The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-09-23
Government Regulation.

| trust.
Government Regulation.
.Just as the organization of Ameri-
can industry developed out of chang
ed conditions so the principle of gov
eminent regulation develops out OF
| the action of these organizations
| themselves. Just as the old meth
DDS of private business would be ut
terly inadequate in the new condition,
so the old principle of arbitrary pri-
vate management is utterly inapplica-
Bile TO the new methods. And so 1t
is that the new principle of regulation
By the government of all the people,
over business so great that it affects
all the people, has developed from the
very same causes that produced those
great businesses themselves.
1T is better for the government of
the people to interfere with the rail-
ways than for the railways to inter
fere with the government of the peo-
pie. Railway ownership is an evil so
far-reaching and profound that no
man can foretell it's dark results. But
railway interference with free gov
eminent is also an evil which in the
end will prove destructive of liberty
because it pollutes the ballot when
the peoples representatives are
chosen and the peoples legislature
after their representatives are chosen.
If railway interference with the peo-
pies government is not stopped rail
way ownership by the peoples gov
eminent may be compelled-but no
one can drive the American people to
this wretched alternative but the rail-
roads themselves.
The Pure Food Law.
The principle of government super
vision applies to any other business
so great that, like the railway bust
ness, it affects all the people. That
is why we passed not only law to
compel the railways to give the peo-
pie just service, but also law to
compel manufacturers to give the peo-
pie pure food. The government exists
for the people, and not the people for
the government. The people establish
ed the government to do their work;
the government did not establish the
people to do it's work
.'And, therefore, when manufacture
poisoning the people there was only
one way by which the people could
protect their lives and health, and
that was by requiring their govern
ment to inspect the foods and medi-
cines which manufacturers were sell
ing them. When the maker of foods
and medicines conducts business not
with individuals, his business is no
longer private but public. He is no
longer an individual: he is trus-
tee-and his trust is rendered sacred
because it directly affects human life.
The Cuban Situation.
''Six years, ago. almost to a day,
I stood on this platform to answer Mr..
Bryan on Imperialism, asserting in
word that American institutions
were equal to the emergency of the
Philippine problem: today I stand on
the same platform answering Mr.. Bry-
an, asserting that American institu-
tons were equal to the railway prob
lem. But six years ago l went fur
Their and declared that the Teller am
endment, adopted in the excitemnt of
a declaration of war, pledging a des-
tiny to Cuba separate to our own. was
a false and foolish doctrine whose fol-
ly events would declare. On this plat
form six years ago almost to this day
I asserted that Cuban affairs could
never be independent of American in
terests-that geography, civilization.
and the nature of our race made the
future of the Cuban and American
people one and the same Six years
ago almost to this day on this plat
form, I declared that, in substance,
what afterward was known as the
Platt amendment. would be adopted
"All over the land political orators.
even of our own party. acclaimed that
utterance not only inopportune but
And yet at the very next
session of Congress that epochaI stat
ute. fathered by that then first of
American public men. Senator Platt. |
of Connecticut, was enacted by Con-
gress and afterward made part of |
the Cuban constitution.
The Plat Amendment.
To-day every Cuban patriot and ev-
cry American citizen renders thanks |
to the All-seeing Director of human |
affairs for the Plate amendment 1t |
gives us in our own law and in the |
fundamental ordinance of Cuba power |
to deal with those events which every |
student knew wer absolutely certain /
to tran>2ire.
Personally I believe that if the
present situation should untangle I'M
der the diplomacy OF that great young
man whom conservatives once feared. |
but who has proved the ablest real |
of them all. Theodore
Roosevelt. it will appear again with |
the tangles infinitely multiplied. III
speak for myself a-one: the admin.
speaks for itself
Progressive Freedom.
"And yet American government of
Cuba can only come at the hands of
Cubans themselves. For the sake
of the Cuban and the American peo-
pie and the other people of the of
the world. pray God it shall not long
he dalayed |