Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1906-04-21

coed they would find that they had
s'wn the wind and would surely reap
the whirlwind for they would ultimate
| ly provoke the violent excuses which
| accompany a reform coming by con-
vulsion instead of by steady and nat
| ural growth. On the other hand, the
wild preachers of unrest and dscon-
tent, the wild agitators against the
entire existing order, the men who act
crookedly, whether because of sinister
design or from mere puzzleheadedness
the men who preach destruction with
| out proposing any substitute for what
they intend to destroy. or VINO pro-
pose a substitute which would be far
worse than the existing evils--all
these men are the most dangerous OPP
ponents of real reform. If they get
their way, they will lead the people
into deeper pit than any into which
they fall under the lesent system.
If they fail to get their way they will
still do incalculable damage by pro-
voking the kind OF reaction which in
its revolt against the senseless evil
of their teachings would enthrone
more securely than ever every evil
which their misguided followers be-
lieve they are attacking.
More important than aught else is
the development of the broadcast sym
pathy of man for man. The welfare
of the wageworker, the welfare of the
tiller of the soil upon these depend
the welfare of the entire country;
their good is not to be s0u"it . pull
ing down others, but their good must
be the prime object of all of our states
manship. Materially we must strive
to secure a broader economic opportu-
nifty for all 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 important but we appreciate
also that the things of the soul are
UNNECESSARILY more important. The
foundation stone of national life is, and
ever must be, the high individual char
acter of the average citizen"
Again, the national government
must in some form exercise supervi-
sion over corporations engaged in i'll
terstate business-and all large cor
porations are engaged in interstate
| business-whether by license or other
r,iCn 70 mi ~
the farreaching evils of overcapital-
| ization. This year we are making a
beginning in the direction of serious
| effort to settle some of these econom-
| les by the railway rate legislation.
Such legislation, if so framed, as | am
sure it will be. as to secure definite
| and tangible results, will amount TO
| something of itself; and it will amount
to a great deal more in so far as it is
taken as first step in the direction
of policy of superintendent and con-
| troll over corporate wealth, engaged in
interstate commerce. This superin-
tendence and control ought not to be
exercised in spirit of malevolence to
| ward the men who have created the
! wealth, but with the firm purpose boil
to do justice to them and to see tina
they in their turn do justice to The
public at large. The first requisite in
the public servants who are to dea
in this shape with corporations, wheth
er as legislators or executives, is hon
esty. This honesty can be no respect
er of persons. There can be no such
thing as unilateral honesty. The dan
ger is not really from corrupt corpo-
rations; it springs from the corruption
itself, whether exercised for or against
corporations.
mo good whatever will come from
that warped and mock morality which
denounces the misdeeds of men of
wealth and forgets the misdeeds prac-
ticed at their expense; which denoun-
ces bribery but blinds itself to black
mail; which foams with rage if a cor
poratiOn secures favors by improper
methods and merely leers with hide
Gus mirth if the corporation is itself
| wrOnged.
The only public servant who can
be trusted honestly to protect the
rights of the public against the mis-
deeds of a corporation is that public
man who will just as surely protect
the corporation itself from wrongful
aggression"