The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-09-12


10 be held to a strict obedience TO
s.e iaw5 for no man is above it ana no
IAN below It. The hambest individual ls
- nave his rights safeguarded as scrnp
essousiy as those of the strongest organic.
LII Tor each is TO receive Justice ~
more no less. The problem with WhIeI i
ne nave to deal in our modern industria4
ana ana social life are manifold; but the splI-
- III which 1t is necessary TO apIrU,aeH
,iieH solution Is simply the spirit Of mn
esry' or courage and of common sense
me action of the Encouragement III
enforcing the anti-tr and inteIsla'e
commerce laws. and the action OF tis
iast congress in enlarging the scope u
creating the department of commerce anu
,aoor with a bureau of corporal IONS
nave for the first time opened a cnahee
Tor the national government to deal ln'ei-
usentiy and adequately with the ques
Mons affecting society, whether for goou
OF Tor evil because of the accumulation
ol capital in great corporations, anu pe
cause of the new relations caused theie-
py These laws are now being admins
tered with entire efficiency; and as III
their working. need is shown for amehu-
ment or addition to them-whether pet
Ter to secure the proper publicity, or pet
ter to guarantee the rights OF Shippers.
or IN any other direction-ths need WIN
pc met II Is now asserted that the
common law. as developed, aftords
complete legal remedy against monop.
olies But there is no common law oil
the United States Its rules can be en-
forced only by the state courts and of
Ulcers. No federal court or officer ccuia
take any action whatever under them,
IT was this fact. coupled with the inabii-
lily OF the states to control Trusts ana
monopolies which led to the passage or
the federal statutes known as the Sher-
man antitrust act and as the interstate
commerce act; and 1t is only through
the exercise of the powers conferred by
these acts, and by the statutes Of the
last congress experimenting them. that
the national government acquires any
jurisdiction over the subject. To say That
action against trusts and monopolies
should be limited to the application OF
the common law Is equivalent to saying
that the national government should take
no action whatever to regulate them.
Failure of Officials.
Undopbtedly the multiplication of trusts
and their increase in power has beer
largely due to the failure of officials
charged with the duty of enforcing the
! law to take the necessary procedure.
| Such structure upon the failure OF tht
officials of the national government to
| do their duty in this matter Is certainly
not wholly undeserved as far as the ad
ministration preceding President McKin
ley's is concerned; but 1t has not appli
cation at all to republican administration
1t is also undoubtedly true that what |:
most needed Is Officials having both th'
| disposition and the courage to enforce ex
listing law" This is precisely the nee(
that has been met by the consistent an6
steadily continued action of the depart
ment OF Justice under the present admin
| istration.
| So far as the rights of the individual
wage worker and the individual capitals
| are concerned. both as regards one an
| other as regards the public. and as re
| CARDS organized capital and labor, TIN
! position of the administration has beer
| 50 clear that there is no excuse for mis-
representing II, end no ground for op
! posing it unless misrepresented. Within
the limits defined by the national consti
! tuition the national administration ha
sought to secure to each man the full
enjoyment of his right to live his lif
and dispose of his property and his labo
as he deems best, so long as he wrong
no one else. 1t has shown in effectiv
fashion that in endeavoring to make goot
| this guarantee, 1t treats all men, ricl
! or poor, whatever their creed, their color
or their birthplace, as standing alik
before the law. Under out form of gov
| eminent the sphere in which the natio1
as distinguished from the state can &C
| is narrowly circumscribed; but within
that sphere all that could be done ha
| been done. All thinking men are awar
of the restrictions upon the power 0
action of the national government Il
such matters. Being ourselves mindful
of them, we nave been scrupulouslA
careful on the one hand to be moderat
in our promises, and on the other hand t
keep these promises in letter and Il
spirit. Our opponents have been ham
pered by no such considerations. The
have promised, and many of them nov
| promise, action which they could by n
possibility take in the exercise of consti
| tutional power, and which, If attempted
would bring business to standstill; the
! have used and often now use, languag
of wild invective and appeal to all tn
baser passions which tend to excite on
set of Americans against their fellow
Americans; and yet whenever they hav
had power they have fittingly supple
mented this extravaganza of promise b
absolute nullity In performance.
No Discrimination.
This government is based upon tn
| fundamental idea that each man, no mat
ter what his occupation, his race, or hi
religious belief, is entitled to be treate
| on his worth as a man, and neither IA
vored nor Disseminated against becaus
of any accident in his position. Even her
at home there is painful difficulty in tn
! effort to realize this ideal; and the at
tempt to secure from other nations &C
acknowledgements of 1t sometimes encoun
tiers obstacles that are well nigh insup
cradle; for there are many nations whicl
in the slow procession of the ages hav
not yet reached that point where tn
principles which Americans regard as ak
iomatic obtain any recognition what
| ever. One of the chief difficulties arise
in connection with certain American eiti
zens of foreign birth, or of partieula
creed, who desire to travel abroad. Rus
sia for instance, refuses to admit an
protect Jews Turkey refuses to admi
and protect certain sects of Christians
This government has consistently de
manded equal protection abroad for al
American citizens whether native or ma
turalized. on Marcn 81, 1899, Secretar.
| Hay sent a letter of Instructions TO al
| the diplomatic and consular officers 0
the United States in which he said: 'Thi
| department does not discriminate between
| native-born and naturalized citizens il
according them protection while they ar
| abroad. equality of treatment being re
quired by the laws of the United States.
/ These orders to our agents abroad hav
been repeated again and again, ard ar
treated as the fundamental rule of con
duct laid down from them, proceedin,
upon the theory that all naturalized citi
zens of the United States while in for
| eign countries, are entitled TO and shall
receive from this government the sam
| protection of perSOns and nroDerty whicl