New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-10-05

5uiIsuicuoh, and that both jurisdictions together
composed only one uniform and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
system Of government and laws: thai &c nhane
ever the states cannot act because thu nead 70
be met is not one Of merely a s;noIa iao.I,.,r
then the national government rsnrsso,.I III
the people. should have complete nower tn oct
IL was as, N the spirit OF Wilson that Washington
and 1t was In the same spirit thai MarshaIi
construed the law. ' 1Hai siAAi
1t is only by acting In this sn,-,+ .ha. .ha
national judges, legislators ana ayao.t eIO
give a satisfactory solution of the 60. -
ton OF the present day-the question Of pro
Viding on behalf OF the sovereign naonIa +ba
means which will enable the peonle n aeseottvs
form TO assert their sovereignty over Tho an,
mense corporations Of the day Certain Indicia1
decisions have done Just what Wiison Faared.
they nave as a matter Of fact left yacancies
Ieft pianks between the limits Of possible state
.urlsdlctlon and the limits of actual national
jurisdiction over the control of the great bust
ness corporations. 1t is the narrow constr,,ction
% % t me powers OF the national government which
IN our democracy has proved the chief means
or limiting the national power to cut out abuses
Anu "hlch is now the chief bulwark of those
great moneyed interests which oppose and dread
any attempt to place them under efficient GOV
ernmental control ' s0'
Many legislative actions and many judicial
ueS,sIohs winch am confident time will show
10 have been erroneous and a damage to the
country would have been avoided IL our legis-
Ietors and jurtsts had approached the matter
-, % sLiActng ana constituting the laws OF the land
IN the Spirit of your great Pennsylvanian Jus
ice Mison-ln the spirit of Marshall and of
ashington. Such decisions put US at great
disadvantage In the battle for industrial order
as against the present Industrial chaos. If we
interpret the Constitution in narrow instead OF
broad fashion, If forsake the principles of
Washington, Marshall, Wilson and Hamilton
we people will render ourselves impotent
10 deal with any abuses which may be COM
mitted by the men who have accumulated the
enormous fortunes Of to-day, and who these
ness.
The legislative or judicial actions and de-
cisions OF which complain, be 1t remembered,
DO not really leave 10 the states power to deal
with corporate wealth in business. Actual
perience has shown that the states wholly
powerless to deal with this subject and any
action decision that deprives the nation Of
the power TO deal with it simply results in
leaving the corporations absolutely free to work
without any effective supervision whatever; and
such course is frausht with untold danger to
the future OF our whole system of govern
ment and. indeed. to our whole civilization
SHOULD CONTROL SWOLLEN FORTUNES.
All honest men must abhor and reprobate any
effort to excite hostility to men Of wealth as
such. We should do all we can to encourage
thrift and business energy, to put premium
upon the conduct Of the man who honestly earns
his livelihood and more than his livelihood, and
who honestly uses the money he has earned. But
II is our duty to see in the interest of the
people, that there is adequate supervision ana
control the business of the swollen
fortunes OF to-day, and also wisely 10 determine
the conditions upon which these fortunes are to
be transmitted and the percentage that they
shall pay to the government whose protecting
arm alone enables them to exist. Only the nation
can do this work. To relegate it TO the states IS
a farce, and is simply another way OF saying
that IL shall not be done at all.
Under a wise and farseeing Interpretation OF
the interstate commerce clause of the Constitu-
ton, I maintain that the national government
should have complete power to deal with all OF
this wealth which IN any way goes into the COM
merce between the states-and practically all or
It that is employed in the great corporations
does thus go in The national legislators should
most scrupulously avoid any demagogic leglsla-
ton about the business Of this wealth, and
should realize that IL would he better TO have no
legislation at al than legislation couched either
IN q vindictive spirit Of hatred toward men or
wealth or else drawn with the recklessness or
inlpracticable Missionaries. But. on the other
hand, 1t shall and must ultimately be understood
that the United States government, on behalf or
the people OF the United States. has and is TO
exercise the power OF supervision and control
over the business use OF this wealth-in the first
place. over ell the work OF the common carriers
OF the nation, and in the next place over the
work OF all the great corporations which directly
indirectly DO any interstate business whatever
and this includes almost all Of the great cor
DoTattons.
GAINING CONTROL OF CORPORATIONS.
During the last few years the national govern
rnent has taken very long strides in the direction
of exercising and securing this adequate control
over the great corporations, and 1t was under
the leadership Of one of the most honored public
men IN our country one Of Pennsylvania's most
eminent sons-thsz present Senator, and then At
torney General Knox-that the new departure
was begun. Events have moved fast during the
last Eve years, and IL IS curious TO look back at
the extreme bitterness which not merely the
spokesman and representatives or organized
wealth. but many most excellent conservative
people then felt as TO the action OF MT hIloA
and Of the administration.
Many Of the greatest fnauaiers Of this coun-
try were certain that Mr.. Knoxs Northern Secu-
rifles suit if won. would plunge US into the
worst panic we had ever seen. They denounced
as Indictment TO anarchy. as an apology for So
cfalisr the advocacy of policies that either have
now become law or are in fair way OF becoming ming
law; and yet these same policies, so far from
representing either anarchy or socialism, were
IN reality the antdotes TO anarchy. the anttdotes
TO socialism To exercise q constantly increas-
ing and constantly more efficient supervision and
control over the great common carriers OF the
country prevents all necessity for seriously con-
sidering such a project as the government own
ership OF railroads. policy wnicn %OuIo DC
evil in its results from every standpoint
A similar extension Of the national power TO
oversee and secure correct behavior in the man
ageInent of ell great corporations engaged IN
interstate business VIII in similar fashion render
far more stable the present system by dong
away with those grave abuses which not
only evil IN themselves but are also evil because
they furnish an excuse for ag1tators 10 inrlame
well meaning people against an forms OF p p
erty and 10 commit the country to schemes OF
wild, woud-be remedy which would work m
finitely more harm than the disease Itself The
government ought not 10 conouct tne BUSINESS
OF the country; but il ought 70 regulate 1t so
that It shall be conducted IN the interest OF the
public.
which IN the national government we have been
pursuing in the last few years, and which we
intend steadily and progressively TO pursue IN
the future, is that IL Is condemned with aIInost
equal rancor alike by the reactionaries-th
T8ourbons-on one SIDE. and by the wild apostles
OF unrest on the other. The reectionary IS Dit
terly angry because wo have deprived him OF
that portion Of his power which he mlsuses 10
the public hurt; the asitator Is angereo Tor va
that by remedying the abuses we have deprived
him OF the fulcrun OF real grievance, which
alone renders the lever OF irrational agitation
formidable
We have actually accomplished much But We
have not accomplished all. nor anything like al;
that we feel must be accomplished. We shall
1,of. EbaN ste