Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-03-15
The Good Wrought
by Our Captains
of Industry" :
BY Colonel A. X. MCCLURE OF Philadelphia. Author
and Journalist

public. They are popularity classed as captains of industry,
and, however justly their methods may be criticised at
times. they have done more to hasten the advancement OF
industry, commerce and trade in this country than has ever been ac-
complshed BY ALL ITS CRAFTSMANSHIP of the past They
are shining examples of the wonderful opportunity our free govern
ment offers to even its humblest citizens. Most of them-indeed all II
them, so far as L know-are the sole architects OF their own fortunes.
They sprang from the ranks of the people, from close to MotherE artn,
but in their early struggles, when friendless and fornneless, they pos
sessed the genius and intelligence to understand The POSSIBLE
TIES OF INDUSTRY and financial advancement They are men
like Cassatt, Hill and others in railway progress; like Carnegie, who
made himself master of the steel industry of the world; like Duke, who
combined the tobacco interests of the country with immense fortune to
himself and his associates and cheapened the product to consumers;
like Widener, whose genius mastered the local transit of all the leading
cities of the country; and many others who have achieved like success
in a less degree.
These men teach the lesson that THE FIELD AND THE
SHOP ARE THE CRADLES OF MEN, but they arr today the
welcome guests and invited counselors of kings and emperors in the
old world, because their achievements in industrial development have
placed the United States in advance of all the governments of Europe,
upon whom w were once largely dependent. These great captains
are only men and human after all, and it is natural that they should
arouse hostility from the old time laggards who adhered to old time
customs and thus INVITED BANKRUPTCY. That they should,
with their vast opportunities, at times aim at the exercise OF power that
could be made oppressive on the people is not surprising, but they have
made five transcontnental railway lines mostly out of private capital,
and all now realize good profits; they have developed UNTOLD MIL
LIONS OF NATIONAL WEALTH.; they have hastily peoped ter
ritories and developed them until they now Join in the galaxy of states
in the Union. =.
Taking this new class of American greatness, with all its defects, it
can be said that it has given this country more advancement in a single
decade than could have been attained IN HALF A CENTURY
without this new element that has quickened every industry, multiplied
our railways and made millions of prosperous homes.
THEY HAVE ATTRACTED FROM CRAFTSMANSHIP THE AsLEsT
MEN OF THE NATION, AND THEY STAND TO-DAY IN THE VERY
FRONT RANK OF WELL EARNED AND SUCCESSFUL NATIONAL
DISTINCTION.
1t is only natural that this sudden and marvellous development OF
corporate advancement, by which multimilionares were vastly null
tiplied, should aim to get the best results from their great enterprises
and at times even at the cost of JUSTICE TO THE PUBLIC. This
has led to what was at first a feeble opposition to what was commonly
called corporate greed" but it grew from year to year and finally
brought fruit in the interstate commerce commission and the Sherman
antitrust law.
Today the public sentiment in favor of governmental restraint is
stronger than it has ever been, and at no time in the past has it been
so aggressive. 1t is not a sudden ebunition of POPULAR PAS
SION, but rather the result of the settled convictions OF fair minded
people throughout the land, AID behind them is a vast unmeasured
host of iders and unsuccessful people who have gradually drifted into
Socialism and are rapidly tending toward anarchy. The Soclalnshc
tendency of the times is one that must be reckoned with, and the wise
way to deal with it is to DISARM IT BY JUST LAWS, not only
regulating great corporate interests, but PROTECTING them as
well.
Who could deny the absolute necessity for governmental restraint
of our insurance corporations after the painful developments recently
made in New York, and the time has come when the great railway,
as well as the great industrial combinations of the country, should join
the government in framing laws which would maintain EQUAL AND
EXACT JUSTICE between corporate and public interests.
Rebates and other unlawful combinations by railways cannot be
continued, and our great industrial combinations cannot attempt the
restraint of general industry and trade. Conditions have reached us
which are IMPERIOUS in the demand for such restraints, and the
wise policy for all the vast interests to be effected by such legislation
would be to cooperate with the national government.
THUS MIGHT BE FRAMED LAWS WHICH WOULD NOT ONLY
GIVE ABSOLUTE PROTECTION TO THE PUBLIC AGAINST uNLAw-
Full METHODS ON THE PART OF CORPORATIONS. BUT WOULD
ALSO AFFORD THEM THE FULLEST PROTECTION OF THE LAWS
IN ALL THEIR JUST RIGHTS.
Why Some College Men Fail
" IT,