The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-04

sidering such project as the govern
ment ownership of railroads. policy
which would be evil in its results from
every standpoint.
More National Power.
"A similar extension Of the national
! power to oversee and secure correct
/ behavior in the management Of all
great corporations engaged ia inter-
state business will in similar fashion
render far more stable the present
system by doing away with those grave
abuses which are not only evil in
! themselves but are also evil because
] they furnish an excuse for agitators to
infame Well-meantng people against
all forms of property, and to commit
l the country to schemes of wild, would
/ be remedy which would work infinite
/ ly more harm than the disease itself.
! The government ought not to conduct
the business of the country; but it
I ought to regulate It so that it shall be
| conducted In the interest of the public.
Perhaps the best justification of
! the course which in the national gov
ment we have been pursuing in the
past few years. and which we intend
steadily and progressively to pursue in
/ the future, is that it IS condemned
/ with almost equal rancor alike by the
( reactionaries=the BourbOns-On one
/ side, and by the wild apostles of unrest
/ on the other. The reacTonary is Bit
I terly angry because we have deprived
( him of that portion Of his power which
/ he misuses to the public hurt. the
/ agitator is angered for various reasons,
including among others the fact that
/ by remedying the abuses we have de-
/ prived him of the fulcrum of real
grievance, which alone renders the
/ lever of irrational agitation formida-
Bile.
I'VE have actually accomplished
much. But we have not accomplished
all, nor anything like all, that we feel
must be accomplished. We shall not
"a ST n nat
we have marked out. executing the
1 laws we have succeeded in putting
upon the statute books with absolute
( imparuality as between man and man,
and unresting in our endeavor to
strengthen and supplement these by
further laws which shall enable US in
more efficient and more summary
fashion to achieve the ends we have in
view.
During the last few. years congress
has had to deal with such vitality i'm
portant questions as providing for the
building of the Panama. canal. in
augurating the vast system of national
irrigation in the states of the Great
Plains and the Rocky mountains. pro-
viding for a Pacific cable, and so
forth let in addition to these tasks.
some of which are of stupendous i'm
pOrtance, congress has taken giant
strides along the path of government
regulation and control of corporations;
the interstate commerce law has been
I
reaching fashion. rebates have been
/ stopped, a pure food law has been
passed, proper supervision of the meat
packing business provided, and the
/ bureau of corporations established
bureau which has already done great
, good, and which can and should be
given constantly increasing func-
ttOnal power.
What Has Been Done.
{ The work of legislation has been no
| more important than the work done by
the department of justice in executing
the laws, not only against corporations
: and individuals who have broken the
ANTITRUST or interstate commerce law,
2 but against those who have been en-
gagged in land frauds Scores of suits
civil and criminal, nave been successful-
! " undertaken against offenders of all
lzinds-many of them against the most
| formidable and wealthy combinations
in the land; in some the com bina tfons
have been dissolved. in some heavy
fines have been imposed. in several cases
! the chief offenders have been impris-
, oned.
TT behooves us Americans to look
j ahead and plan out the right kind OF
\ q civilization as that which we Intend
TO develop from these wonderful new
( conditions of vast Industrial growth
1t must not be, it shall not be the
civilization of mere pIutocracy. a
banking house, Wall street syndicate
0 sion to class hatred, to rancOr brutality
D and mob violence, for that would mean
the end of all civilization. Increased
4 powers are susceptible of abuse as vel
as use; never before have the oppOr-
tunities for self1Shness been so great
e nor the results of selfishness so ap-
+ palling; for in communities where ev-
g erything is organized on merely self
ish commercial basis, such selfshness
If unchecked, may transform the greai
> forces of the new epoch into powers Of
destruction hitherto unequaled.
We need to check the forces of greed
= / to insure just treatment alike of capita
. and of labor, and of the general public
4 to prevent any man, rich or poor, from
. doing or receiving wrong, whether this
Y wrong be one Of cunning or Of violence
t Much can be done by wise legisla tfoI
and by resolute enforcement Of the law
- But still more must be done by steady
q training Of the individual citizen, IT
n conscience and character. until he grow.
/ to abhor corruption and greed anC
! / tyranny and brutality and to prize JUS
s tee and fair dealing.
8 THE men who are to do the work o
= the new epoch must be trained so a,
s to have sturdy self-respect, a powei
s | of sturdy insistence or their own rights
y and with it a proud and generous recog
= milton of their duties a sense of honor
q able obligation to their fellows which
e viii bind them, as by bands of steel
l or in their business from doing augh
q to any man which can not be bIazonel
. under the monday sun"
THEY CAUGHT 115 FISH.