Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-04-20

that it is not all merely the case Of
a long uphill pull. On the contrary,
there is almost as much Of breeching
work as of collar work: to depend on
ly on traces means that there will
soon be runaway and an upset.
THE men of wealth who today are
trying to prevent the regulation and
control of their business in the inter-
est of the public by proper govern
ment authorities win not succeed, in
my judgment, in checking the progress
of the movement. But If they did sue
coed they would find that they had
sown the wind and would surely reap
the whirlwind for they would ultimate
ly provoke the violent excuses which |
accompany a reform coming by con-
vulsion instead of by steady and nat
ural growth On the other hand, the
wild preachers of unrest and discon-
tent, the wild agitators against the
entire existing order, the men who act
crookedly, whether because of sinister
design or from mere puzzleheadedness,
the men who preach destruction with
out proposing any substitute for what
they intend to destroy, or VINO pro-
pose a substitute which would be far
worse than the existing evils-all
these men are the most dangerous OPP
ponents of real reform. If they get
their way, they will lead the people
into a deeper pit than any into which
they fall under the present system.
If they fail to get their way they will
still do incalculable damage by pro-
voking the kind of reaction which in
it's revolt against the senseless evil
of their teachings would enthrone
more securely than ever every evil
which their misguided followers be-
lieve they are attacking.
more important than aught else is
the development of the broadcast sym
pathy of man for man, The welfare
of the wageworker, the welfare of the
tiller of the soil, upon these depend
the welfare of the entire country;
their good is not to be sought in pull
ing down others, but their good must
| be the prime object of all of our states
manship. Materially we must strive
to secure broader economic opportu-
nifty for all men, so that each shall
have better chance to show the stuff
of which he is made; spiritually, and
ethically, we must strive to bring
about clean living and right thinking.
We appreciate that the things of the
body are important; but we appreciate
also that the things of the soul are
immeasurably more important. The
foundation stone of national life is, and
ever must be, the high individual char
acter of the average citizen"
Again, the national government
must in some form exercise supervi
sion over corporations engaged in in
terstate business-and all large cor
porations are engaged in interstate
usiness-whether by license or other
wise, so as to permit us to deal witt
the far-reaching evils of overcapital
ization. This year we are making
beginning in the direction of seriou
effort to settle some of these econom
Tics by the railway rate Legislation
Such legislation, if so framed, as l an
|
and tangible results, will amount t
something of itself; and it will amour
to a great deal more in so far as it
: taken as a first step in the directio
: of policy of superintendent and cor
troll over corporate wealth, engaged 1
1 interstate commerce. This superb
e tendence and control ought not to
exercised in a spirit of malevolence t.
ward the men who have created tn
: wealth, but with the firm purpose bot
. to do justice to them and to see tina
3 they in their turn do justice to tn
: public at large The first requisite i
the public servants who are to des
in this shape with corporations, whetl
er as legislators or executives, is hoI
{ esty. This honesty can be no respec
| err of persons. There can be no sue
e thing as unilateral honesty. The daI
ger is not really from corrupt corpC
0 rations; it springs from the corruptio
itself, whether exercised for or agains
/ corporations.
mo good whatever will come froI
that warped and mock morality whic
J denounces the misdeeds of men {
u wealth and forgets the misdeeds pra'
! ticod at their expense; which denouI
ces bribery, but blinds itself to blacl
, mail; which foams with rage If Co
!. poration secures favors by imprope
: methods and merely leers with hid'
Gus mirth if the corporation is itse
wronged.
! The only public servant who ca
: be trusted honestly to protect tn
rights of the public against the mil
deeds of a corporation is that publ
: man who will just as surely proteC
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