Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-04-17

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more than certain amount to any one
individual; the tar, of course to be
imposed by the national and not the
state government. Such taxation
should, Of course, be aimed merely at
the inheritance or transmission In
their entirety of those fortunes swol
len beyond all healthy limits.
| Again, the national government
sion over corporations engaged in In.
porations are engaged in interstate
business whether by license or other.
wise, so as to permit us to deal with
the far-reaching evils of over.
capitalization. This year we are max.
ing beginning in the direction Of Sc
rious effort to settle some of these
economic problems by the railway
rate legislation. Such legislation, if
so framed. as am sure 1t will be, as
to secure definite and tangible results,
will amount to something of itself;
and it will amount to a great deal more
4 in SO far as it is taken as first step
in the direction Of policy of superin.
! tendence and control over corporate
wealth engaged in interstate com
merce, this superintendent and con
troll not to be exercised in a spirit of
malevolence toward the men who have
created the wealth, but with the firm
purpose both to do justice to them
and to see that they in their turn do
justice to the public at large.
'The first requisite. in the public
servants who are to deal in this shape
with corporations, whether as legislat-
ors or as executives, is honesty, This
honesty can be no respecter of per.
sons. There can be no such thing as
uniliteral honesty. The danger is not
really from corrupt corporations; 1t
springs from the corruption itself,
whether exercised for or against cor.
porations.
1.-THE eighth commandment reads,
| Thou shalt not steal.' 1t does not
read, Thou shalt not steal from the
rich man. 1t does not read, Thou
shalt not steal from the poor
man It reads simply and plain
! ly, Thou shalt not steal No good
whatever will come from that warped
and mock morality which denounces
| the misdeeds of men and wealth and
| forgets the misdeeds practiced at their
expense; which denounces bribery, but
binds itself to blackmail; which foams
with rage If a corporation secures fav-
ors. by improper methods, and merely
leers with hideous mirth If the corpora
ton itself is wronged., The only pub
lie servant who can be trusted honest
ly to protect the rights of the public
against the misdeeds of a corporation
is that public man who will just as
surely protect the corporation itself
from wrongful aggression. If a public
man is willing to yield to popular
claror and do wrong to the men of
wealth or to rich, corporations, it may
he set down as certain that if the OPP
portnnity comes he will secretly and
! furtively do wrong to the public in the
interest of a corporation.
"Bat, in addition to honesty we need
| sanity. No honesty will make a pub
| lie man useful if that man is timid or
| foolish, if he is a hot headed zealot or
an i,npracticable visionary. AS we
strive for reform we find that it is not
at all merely the case of long uphill
pull On the contrary, there is almost
as much of breeding as Of collar
work: to depend only on traces means
that there will soon be runaway and
an upset. The men of wealth who to-
day are trying to prevent the regula-
ton and control Of their business in
the interest Of the public by the prop
er government authorities will not sue
ceed in my judgment, in checking the
progress of the movement But If they
did succeed they would find that they
had sown the wind and would reap the
whirlwind, for they would ultimately
provoke the violent excuses which &C.
company reform coming by convul-
sion instead of by steady and natural
growth.
con the other hand, the wild preach
ers of unrest and discomfort, the wild
agitators against the entire existing or
der, men who act crookedly, whether
because of sinister design or from
mere puzzle-headedness the men who
preach destruction without proposing
any substitute for what they intend
to destroy, or who propose substitute
which would be far worse than the ex-
listing evils--all these men are the
most dangerous opponents of real re-
form If they get their way they Will
lead the people into a deeper pit than
any into which they could fall under
the present system. If they fail to get
their way they will still do incalulable
harm by provoking the kind of reac-
ton, which in its revolt against the
senseless evil of their teaching, would
enthrone more securely than ever the
very evils which their misguided fol
lowers believe they are attacking.
More important than aught else is
the development of the broadcast sym.
pathy of man for man. The welfare OF
the, wage worker, the welfare Of the
tiller of the soil. upon these depend
the welfare of the entire country;
their good is not to be sought in pull
ing down others; but their good must
be the prime object OF all our states
manship.
Materially we must strive to secure
boader economic opportunity for al
men, so that each shall have a better
chance to show the stuff Of which he
is made. Spiritually and officially we
must strive to bring about clean living
and right thinking. We appreciate
that the things of the body are import
| ant. h,,t we annreciate also that the