The sun., 1906-12-05
SECOND SECTION

over the beef-packtng industry, mark sxl
important advance In the proper dlroc&
ton. In tho short session y VIII perhap4
be dic1cult TO do much fsirther along thi
laws have been In operation for q numbe<|
OF months before endeavortng 70 increaH8l
their scope, because only operation VIII
show with exactness their merits and theie
shoEtsemin.s and ,-aSss thus give ] SSY0ssS;n s;ss
tion is needed. Yet In my Judgment ttV
will In the end be advisable IN connecticut
with the packing house INSPECTION law
provide for putting q date on the labrt
sSs ana psstsrs sSp sSese The Is laws have sirssd
justified their enactment. The Intcrstat1
Comm cree law, for instance, has rathsxS
annusingly falsihed the predictions, bcth
Of those who asserted that II would ruln2
that It did not 90 far enough and WOULD
Accomplish nothing. During the last fiv4I
months the railroads have shown inercaset
earnings and some OF them unusual divi1
mere taking efect of the law has produced
an unprecedented, hitherto unheard of
number OF voluntary reductions in frci8hta7
and fares by the railrc ads. Since tha<
founding Of the commission there 80
never been a tine Of equal length in whicl1
anything like % many reduced tariffs havW&
been nut into effect. On Aug. n, for inS|
stance, two days before the new law .weu9
into eject, the commission received mol
tioes OF over 5000 separate tariffs whics3
rspressnid reductions from prsv'0oT
It must not be supposed. however. that
with the passage OF these laws 10 will n<t1
possible TO stop progress along the line of
increasing the power OF the national Gov
ernment over the use oil capital IN inter
state commerce. For example, there win
ultimately be need of enlarging Tho powersf'
of he Interstate Commerce Commission&
L.. a. aavr<r
il a larger and more efficient control overt'
the railroads.
1t cannot Zoo often he repeated that ex-.
perience has conciusively shown the im-X
possibility Of securing by the actions or
nearly half hundred different State legie-
latures anything but ineffective chaos inN
the way Of dealing with the great corpora
tions which do not operate exclusivelyN
within the limits OF any one state. IN
some method, whether by national liceneA \
law or In other fashion. we must exercise
and that at an early date. Tar more COM
plete control than at present over theer
great corporations-a control that wtil.
among other things, prevent the evils OF en-
ceesive overcapitalizaion and that will COM
pei the disclosure by each big corporation 4
of it's stockholders and OF it's properties and
business, whether owned directly or through
subsidiary or affiliated corporations. This
inordinate profits by favored individuals ~
the expense whether Of the general public,
the stockholders or the wageworkers. Our,
effort sVDuld be not SO much to prevent
consolidation as such. but 80 to supervise
and control 1t as to see that IL results IN no
harm to the people. The reactionsry
or ultraconservative apologists for TIE
misuse Of wealth assai tho cf.
fort to secure such control as Al
step toward socialism. As matter OF fact
it Is these reactionaries and ultraconserva~
tives who are themselves most potent In
increasing socialistio feeling. One OF the
most efficient methods OF aveTting the CON-
sequences Of dangerous agitation which
per cent Of evil as TO which the agitation
is well founded. The best way TO avert
the very undesirable move for the govern
mental ownership OF railways 10 70 secure
as a whole such adequate control and reg
ulation OF the great Interstate common car
riers as viii do away with the evils whichN
give Tiss 10 the agitation against them.
So the proper antidote 20 the dangSs us
and wicked agitation against the men Of
wealth as such Is to secure by proper legis-
lation and executive action the abolition OF
the grave abuses which actually do obtain
in connection with the business use. o.
wealth under our present systen-or rathef
no system-of failure TO exercise any ade-
quate control at all. Some persons speak
as u the exercise of such governmental con-
troll would do away with the freodom OF
individual initiative and dwarf Individual
-
veritable calamity TO fail to put q premium
upon individual initiative, individual capa-
city and effort; upon the energy, character
and foresight which 1t is 80 important 20
encourage In the Individual. But aa
matter Of fact the deadening and degrading
effect of pure socialism, and especially ~
its extreme form communism, and the o.
struction OF individual character which
they would bring about, are In part achieved
by the wholly unregulated competttton
which results In q single individual or cor
poration rising at the expense OF all othern
until his or its rise efectually checks al
competition and reduces former compotl-
tors to position OF utter infertority ana
subordination.
In enacting and enforcing such leyslation
as this Congress already has TO it's credit
we are working on coherent plan, with
the steady endeavor to secure the needed
reform by the joint action Of the moderate
men the plain men who do not wish any.
thing hysterioal or dang erous, but who DO
intend to deal in resolute common sense
fashion with the real and great evils af
the present system. The reactlonarles sne
the violent extremists show symptoms OF
joining hands against US. Both assert, tor
instance, that, IL logical, we should go
government ownership Of railroads and thI
Like; the reactionaries, ecause on such
issue they think the people would stan
with them, while the extremists care rath,
to preach discomfort and agitation than
achieve solid results. As a matter OF TAO
our position is as remote from that OF
Bourbon reactionary as from that OF
impractical le or sinister visionary.
hold that the Government should not co
duct the business of the nation, but tn
1t should exercise such supervision as "
insure its icing conducted in the inters
of the nation. Our aim is. so far as 20
be, to secure, for all decent, hard-workI
men, equality Of opportunity and equal
OF burden.
The actual working of our laws has shoJ
that the effort to prohibit all combinations
good or bad, is noxlous where it is not in-
effective. Combination Of capital, like com
bination of labor, is a necessary element OF
our present Industrial system IL is not
possible completely TO prevent It: and II
It were possiI le, such complete prevention
would do damage to the body polite. What
we need Ia not vainly to try to prevent all
combination but TO secure such rigorous and
adequate control and supervision Of the
combinations as to prevent their injuring
the put lie, or existing in such form a.
inevitably to threaten injury--for the mere
fact that a combination has secured prac-
tioally complete control Of q necessary OF
life would under any circumstances show
that such combination wac TO be pre- sumed
1a-A-