The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-04-26
SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT.
In "Muck Rake" Address Rabid Writers Are Excoriated
and Inheritance Tax Advocated.l
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they nave not ordinarily the judgment to
consider"
This truth should be kept constantly In
min by every free people desiring to pre-
serve the sanity and poise Indispensable to
the permanent success of self government.
Yet on the other hand, it is vital not to
permit this spirit of sanity and self-com-
mand to degenerate into mere mental stag
nation. Bad though a state of hysterical
are which come from the violent oscillations
such excitement Invariably produces. vet a
sodden acquiescence In evil is even worse.
I'm Period of Great Unrest.
At this moment We are passing through
and Industrial unrest. 1t is of the utmost
Importance for our future that this should
prove to be not the unrest of mere rebel
,iousness against life, of mere dissatisfac-
tion with the inevitable inequality of con-
ditions, but the unrest Of a resolute and
eager ambition to secure the betterment
OF the Individual and the nation. So far
the country takes the form Of a fierce dis
content with evil. of a determination to
punish the authors Of evil. whether in In
heartily welcomed as a sign of healthy life.
III, on the other hand, 1t turns into a
mere crusade OF appetite against appetite.
the have nots' and the brutal greed of the
"haves,' then 1t has no Significance for
good. but only for evil.
III 1t seeks to establish a line of cleav-
% W Az lit ultu QlNlQtS KOOQ
men from bad, but along that other line.
running at right angles thereto. which di-
Woes those who are we'll off from those
who are less well of then Ii will be fraught
little. w
One Law for Rich and Poor.
we can no more and no less afford to
condone evil In the man of capital than evil
In the man of no capital. The wealthy
man who exults because there is a failure
Oh Justice In the effort to bring some trust
magnate to an account for his misdeeds Is
as pad as and no worse than the so-called
iaDor leader who DANGEROUSLY strives TO ex-
cite a foul class feeling on behalf of some
other labor leader who Is implicated in
murder.
One attitude Is as bad as the other and
no worse; In each case the accused is en- |
titled TO exact justice and In neither case
Is there need OF action by others which can
for crime.
1t is a prime necessity that IL the pres |
emit unrest is TO result In permanent good
the emotion shall be translated into action
and that the action shall be marked BY
honesty, sanity and self restraint. There Is |
mighty little good In q mere spasm of re-
form. The reform that counts is that which
comes through steady, continuous growth
violent emotionalism leads to exhaustion.
Must p with Problems.
1t Is important to this people to graphic
with the problems connected with the amass- |
ing OF enormous fortunes and the use of
WI NOAEVlatt II l0QlFI0- Il
uai, In business. We should discriminate I'm |
the sharpest way between fortunes we'll won |
and fortunes Ill won, between those gained |
to to a the 'n eommup IL performing al ! mSd great ats services
gained In evil fashion by keeping 1ust with |
To the limits Of mere law honesty.
of course, no amount Of charity IN spend
ing such fortunes In any way compensates
for misconduct In making them. As a mat |
ter Jf personal conviction, and without pre- |
tending to discuss the details or formulate |
thu 4 II Too hot go -I-I
have to consider the, adoption Of some such
scheme as that Of a progressive tax on ali |
fortunes beyond a certain amount either |
given In life or devised or bequeathed upon
death to any individual tax so framed as
to put IL out OF the power OF the owner OF |
one or these enormous fortunes to hand on |
more than a certain amount to any one In
dividual: the tax, of course, to be imposed
by the national and not the state govern |
ment- Such taxation should, OF course. be /
aimed merely at the inheritance or trans
mission In their entirety of those fortunes /
swollen beyond all healthy limits.
Must Control Corporations.
Again, the national. government must In |
some form exercise supervision over corpor-
atoms engaged In Interstate business-and
all large corporations are engaged in inter- |
state business-whether by license or other /
wise, SO as to permit us to deal with the
far-reaching evils OF oyercapltalizatior.
the direction or serious srg ma esart = 70 oe ssta In
OF these economic problems by the railway
rate legislation. Such legislation II so |
framed, as l am sure II will be; as to secure
something OF itself, and 1t will amount
to a great deal more In so far as 1t Is tax
en- as a first step In a direction of a policy
or superfntendence and control over corpor-
ate wealth engaged 10 Interstate m
this superintendence and control 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.
Honesty First Requisite.
The first requisite In the public servants
who are to deal In this shape with corpor-
atoms, whether as legislators or as execu-
lives, Is honesty This honesty can be no
respecter OF persons; There can be no such
tning as uniiaterai honesty. The danger is
not really from corrupt corporations, 1t
springs from the corruption itself whether
exercised for or against corporations.
Inc eighth commandment reads, Thou
shalt not steal" 1t does not read, sThou /
shalt not steal from the rich man" 1t
does not read. Thou shalt not steal from
the poor man. 1t reads simply and plainly,
Thou shalt not steal"
No good whatever viii come from that
varied and mock morality which denounces
the misdeeds Of men Of wealth and forgets
the %isdeeds praetised at Their expense;
TO blackmafl which foams with rage IL q
corporation secures favors by improper
methods and merely leers with hideous mirth
AOa6<0-
The only public servant who can be trust
ed honestly to protect the rights of the |
public against the misdeed of a corporation
IL that public man who will just as surely
protect the corporation itsAf, from wrong
ful aggression. II a public man Is willing |
to yield to popular clamor and do wrong to
the men or wealth or to rich corporations |
1t may be set down as certain that II the
opportunity comes he will secretly and fur
lively do wrong to the public In the inter-
est or a corporation tft
NJ 80
But, in addition to honesty, we need san
ity. No honesty will make a public man
useful II that man Is timid or foolish. II he
Is a hot-headed zealot or an impractical
visionary. As we strive for reform we lind
that 1t Is not at all merely the case Of a
long uphill pull. On the contrary, there Is
almost as much Of breeching work as of
collar work to depend only on traces means
upset.
The men of wealth who to-day are trying
to prevent the regulation and control of
their business In the interest Of the public
by the proper government authorities will
not succeed, In my judgment, In checking
the progress Of the movement. But II they
sown the wind and would surely reap the
whirlwind, for they would ultimately pro-
woke the violent excuses which accompany
a reform coming by convulsion instead of
by steady and natural growth.
On the other hand, the wild preachers
Of unrest and discomfort, the Wild agita-
tors against the entire existing Order, the
men who act crookedly. whether because of
sinister design or from mere puzzleheaded-
ness the men who preach destruction with
out proposing any substitute for what they
intend to destroy or who propose a substi-
tute which would be far worse than the
existing evils-all these men are the most
opponents OF real reform.
Would Lead Into Deeper Pit.
If they get their way they viii lead the
people into a deeper pit than any into
which they could fall under the present
II they fall to get their way they !
VIII still do incalculable harm by provok- /
ing the kind of reaction which, In its re-
volt against the s~enseless evil of their
teaching. would enthrone more securely than
ever the very evils which their misguided
followers believe they are attacking.
More important than aught else Is the {
development OF the broadcast sympathy 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
their good Is not TO be sought In
pulling down others, but their good must {