The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-20


public is most Incorporate in his de-
nunciation of wealth, in his private life
most eager to obtain wealth, in no mat
ter what fashion, and at no matter what
moral cost.
Undoubtedly there is need of regula-
ton by the government, in the interest
of the public. of these great corpora
tions which in modern life have shown
themselves to be the most efficient bus
mess implements, and which are there
fore, the implements commonly employ
ed by the owners of large fortunes. The
corporation is the freature of the state
1t should always be held accountable to
some sovereign, and this accountability
should be real and not sham. Therefore
in my judgment, all corporations doing
an interstate business and this means
the great majority of the largest cor
poratiOns, should be held accountable
to the federal government, because their
accountability should be cOextensiVe
with their field Of action. But most Ger
tainly we should not strive to prevent
or limit corporate activity. We should
strive to secure such effective super
vision over it, such power of regula-
ton over it, as to enable us to guaran-
tee that its activity viii be exercised
only in ways beneficial to the public
The unwisdom of any Well-meaning but
misguided effort to check corporate ac-
tivity has been shown in striking fash
ion in recent years by our experience
]
Our national legislators very properly
determined that the islands should not
be exploited by adVentuFers without re-
gard to the interests of the people of
the islands themselves.
Philippines Held Back.
But unfortunately ia their zeal to
prevent the islands from being i'm
properly exploited they took measures
of such severity as to seriously, and
in some respects vitality to hamper
and retaFd the development Of the is
lands. There is nothing that the is
lands need more than to have their
great natural resources developed, and
these resources can be developed only
by the abundant use of capital, which,
of course. will not be put into them
unless on terms sufficiently advanta-
geOuS to offer prospects of good re-
muneration We have made the terms
not merely hard, but often prOhibi-
tory, with the result that American
capital goes into foreign countries, like
/ Mexico, and is there used with i'm
mense advantage to the country in its
/ development, while it can not go into
/ our own possessions or be used to de-
velOp the lands under our own flag.
/ The chief sufferers by this state of
things are the people OF the islands
/ themselves.
1t is impossible too strongly to in
sist upon what ought to be the patent
/ fact that it is not only in the interest
/ of the people of wealth themselves,
/ but in our interest, in the interest of
/ the public as a whole, that they should
I be treated fairly and justly; that if
! they show exceptional business ability
t they should be given exceptional re-
ward for that ability. The tissues of
our industrial fabric are interviewer
/ IN such complex fashion that what
/ strengthens or weakens the whole. If
! we spenalize industry we viii ourselves
/ in the end have to pay a considerable
! part of the penalty. If we make con-
/ ditiOns such that the men of excep-
tiOnal ability are able to secure marked
/ benefits by the exercise of that ability,
4 then we shall ourselves benefit some
what It is our interest no less than
our duty to treat them fairly. On
/ the other hand, it is no less their in
/ terest to treat us fairly-by "us" I
mean the great body of the people,
! the men of moderate or small for
tunes, the farmers, the wage-work-
/ ers the smaller business men and pro-
/ fessional men. The man of great
( means who achieves fortune by
] crooked methods does wrong to the
/ whole body polite. But he not mere
! ly does wrong to, he becomes a source
/ of imminent danger to, other men Of
/ great means: for his ill-Won success
tends to arouse a feeling of resent
ment, which if it becomes inhamed
fails to differentiate between the men
of wealth who have done decentIy and
the men of wealth who have not done
decently.
People Are Shocked.
The conscience of our people has
been deeply shocked by the revela-
tions made of recent years as to the
way in which some of the great for
tunes have been obtained and used,
and there is, I think in the minds of
the people at large a strong feeling
that a GnTff17c effort he n
put a stop to the cynical dishonesty
and contempt for right which have
thus been revealed. I believe that
something, and 1 hope that a good
deal, can be done by law to remedy
tfe state of things complained of. 2ut
when all that can be, has thus been
done, there viii yet remain much
which the law can not touch, and
which must be reached by the force
of public opinion. There are men who
do not divide actions merely into those
that are honest and those that are not,
but create a third subdivisiOn-that Of
law honesty; of that kind of honesty
which consists in keeping clear Of the
penitentiary. It is hard to reach astute
men of this type save by making them
1ael the weight of an honest public
indignation. But this Indignation, If
it is to be effective, must be intelligent.
1t IS, OF course. to the great advantage
OF dishonest men of wealth if they are
denounced, not for being dishonest, but
Tor Icing wealthy, and if they are de-
nounced in terms so overstrained and
hysterical as to invite a reaction in
their favor. We can not afford in this
country to draw the distinction as be
tween rich man and poor man. The
distinction u9on which we must insist
is the vital, deep-lying, Interchangeable
l distinction between the honest man
} ana the dishonest man, between the
: man who acts decently and fairly by
| his neighbor and with a quick sense OF
lbs obligations, and the man who ac-
l knoWledges no internal law save that
l OF his own will and appetite. Above
all we should treat with a peculiarly
/ conJemptuous adherence the man who
in a spirit of sheer cynicism debauch-
es either our business life or our DO
{ lltical life. There are men who use
: the phrase .-practical nolitics,' as