The Glenwood post., 1904-12-10

OF the bureau OF labor into the COLORADO
mining strike. this is strike in which
certain very evil forces. which are more
or less at work everywhere under the
conditions of modern industrialism. be-
came startlingly prominent.
Corporations.
When come to deal with great
porations the need for the government to
act directly is far greater than in the
case of labor. because great corporations
can become such only by engaging in in
| terstate commerce. and interstate com
merce is peculiarly the field of the gem
/ eral government. 1t is an absurdity to eN-
| pect to eliminate the abuses in great cor
| porations by state action. 1t is difficult to
| be patient with argument that such
matters should be left to the states. be-
cause more than one state pursues the
| policy of creating on easy terms corpora
| tions which never operated within
/ that state at all. but in other states
! whose laws they ignore. The national
| government alone can deal adequately
] with these great corporations. To try to
| deal with them in an Incorporate, de-
| Structive, or demagogic spirit would. in
/ all probability, mean that nothing what
ever would be accomplished and. with
| absolute certainty, that If anything were
/ accomplished ii would be of a harmful
I nature. The American people need to
/ continue to show the very qualities that
| they have shown-that is moderation,
doing any damage and yet the quiet de-
/ termination to proceed. step by step.
/ without halt and without hurry, in enm-
/ mating or at least in minimizing what
/ ever of mischief or of evil there is to in
/ terstate commerce in the conduct of
| great corporations. They are acting in
! no spirit of hostility to wealth. either in
| diVidual corporate. They are not
against the rich man any more than
against the poor man. on the contrary,
] they are friendly alike toward rich man
] and toward poor man. provided only that
| each acts in a spirit of justice and de
cency toward his fellows. Great corpora
tons are necessary. and only men of
| great and singular mental power can
! manage such corporations successfully
and such man must have great rewards
| But these corporations should be man
aged with due regard to the interest of
| the public a whole. Where this can
Be done under the present laws it must
be done. Where these laws come short
others should be enacted to supplement
| them.
The bureau Of corporations has made
careful preliminary investigation of many
| important corporations. 1t will make a
special report on the beef industry.
Bureau of Corporations.
The policy of the bureau is to accom-
plish the purposes of its creation by CO.
| operation. not antagonism: by making
prosecution. the immediate object of its
Inquiries; by conservative Investigation
of law and fact. and by refusal to issue
incomplete and hence necessarily inaccu-
rate reports. Its policy being thus one
of open inquiry into, and not attack up
on. business. the bureau has been able to
gain not only the confidence. but. better
still. the cooperation OF men engaged in
| legitimate business.
The bureau offers to the Congress the
,,,.. g
tion OF our various great staples of com
! mcrce.
Rebates.
Above all else. we must strive to keep
| the highways of commerce omen to all
on equal terms; and to do this it Is nee
essary TO put complete stop to all re-
bates. Whether the shipper or the rail-
road is to blame makes no difference; the
rebate must be stopped, the abuses of
the private car and private terminal
track and side-traCk systems must be
stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty
eighth Congress which declares it to be
unlawful for any person or corporation to
offer, grant. give, solicit, accept, or re-
ceive any rebate. concession. or discrim-
ination in respect of the transportati tion of
any property in interstate or foreign
commerce whereby such property shall
by any device whatever be transported
Mt q less rate than that named in the
tariffs published by the carrier must be
enforced. While l am of the opinion that
at present it would be undesirable. If II
We're not impraCticable, finally to clothe
the Interstate Commerce Commission
with general authority to fix railroad
rates. l do not believe that. as n fair Sc
curity to shippers. the Commission should
be vested with the power, where n given
rate has been challenged and after full
hearing found to be unreasonable. to de-
eide. subject to judicial review. what
shall be a reasonable rate to take its
place; the ruling of the commission to
take effect Immediately, and to obtain
| unless and until it is reversed by the
court OF review In my judgment the
| most important legislative act now need
ed as regards the regulation of corpora
| lions is this act to confer on the Inter
| state Commerce Commission the power
| 10 revise rates and regulations. the re
| Nlsed rate to at once so into effect and
TO stay in effect unless and until the
| court of review reverses it,
1 Much space is here devoted to a
consideration of the problem of the
! proper housing of the poor in our
great cities, and the Importance of a
| proper solution of the question shown.
! On this subject the message says:
There should be severe child-labor and
| factory-inspection laws. 1t is very desir
! able that married women should not -zork
| in factories The prime duty of the man
| is to work. to be the breadwinner; the
| prime duty of the woman is to be the
| mother the housewife. All questions of
| tariff and finance sink into utter insip-
| nihcance when compared with the tre-
mendous. the vital Importance of trying
| TO shape conditions that these two
| duties of the man and of the woman can
be fulfilled under reasonably favorable
circumstances If n race does not have
plenty OF children or If the children do
hpp bo,
they are unhealthy in body and stunted
or vicious in mind. then that race is de-
cadent and no heaping up of wealth no
iplendor of momentary material prosper
ity, can avail in any degree as Offsets
Agriculture.
The Department of Agriculture has
grown into educational institution
with faculty of two thousand special
lists making research into all the sciences
of production. The Congress appropria-