The Cairo bulletin., 1906-12-05

very undesirable move for the gov
ernmental ownership Of Railways II
to secure by the government on be
half of the people as a whole such
adequate control and regulation OF
the great Interstate common carriers
as will do away with the evils which
give rise to the agitation against
them. So the proper anlidote to the
dangerous and wicked agitation
against The men OF wealth as such Is
to secure by proper legislation and
executive action the abolition Of The
grave abuses which actually do Oh.
tain in connection with the business
use Of wealth under our present sys.
tenor rather no systemof failure
to exercise any adequate control al
all. Some persons speak as If the ex
efcise of such governmental control
would do away with the freedom OF
individual initiative and dwarf indi
yidual effort This is mol a fact IL
would be a veritabie calami y To- fail
to put premium upon Individual ini.
tiatiye, individual capaciay and effort
upon the nergN character, and fore.
sight which Is so important to en-.
courage in the individual. But as a
matter of fact the deadening and de-
grading effect Of pure socialism, and
especially Of rs extreme form com
munism, and the destruction Of indi
idual character which they would
bring about are in part achieved by
which results in single individual or
corporation + ing al the expense Of
all others until his or It's rise effect.
ually checks all competition and re.
duces former competitors TO n posi-.
tion OF utter inferiority and subordi.
nation.
In enacting and enforcing such leg
is!ation as this congress already has
TO its credit, we are working on co,
herent plan, with the steady endeavoT
10 secure the needed reform by the
joint action OF the moderate men, the
plain men who do not wish anything
hysterieal or dangerons. but who do
intend TO deal in resoute common
sense fashion with the real and great
evils of the present system The reac.
tionaries and the violent extremists
show symptoms Of joining hands
against us. Both assert, for instance,
that If logical, we should go 10 gov
eminent ownership of railroads and
the like the reaei ionaries, because
on such an issue they think the people
would stand with them, while the ex-
tremists care rather to preach discon-
tent and agitation than TO achieve
solid results. As a matter of fact,
our position is as remote from that
of the Bourbon reactionary as from
that OF the impracticabie or sinister
visionary We hold that the govern
ment should not condDct the business
OF the nation hut that II should exer-
else snch supervision as will insure
its being conducted In the interest OF
the nation. Our aim ig, so far as may
be, 10 secure, for all decent. hard
working men, equality OF opportunity
and equality of burden.
The actual working of our laws has
shown that the efforts to prohibit all
combination. good or bad. is noxious
where II is not ineffective. Combina-
lion of capital like combination Of
labor Is a necessary element of our
present industrial system. II II not
possible completely to prevent it; and
il il were possible such complete pre-
yention would do damage to the body
polite. What we need Is not vaily
10 try 10 prevent all combination bnt
10 secure such rigorous and adequate
control and supervision of the comb
nations as TO prevent their injuring
the public. or existing in such form
as inevitably to threaten injury-for
The mere fact that combination has
secured practically complete control
pf a necessary of life would under any
show that such com
was to he presumed 10 be ad
verse TO The public interest. II Is IN.
fortunate that our present laws should
forbid all combinations instead of
sharply discriminating between those
combinations which do good and those
which d. evil. Rebates,
Ter ms ance, are as often due to the
pressure Of big shippers tas was
shown in the investigation of the
Standard Oil Company and as has
been shown sinceby the investigation
of the tobacco and sugar trusts as to
he initiative of big railroads. Often
'ailroads would like 10 combine for
he purpose of preventing a big ship |
per from ma 'ntaining improper ad-
AT he expense of small |
and Cr the general public. |
such a combination instead Of being |
forbidden by law. ehuld be favored. |
n other words il should he permitted |
o railroads To make agreements, pro
1ided these agreements were sane. |
Toned by the Interstate Commerce |
Commission and were published With
hese two conditions compiled with It /
s impossible TO see what harm such
combination could do 10 the publis !
u large. 4 is public evil to have
N the statute books q law incapable
n full enforcement because both |