The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-12

! !
1900. Congress established the single
gold standard as the measure of our
monetary value. This act received the
support of every Republican in the
House, and of every Republican except
one in the Senate. OF our opponents
eleven supported it in the House and
two in the Senate; and one hundred
| and fifty opposed it in the House and
twenty-eight in the senate. The record
of the last seven years proves that the
party now in power can be trusted 10
| take the additional action necessary to
! improve and strengthen our monetary
system, and that our opponents cannot
be so trusted. The fundamental fact IS
| that in popular government Such as
ours no policy is irrevocably settled by
law unless the people keep In conUIoI
| of the government men who believe IN
/ that policy as a matter OF deep-root-
| ed conviction. Laws can always be re-
voked; it is the spirit and the purpose
Of those responsible for their enactment
and administra toin which must be txed
| and Interchangeable. 1t is idle TO say
that the monetary standard of the Ma
\ ton is irrevocably fixed so long as the
lparty which at the last election cast
approximately forty-Six per cent. or the
total vote, refuses to put in its plat
form any statement that the question
is settled. A determination to remain 81
lent cannot be accepted as equivalent
to a recantation. Until our opponents
as a party explicitly adopt the views
which we hold and upon which we have
acted and are acting. in the matter of
a sound currency, the only real way to
keep the question from becoming I'M
settled is to keep the Republican party
in power.
Capital and Labor.
As for what our opponents say in ref
erence to capital and labor, individual
or corporate, here again all we need by
way of answer is to point to what we
have actually done, and to say that IL
continued in power we shall continue
70 nIIf he have been
pursuing, and to execute the laws as
resolutely and fearlessly in the future
as we have executed them in the past
In my speech of acceptance i said
I'VE recognize the organization of
capital and the organization of labor
as natural outcomeS of our Industrial
system. Each kind of organizat1o IS 70
be favored so long as 1t acts in a spirit
of justice and of regard for the rights
of others. Each is to be granted the
full protection of the law, and each IN
turn is to be held to a strict obedience
to the law; for no man is above II ana
no man below it. The humblest indiV1d-
ual is to have his rights safeguarded as
scrupulously as those of the strongest
organization, for each is to receive JUS
tice, no more and no less. The prob
lens with which we have to deal in
our modern Industrial and social lie
are manifold; but the spirit in whicn &c
is necessary to approach their solution is
simply the spirit of honesty, of cour-
age, and of common sense"
The action of the Acknowledgement
in enforcing the antitrust and inter-
state 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 Bureau OF
Corporate have for the first time
opened a chance for the National Gov
eminent to deal intelligently and ade-
Quately with the questions Affecting So
ciety, whether for good or Tor evll, pc
81 M Ia n
great corporations, and because OF the
new relations caused thereby. THESE
laws are now being administered with
entire efficiency; and as, in their work.
addition to them,-whether better to Sc
cure the proper publicity. or better TO |
guarantee the rights of shippers, or in
any other direction-thiSs need Will De |
met. 1t is now asserted "that the COM |
mon law, as developed, affords COM |
plete legal remedy against monQpolles-
But there is no common law or 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 inabll-
ity of the States to control trusts ana
which led to the passs A. |
of the Federal statutes known as re
Sherman antitrust act and the inter-
state commerce act; and it is only
through the exercise of the powers con- |
ferred by these acts, and by the stat |
utes of the last Congress supplement- |
ing them. that the National Govern
ment acquires any jurisdiction over the
subject. To say that action against |
trusts and monopolies should be limit
ed to the application of the common |
law is equivalent to saying that the Ma
tional Government should take no ac-
ton whatever to regulate them.
The Trusts.
Undoubtedly, the multiplication OF
increase
has been largely due to 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 I
matter is certainly not wholly unde-
served as far as the administration
preceding President Mckinley'S is con-
cerned; but it has no application at
all to Republican administration. 1t
is also oubtedly true that what is
most needed is Officials having both
the disposition and the courage to
enforce existing law" This is pre-
cisely the need that has been met by /
the consistent and steadily continued |
action of the department of justice I'M
der the present administration.
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 labor,
the position ofthe 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 ma
tional constitution the national admin
has sought to. secure to each
man the full enjoyment of his right
to live his life and dispose of his prop
erty and his labor as he deems best,
so long as he wrongs no one else. 1t
has shown in effective fashion that in
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