Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-05

vate secretary. Within the department
provision Is made for the collection from
large corporations including the so-calied
trusts. of information which, it is to be
borne in mind, is to be submitted to the
President for public or private use, as he
may direct By grace of the same execu-
tive this Secretary, through whose depart
ment this information is collected becomes
the chairman of the republican national
COMMITTEES. His chief duty it has been, and
still is, to collect funds for the purpose of
securing the election of the President. And
it Is now notorious that there has resulted
from this organized observation-disclosures
may be the precise way in which it is made
eHective-an overfiowing treasury to the
committee, of which boast is openly and
continually made. Although this may be
satisfactory to the conscience of republican
leaders, 1T must, l firmly believe, be con-
demned as nothing short of scandalous, not
alone by myself or the democratic party,
but by the American people as we'll
At his Cooper Union speech to Germans
Wednesday night he said:
There is a still ugIier page to the general
story. An example is before of how the
EFFORT of the people to free themselves from
a burden can be seized upon by the I'M
scrupufous and itself made the agency
whereby the burden is bound more firmly
upon their backs. The clamor of the people
against the trusts rose to the point where
ment of the government was created-the
Department of Commerce. To that depart
ment was intrusted inquisitorial power over
the great corporations. Its head, the
secretary OF Commerce, was made a cab
met officer. But, lest honest business inter
ests should suffer, lest INSCRIPTIONS COM
petitors should take unfair advantage, 1t
was provided that the results of the depart
ment's investigations into the affairs of any
corporation should be confidential They
were and are to be placed in the first in
stance at the disposition of the President
and in his discretion only are they to be
made public and become the common know
ledge of the people.
Extraordinary powers these and marking
an extraordinary faith of a people in it's
elected chief executive. And how has this
administration responded to this trust? 1t
places at the head of this new department
as the first Secretary of the Department of
commerce of the United States. the private
secretary of the President. What the de-
partments researches were know not.
we are not informed
When. however, the present campaign
opened the Secretary of Commerce resigned
his Office, and at the request and as the
personal representative of the President be-
came the chairman of the republican ma
tlonal committee to bring about if it might
De SO. the election of his patron to the presi-
oency ana lest any should err, it was at
the time of his resignation authoritatively
announced that at the termination of the
campaign he would be summoned again to
the cabinet to fill another cabinet office.
leaVe 1t to you to say whether or not In
your estimation. the vicious circle is COM
plete. ~
At Hartford, Conn.,, on Thursday NIGHT
Judge Parker said:
Born, as 1T (the Department of Com
merce and Labor was of a union between
the trusts and the republican party, the
parallel OF this legislation in scandalous
features does not exist upon our statute
books today. 1t puts into the hands of the
President. and of the republican party, the
means or continuing it's hold upon the
reins of government without limit as to
time, through the possession of secrets of
trusts which. under the ter of the leg
islation itself, he may or may not make
public or private, as he directs.
We know full well how the opportunity
for the use of that legislation has been
aValled of in this campaign. No statute
could have been better devised for the sue
cessful financing of the present election
of the candidate of the republican party or
for it's indefinite perpetuation in power
In the promotion of our business inter-
ests We need a Department of Commerce
and Labor. The problems involved are
many. and difficulties have to be overcome
at every turn. so that all the ingenuity and
honesty of our people will be required in
order to attain the best results in the
shortest time and with the least waste of
effort.
But we do not want a Department of
Commerce and Labor whose Secretary shall
go out from it every four years. after he
had filled his brain and his notebooks with
the secrets of all the great corporations
and combinations which depend upon the
government for business or favors, in or
der not to serve the people. but to raise
money to corrupt them. Nor do our people
want a department to send it's statisti-
clans. at the expense of the government.
into the service of a great political COM
mittee, in order to put forth doctored sta
tistfcs.
I'VE want Department of Commerce
and Labor which will furnish our mer-
chants, farmers, manufacturers and work.
men with the fullest and latest informa-
tion, intelligently and honestly obtained.
and so fairly prepared that dependence
may be placed upon it as a real guide. We
want to know what other countries are do
ing in industries, and this is all the more
important because we feel sure that in
none Of them has the head of such a de-
partment retired from his work to go out
into the business world in order to collect
blood money.
I'VE do not need and ought not to have
modern inqusitor who exploits corpora
lions to collect money for corrupting the
franchise, or electing plant legislators or
capturing the electoral votes of pivotal
states.