Of the United
| States. Its rules can be enforced only
by the state courts and officers, No
i federal court or officer could take any
| action whatever under them. 1t was
this fact, coupled with the inability Of
| the states to control trusts and monop
olies, which led to the passage Of the
| federal statutes known as the Sher-
1 man antitrust net and the interstate
commerce act, and it Is only through
the exercise OF the powers conferred by
these acts and by the statutes Of the
last congress supplementing them that
the national government acquires any
jurisdiction over the subject TO say
that action against trusts and monopo
lies should be limited to the applica-
.tion OF the common law Is equivalent
to saying that the national government
should take no action whatever to reg
lsulate them.
4 Undoubtedly the multiplication Of
trusts and their increase in power have
been largely due to the ."failare OF OIL
cinls charged with the duty Of enforc-
/ ing the law to take the necessary pro-
cedure." Such structure upon the fail
ura Of the officials Of the national gov
| ernment to do their duty In this mat
ter is certainly not wholly undeserved
as far as the administration preceding
| President McKinley's e concerned. but
II has no application at all to Repub-
lican administration. It is also un-
doubtedly true that what is most need
ed is officials having both the dispo-
sition and the courage to enforce exist
ing law" This Is precisely the need
that has been met by the consistent
and steadily continued action Of the
department Of justice under the pres
ent administration.
Capital and Labor.
/ So far as the rights Of the individual
wage worker and the individual capi-
talist are concerned, both as regards
one another. as regards the public and
as regards organized capital and la
Dor, the position OF the administration
has been SO clear that there Is no ex-
cuse for misrepresenting Il and no
| ground for opposing 1t unless misrep-
resented Within the limits defined by
the national constitution the national
administration has sought to secure to
each man the full enjoyment Of his
right to live his life and dispose Of his
! property and his labor as he deems
| best SO long as he wrongs no one else.
| It has shown in effective fashion that
| in endeavoring to make good this guar
| antee 1t treats all men, rich or poor,
| whatever their creed, their color or
| their birthplace. as standing alike be-
! fore the law.
| Under our form Of government the
| sphere in which the nation as distin-
| guished from the state can act is mar
/ rowly circumscribed, but within that
| sphere all that could be done has been
| done. All thinking men are aware OF
the restriction upon the power Of ac-
| ton OF the national government In
such matters. Being ourselves mind
! ful OF them, we have been scrupulously
| careful on the one hand to be mod
1 crate IN our promises and on the other
! hand 70 keep these promises in letter
| and In spirit. Our opponents have
been hampered BY no such considera-
| lions. They have promised and many
/ of them now promise action which
| they could by no possibility take in the
! exercise Of constitutional power and
| which IL attempted would bring bust
| ness to a standstill. They have used
| and often now use language Of wild
! invectiye and appeal to all the baser
passions which tend to excite one set
| OF Americans against their fellow
/ Americans. and vet whenever they
have had power they have fttingly
| supplemented this extravaganza OF
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