Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-09-12

ment and administration which must
be fixed and Interchangeable. 1t is idle
to say that the monetary standard Of
the nation is irrevocably fixed so long
as the party which at the last election
cast approximately 46 per cent of the
total vote refuses TO put in its plat
form any statement that the question
is settled. a determination to remain
silent cannot be accepted as equivalent
to a recantation.
AS for what our opponents say in
reference to capital and labor, individ
ual 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 fearlesSly in the
future as we have executed them in
the past.
The Trusts.
The action of the attorney general in
enforcing the antitrust and interstate
commerce laws and the action of the
last congress in charging the scope of
the interstate commerce law and in
creating the department of commerce
and labor, with n bureau of corpora
tons, have for the first time opened a
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-
rations and because Of the new rela-
lions caused thereby. These laws are
now being administered with entire eff
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 is now asserted that the common
law as developed affords Il 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
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-
man antitrust act and 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 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-
- l,,y,%
to saying that the national government
should take no action whatever to reg
ulate them.
Undoubtedly the multiplication of
trusts and their increase in power have
been largely due TO the failure of OIL
Gals charged with the duty of enfOrc-
ing the law to take the necessary pro-
Cedure." Such structure upon the fail
ure of the officials of the national gov
eminent to do their duty in this mat
ter is certainly not wholly undeserved
as far as the administration preceding
President McKinley's Is concerned, but
1t has no application at all to Repub-
lican administration. 1t is also IN
doubtedly true that what is most need
ed is Officials having both the dispo-
anu lllC COuId W CIIlOICc CAlSL-
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 capt.
talist are concerned, both as regards
one another, as regards the public and
as regards organized capital and la
Dor, tie position of the administration
has been so clear that there is no ex-
cuse for disappearing it and no
ground for opposing it unless misrep-
resented. Within the limits defined 10y
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.
1t has shown in effective fashion that
in endeavoring to make good this guar
antee it 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
full of them. we have been scrupulousiy
careful on the one hand to be mod
crate in our promises and or the other
hand to keep these promises in letter
and in spirit Our opponents have
been hampered by no such considera-
tons. 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 If attempted would bring buSi-
ness to a Standstill. They have used
and often now nse language Of wild
invective and appeal TO all the baSer
,,ossioDS Irbscb fpuJ r. pvpita ore set