Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-12-04
sriTE CONTROL.
Experience Shows Is Impossible 10
Get Anything But Chnos.


IL cannot too often be repeated that
experience has conohsiyely shown the
impossibillty Of securing by the actions
Of nearly half a hundred different state
legislatures anything but ineffective
! chaos IN the way of dealing with She
great corporations which do not operate
exclusively within the limits OF any one
state In some method whether by a
national license law or IN other fashion,
we must exercise and that al an early
date, q far more complete control Than
at present over these great corpora
tions--a control that VIII among other
things prevent the evils OF excessive
decentralization, ana that viii COM
pei the disclosure hy each big corpora
ton of It's stockholders and Of les prup-
critics and business, whether owned d.
rectly or through subsidiary or adiliat-
ed corporations. This viii tend TO pu,
stop tu tine securing OF inordlnats
profits by favored individuals at the
expense whether OF the general public,
the stockholders or the wage workers.
our effort should be not so much TO
prevent consolidation as such, but 50 TO
supervise and control IL as 10 see that
II results IN no harm TO the people, The
reactiOnary or ultraconseratiVe apollo
gists for the misuse Of wealth assail
the effort 60 secure such control as
step toward socialism, As matter Of
faCt II Is these re8cuonaries and ultra
conservatives who are themselves most
potent In Increasing socialistio feeling,
one OF the most efficient methods of
averting the consequences OF danger
Gus agitation, which IL 50 per cent
wrong, IL "a remedy the 20 per cent
of evil as 10 which the agitation Is well
founded. The best way 10 avert the
very undesirable move for the gOveru-
mental ownership OF railways Us 20 Sc
cure by the government on behalf Of
the people as a whole such adequate
control ana regulation Of the great IN
terstate common corriers as viii do
away with the evils which give rise
to the agitation againS. them. SO the
proper antidote 20 the dangerous wick
ed agitation against men OF wealth as
such is 20 secure by proper legislation
and executive action the abolition OF
the grave abuses which actually do
obtain in connection With the business
use OF wealth under our present system
-or rather no sysiem-of failure to
exercise any adequate control at
all Some persons speak as II
the exercise OF such governmental
control would DO away with the free
dom Of individual Initiative and dwarf
individual effort. This is not fact
II would be a Yeritabe calamity to
fell TO put a premium upon indi-
Vidual initiative. Individual capacity
and effort, upon the energy, chara-
acter, and foresight which II IS so
important TO encourage IA the in
diyidual. But as a matter Of fact the
deadening and degrading effect Of
pure socialism. and especially of its
extreme form communism, and the
Il
which they would bring about are In
part achieved by the wholly uureg1l-
lated competition which results I'm %
single individual or corporation rising
ut the expense of all others uuti his
or its rise eftectualy checks all COM
petition and reduces former compet-
tors to position OF utter inferiority
and subordnalion,
In enacting and enforcing such leg
islation rs this Congress already has
10 It's credit, we are wording on q CO.
herent plan, with the steady endeayor
TO secure the needed reform by the
joint action of the moderate men, the
plain men who do not wish anything
hysterical or dangerous, but who do
intend TO deal IN resolute common
sense fashion with the real and great
evils Of the present system The re-
dictionaries and tho violent extremists
show symptoms Of Joining hands
against MS. Both assert. for instance,
that II logical, We should go TO gov
crnment ownership Of railroads and
the like the reactionaries, because
OF such an issue they think the people
would stand with them while the ex-
tremists care rather To preach dis
content and agitation than TO achieve
solid results, As a matter Of fact,
our position IL as remote from that OF
the Bourbon reactlonary as from that
Of the unavoidable or Sinister Nla-