The Monticellonian., 1906-12-06


 conditions are so different from what they are here that the introduction ot an etght-hour day on the canal would be absurd. and continues, just about as ab- surd as 1t is, so far as the isthmus IS concerned, where white labor cannot be employed, to bother as to whether the work is done F.i alien black men or alien yellow men"
 Investigation of Disputes.
 He urges the enactment of a drastic child labor law for the District of Co., lumbia and the territories, and a federal investigation of the subject Of child and female labor throughout the country. He reviews the work of the commission appointed to investigate labor conditions in the coal fields Of Pennsylvania in 1902. and refers to the wish of the commission that the state and federal governments should provide the machinery for what may be called the compulsory inNesuga- ton of controversies between employers and employees when they arise. After referring to the fact that bill has al ready been introduced to this end he says; EySs.. ., tsoaa s,rf,os and ,oo,,onts would not have occurred had the parties to the dispute been required to appear before an unprejudiced body representing the nation and, face to face, state the reasons for their contention. In most instances the dispute would doubtless be found to be due to q misunderstanding by each of the others rights, aggravated by an unwllingness of either party 10 ac- eept as true the statements of the other as to the justice or injustice of the mat
 
 dicial spirit by a disinterested body representing the federal government, such as would be provided by commts- sion on concillauon and arbitration would tend to create an atmosphere of ffiendiuess and ConCiliation between con- tending parties and the giving each side an equal opportunity to present fully its case in the presence of the other would prevent many disputes from developing into serious strikes or lockouts' and Tn other cases, would enable the commiS- sion to persuade the opposing parties to come tn terms
 Tn this age of great corporate and la bor combinations, neither employers nor | employees should be left completely at | the mercy of the stronger party to a dis | pute, regardless of the righteousness of their respective claims The proposed measure would be in the line of securing recognition of the fact that in many ! strikes the public has itself an interest i which cannot wisely be disregarded. an l interest not merely of general conven- | fence. for the question of just and proper public policy must also be con sidered In all legislation of this kind | it is well to advance cautiously, testing | proposed can surely be safely taken, for the decisions of the commission would | not bind the parties in legal fashion, and yet would give chance for public opin- l ion to exert it's full force for the right.
 Control of Corporations.
 A considerable portion of the message | is devoted to the subject of federal con- | trol of corporations in what he refers to the passage at the last session of the rate, meat inspection and food laws, and l says that all of these have already Just- | fled their enactment, but recommends | the amendment of the meat inspection law so as to put dates on the labels ot meat products, and also to. place the | cost Of inspection on the packers rather | than on the government. Continuing on | this subject of the control of corporations i by the federal government he says; "It cannot too often be repeated that ex- perienee has eenelusively shown the lms nf | nearly half hundred different state | legislatures anything but ineffective | chaos in the way of dealing With the great corporations which do not operate 1 exclusively within the limits Of any one | state. In some method, whether by q l national license law or in other fashion. | We must exercise, and that at an early i date, a far more complete control than 1 at present over these great corpora tions-a control that will among other | things prevent the evils of excessive oyercapitalizatfon, and that will compel l the disclosures by each big corporation l of its stockholders and Of its properues l and business whether owned directly or l thru subsidiary or affiliated corporations.
 This will tend to put a stop to the secur3 | ing of inordinate profits by favored | individuals at the expense whether ot
 the general public, the stockholders; or l the Wageworkers. Our effort should be l not so much to prevent consolidation as such. but so to supervise and control 1t as to see that it results in no harm 10 1 the people. The reactionary or ultracon- | serVatiVe apologsts for the misuse of 1 wealth assail the effort to secure such 1 control as a step toward socialism. AS
 matter of fact it is these reactionaries | and ultraconservatives who are them l selves most potent in increasing soeiahs- l tie feeling One of the most efficient methods of averting the consequences of a dangerous agitation, which is S0 per cent. wrong, is to remedy the 20 per cent; | of evil as to which the agitation IS well | founded The best way to avert the very | undesirable move for the governmental i ownership of railways is to secure by | the government on behalf Of the people
 as a whole such adequate control ana | regulation of the great interstate com
 mon carriers will do away with the | evils which give rise to the agitation | against them So the proper antdote
 to the dangerous and wicked agitauon I against the men of wealth such is to 1 secure by proper legislation and execu-
 tive action the abolition or the grave i abuses which actually do obtain in con
 neetion with the business use Of wealth
 under our present system-or rather no | system-of failure to exercise any ade- | quate control at all. Some persons speak
 as if the exercise of such governmentaI
 control would do away with the freedom | of individual initiative and dwarf indI.
 vidual effort. This is not a fact. II l would be a Vertable calamity to fail to | put a premium upon individual initiative, | individual capacity and effort; upon the
 energy, character and ioreslsnt whtSn itn | it is so important to encourage Tn tne | individual. But as matter of fact the | deadening and degrading effect of pure
 socialism, and especially of its extreme | form communism, and the destruction of | individual character which they would | bring about are in part achieved by the 1 wholly unregulated competition Which
 results in a single individual or corpor- | ation rising at the expense Of all others l until his or it's rise effeetually checks all
 competition and reduces former competi, | tors to a position of utter inferiority and | subordinaton.
 | "In enacting and enforcing such legls- | lation 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 anything hysterical or | dangerous, but who do intend to deal ! the real and great evils of the present | system. The reactionaries and the Nio-
 lent extremists show symptoms of join | ing hands against us. Both assert, for | instance, that if logical, we should go
 to government ownership of railroads | and the like the reactionaries, because | on such an issue they think the people
 would stand with them. while the ex- l tremists care rather to preach discontent l and agitation than to achieve solid re-
 suits. As a matter of fact our position ] is as remote from that of the bourbon reactionary as from that of the imprac- \ ticabe or sinister visionary We hold | that the government should not conduct | the business of the nation, but that it 1 should exercise such supervision as will l insure it's being conducted in the inter
 est of the nation. our aim IS, so lar as
 may be, to secure, for all decent hard
 working men, equality of opportunity and | equality of burden.
 Combinations Are Necessary.
 "The actual working of our laws has