Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-09-12

| Wfl1ctl IL Is necessary " 'IPi'NN7-
solution is simply the spirit "i honesty
of courage, and of common sehAe'
The action af the Acknowledgement
in enforcing the antitrust ana inter
state commerce laws, and the actiof' Oh
the last Congress i'll charging the
scope of the Interstate commerce Ia" !,
and in creating the Department oi
Commerce and Labor. with Il l'urtiu
of Corporations. have for the HrSt 'i'he
opened a chance for the Natlohal Gov
eminent to deal ntelllgcntiy ana ade-
quately with the questions ahectilih
society, whether for good or lor evil
because of the accumulation OIL chli-
tai in great corporations, ana pecause
of the new relations caused therepS.
These laws are now being administered
with entire efficiency; and as, IN ihelr
WORKING, need is shown Tor ahi'il"-
ment or addition 10 theih,-Whelher
better to secure the proper pubIcltN' OF
better to guarantee the rights Oh SNIP
pcrS, or III any other dIr"ct"h-thlS
need VIII be met. 1t is now asserted
that the common law. rs Developed
affords complete legal remedy AGAINST
monopolieS.' But there is no common
! law of the United States. It's rules
can be enforced only by the state courts
and officers. No Federal court or ofti-
Ger could take any action Whatever
under them. 1t WAS this fact, coupled
with the inability of the States I" con-
troll trusts and monopnicS Which led
to the passage of the Federal statutes
known as the Sherman antitrust act
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 sup
plenentinS them, that the National
Government acquires amy jurisdiction
over the subject. To say that action
against trusts and munopolirs should
be limited to the application of the
common law is equivalent to saying
thtt the National Government should
take no action whatever To regulate
them.
Undoubtedly, the multiplication of
trusts and their increase i'll power has
been largely due t. the failure of
officials charged with the duty of en-
forcing the law to take the necessary
procedure.' Such structure upon the
failure Of the officials of the National
Government to do their duty in this
matter is certainly not wholly
undcserved as far as the Admnistra-
ton preceding President Mckinleys is
concerned; but it has no application at
all to Republican Administration. 1t is
also undoubtedly true that what is most
needed is Officials having both the
disposition and the courage to enforce
existing law" This is precisely the
need that has been met by the con-
sistent and steadily continued action of
the Department of Justice under the
present Administrations
So far as the rights of the individual
WaG"-worker and the individual capi-
taliSt are concerned, both as regards one
another, as regards the public, and as
regards organized capital and labor,
the position of the Administration has
been so clear that there is no excuse for
misrepresenting it, and no ground for
opposing it unless misrepresented.
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. 1t
endeavoring to make good this
guarantee, it treats all men, rich or
poor. whatever their creed, their color
or their birthplace, as standing alike
before the law. Under our form of
government the sphere in which the
Nation as distinguished from the State
can act is narrowly circumscribed; but
within that sphere all that could be
1,
are aware of the restriction upon the
power of action of the National Govern
ment in such matters. Being ourselves
mindful OF them. we have been
scrupulously careful on the one hand to
be moderate in our promises, and on the
other hand to keep these promises in
letter and in spirit. Our opponents
have been hampered by no such con-
slderations. 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
business to Il standstill; they have used,
and often now use, language of wild
invective and appeal to all the bascr
passions which tend to excite one set
of Americans against their fellow
ATnpricanS; and yet whenever they
have had power they have fittingly
SUPPLEMENTED this extravaganza of
promise by absolute nullity in perform
ance.
This Government is based upon the
fundamental idea that each man, no
matter what his occupation, his race, or
ms religious belief, is entitled to be
trcHtcd on his worth as man, and
neither favored nor Disseminated
against because of any accident in his
position. Even mere at home there is
painful difficulty in the effort to realize
this ideal; and the attempt to secure
from other nations acknowledgment of
1t sometimes, encounters obstacles that
are well nigh inSuperable; for there
are many nations which in the slow
procession Of the ages have not yet
reached that point where the principles
which Americans regard as automatic
obtain any recognition whatever One
of the chief difficulties arises in con-
nection with certain American citizens
ar a