The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-08-09
erful and influential transgressors.
Indianapolis Sun

erful and influential transgressors. 1t
is in this work of preparation that the
real achievements are shown.
President Roosevelt began his fight
against trusts when he instituted pro-
ceedings against the Northern Securi-
ties Company soon after entering the
White House. He gained his point,
but at the same time discovered thiS
the government did not possess
weapons with which to carry on an
extended fight. There were few
laws, but they were not adequate to
reach the law-defying corporations.
The establishment of the bureaus of
commerce helped some, but the Pres
ident perceived that only by drastic
legislation could the offenders against
the law be brought to justice. 1t was
to effect this end that he set himself
to work, with the enthusiastic sup
port of almost the entire American
public. 1t is this end which it is be-
lieved has been accomplished in the
six months during which Congress
has fought and struggled and endeav
ored to evade its duty. until finally
forced to give in and produce the leg
islation the public demanded and re
President had been fighting for. The
President fought, not as an executive
striving to force his own will upon
the Legislature, but as q representa-
tive of public sentiment and to public
sentiment Congress surrendered. He
forced the passage of the railroad
rate blll compelled the enactment of
the meat inspection bill, demanded
and obtained the anti-immunity law,
the free alcohol bill, and compelled
the passage of the pure food bill
Each one of these measures has
a direct and important bearing upon
the great question of trust control, and
the emancipation of the public from
the domination of corporation power.
Next IN importance to the railroad
law, so far as its effect upon the great
problem of the commercial and indus
trial life of the nation is concerned, is
PROFESSIONALLY the anti-immunity law.
From the interstate commerce and
the bureau of corporation laws. the
government obtained the right to inves-
tigate railroads and other corporations.
But such Investigations were rendered
almost purposeless by paragraphs in
the statutes, sustained by the courts,
providing that immunity from prosecu-
ton should be given all persons and
corporations furnishing information to
the investigating agencies.
This naw law removes this defect in
the former statutes, and provides that
against themselves shall be entitled to
immunity. All other persons, whether
corporation officers. partners or asso-
ciates, who may be incriminated By
the testimony must bear the results.
even if they go to the penitentiary in
eonseque ice. 1t makes the punishment
of trust officers possible. no matter
from whom the investigators obtain
their information
These Jaws, taken all together, con-
stitute system of legislation the prin-
eip.e Of which is so vital to the best
interests of the American people that
in effect they are revolutionary. The
principle is that all corporations
serving the public and drawing their
support from the public are answer
able to the public for the service rem
dered, and must give the public full
value for what it pays. 1t places the
public's rights above those of indi-
viduals and corporations. and oblit-
crates at one sweep the, heretofore ac-
copied dogma of the corporations that
the public must accept whatever it
can get.
Viewed from any standpoint, this
step toward the complete establishment
In law of the rights of the public as
dominant OYER all other rights and
considerations is an achievement the
magnitude of which it is not easy to
aDpreciate.