The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-09-15

national statute books in opposition to
\ the democratic claim that the common
law, as developed, affords complete
| legal remedy against monopolies,v and
of this he says:
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. It 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 Sherman
antitrust act and the interstate COM
merce act; and it is only through the
exercise of the powers conferred by these
acts, and by the statutes of the last con
gress supplementing them, that the ma
tional government acquires any jurisdic-
| tion over the subject To say that action
against trusts and monopolies should
be limited to the application Of the COM
mon law is equivalent to saying thatthe
national government should take no ac-
ton whatever to regulate them"
Responsible for Trusts Increase.
Continuing on the subject or trusts
the president says:
Undoubtedly, the multiplication OF
trusts and their increase in power has
been largely due to the failure of off
Gals charged with the duty of enforc-
ing the law to take the necessary pro-
/ cedure.' Such structure upon the fall
ure of the officials of the national gov
eminent to do their duty in thiS matter
is certainly not wholly undeseryed as
| far as the administration preceding
President McKinley's is concerned; but
it has no application at all to repub-
lican administration. 1t is also I'M
| doubtedly true thatwhat 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 consistent and steadily con-
tinued action of the department of JUS
tice under the present administration.
so far as the rights of the individ-
| ual wage-worker and the individual
capitalist 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 1t unless misrepresented
Within the limits defined by the ma
tional constitution the national admin
istration 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 guarantee, it treats
all men, rich or poor, whatever their
creed, their color, or their birthplace,
as standing alike before the law. I'm
der our form of government the sphere
in which the nation as distinguished
from the state can act is narrowly cir
cumscribed; but within that sphere all
that could be done has been done. All
thinking men are aware of the restric-
ton upon the power of action of the
national government in such matters.
Being ourselves mindful Of them, we
have been scrupulously careful on the
-ona- hand tn be moderate in, nllr nrnm-
Uses, and on the other hand to keep these
promises in letter and in spirit Our
opponents have been hampered by no
Such considerations They have prom
Used, and many of them now promise.
action which they could by no possibili-
ty take in the exercise of constitutional
power, and which, if attempted, would
bring business to standstill; they
have used, and often now use, language
Of wild invective and appeal to all the
baser passions which tend to excite one
set of Americans against their fellow
Americans; and yet whenever they have
had power they have fittingly supple.
mented this extravaganza of promise by
absolute nullity in performance"
Referring to the demand in the demo-
cratic platform that negotiations be be-
gun with foreign governments to Sc
cure equal treatment of all Americans
from those governments which do not
now accord it, the president says:
"This government is based upon the
fundamental idea that each man, no
matter what his occupation, his race, or
his religious belief, is entitled to be
treated on his worth as man, and
neither favored nor Disseminated
against because of any accident in his
position. Even here 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 process
sion 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 connection
with certain American citizens of for
eign birth, or of particular creed, who
desire to travel abroad. Russia, for in
stance, refuses to admit and protect
Jews. Turkey refuses to admit and pro-
tect certain sects of Christians. This
government has consistently demanded
equal protection abroa6for ali American
citizens, whether native or naturalized.