Bridgeton pioneer., 1904-06-23
REPUBLICAN PARTY
AND ITS WORK.

Editorially the Philadelphia Press
says:
Two tasks it has accomplished and
two problems it has solved. 1t freed
the slave and it has established Ameri-
can Industries. Both tasks are his
tory. They are done. The record is
made. No man can change it.
The problem of corporate control
remains. It shadows all else. He
mistakes greatly the temper of the
vast American public, which will this
year cast some $4,000 600 votes. who
does not understand that the over
whelming majority of Americans are
to-day more deeply interested in the
problem offered by the regulation and
control of corporations than any
other. Half the wealth of the coun-
try is to-day owned under corporate
titles. The worlds daily work is done
by them. Great fortunes spring from
them. and great fortunes are made
greater yet by their manipulation.
The very base and root of Populism,
Bryanism and all the other attaches
in the last fifteen years on the stabil-
ity Of values, the validity of contracts
and the safety of property is wide
spread jealousy Of corporate growth
and corporate power. Unless judi
cious, legal and just regulation comes,
sweeping economic revolution is
certain. They are blind who do not
see this.
The Republican party faces this
problem in the convention which opens
to-day with a candidate who has
courageously addressed himself to this
issue. This fact alone is destined to
render memorable the Chicago Repub.
iican National Convention Of 1904.
There were those who thought the en-
tire corporation question was mere
passing issue. born Of few speeches
: by President Roosevelt some two
years ago.
They are mistaken. 1t has come to
stay and be settled by the Republican
party, as it has settled other great is
sues, with Justice for all and security
for each. Upon many issnes the
convention will pronounce. It will
settle party doctrine for four years to
come. It will place its candidates in
nomination. But when the. his
tory of this week comes to be written
in the light of the future, it will
grow plain that the vital fact was that
the Republican party soberly and
consciously addressed itself to the So
iution Of this crucial issue by it's plat
form, and still more by nominating
Theodore Roosevelt. For fourteen
years this issue has been approaching.
The Republican antitrust Sherman
act recognized it on the statute book.
Successive decisions have established
the authority of this law, in spite of
Democratic dissent. This authority
stands ready to be exercised in legisla-
tion and administration. No interest
will be assailed. No legal right will
.be challenged. The whole fabric and
structure of property and corporate
rights and activities will stand in
fnitely safer for the sound and Just
regulation of corporations. Economic
development will prevent economic
revolution
In this. as in all it's work, the Re-
publican party stands for evolution
instead of revolution. For half CEN
tury it has advanced every great cause
and increased the prosperity OF society
and the happiness of men. Slavery
has gone. American industry is estab-
lished by protection. Expansion is
achieved. The United States ia ac
cepted by all the world as supreme in
the Western Hemisphere The Pan
anna Canal is begun. A great feet
sustains the majesty and power of the
flag. To the great domestic question
Of the hour the Republican party
turns as it has to others, in Justice
and in law.