The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-14

!Drlng some LruSIs maRuaI6 TO al nc.
count for his misdeeds is las. bad asy
leader who clamorously strives to ex.
cite q foul class feeling on behalf of |
some other labor leader who is impli- |
Gated in murder. One attitude is as
bad as the other, and no worse; in each |
case the accused is entitled to exact |
justice; and in neither case Is there
need Of action by others which can be
construed into an expression Of SYM
patty for crime.
& Tax on Fortunes.
stIt is prime necessity that if the
present unrest is to result in permanent
good the emotion shall be translated
into action, and that the action shall
be marked by honesty, sanity. and self.
restraint. There is mighty little good
form that counts is that which comes
thru steady, continuous growth; violent
emotionalism leads to exhaustion.
cit is important to this people to
grapple with the problems connected
tunes, and ' the use Of those fortunes,
both Corporate and individual, in bust
ness. We should discriminate in the
sharpest way between fortunes well
won and fortunes i'll won; between
ing great services to the community as
q whole, and those gained in evil fash
ion by keeping just within the limits
of mere law honesty. OF course no
amount of charity in spending such
fortunes in any way compensates for
misconduct in making them.
AS matter Of personal conviction,
and without pretending to discuss the
details or formulate the system, feel
4. IL 10, hox ~
slider the adoption of some such scheme
as that of progressive tax on all
fortunes, beyond certain amount,
either given in life or devised or be-
queathed upon death to any individual
Ia tax so framed as to put it out OF
the power Of the owner of one Of these
enormous fortunes to hand on more than
a certain amount to any one md
vidual; the tax, of course, to be I'M
posed by the national and not the
state government Such taxation should,
Of course, be aimed merely at the in
| heritance or transmission in their en-
| tirety of those fortunes swollen be-
You'd all healthy. limits.
"Again, the national government
must in some form exercise supervis-
ion over corporations engaged in inter-
state business-and all large corpora
tions are. engaged in interstate bust
| ness-whether by license or otherwise,
SO. as to permit. us to deal with the
| ton.
''This year we are making begin
ming in the direction Of a serious effort
| to settle some Of these economic prob
lens by the railway-rate legislation.
Such legislation, if so framed, as [ am
sure 1t will be, as to secure definite
| and tangible results, will amount to
| q. l. -
to a great deal more in so far as it is
| taken as a first step in the direction
Of policy Of superintendent and
| control over corporate wealth engaged
In interstate commerce, this superin.
| tendence and control not to be exer
cised in spirit Of malevolence toward
the men who have created the wealth
but with the firm purpose both to do
Justice to them and to see that they
| in their turn do Justice to the public at
4 Honesty First Requisite.
i "The first requisite in the public
servants who are to deal in this shape
with corporations, whether as legisla-
honesty can be no respector of persons.
There can be no such thing as unilat-
eral honesty. The danger is not really
! from corrupt corporations; it springs
from the corruption jtse1f, whether exer-
cised for or against CORPORATIONS.
"The eighth commandment reads,
Thou shalt not steal It does not
read, Thou shalt not steal from the
rich man. ,.a.;It' does mot read Thou
reads simply and plainly, Thou shalt
, not steal
" No good whatever will come from
that warped and mock morality which
!. denounces the misdeeds of men OF
wealth and forgets the misdeeds prac.
ticed at their expense; which denounces
bribery. but blinds itself to blackmail;
which foams with rage if corporation
secures favors by improper methods
and merely leers with -hideous. mirth if
the corporation is itself wronged.
tThe only public servant who car
be trusted honestly to protect the rights
Of the public against the misdeed Of q
corporation is that public man who viii
, just as surely protect the corporation
itself from wrongful aggression. If g
public man is willing to yield to popu
lar 'clamor and do wrong to the men OF
wealth or to rich corporations, it may
: be set down as certain that if, the ,op
portunity comes he will secretly and
interest of a corporation. .er3.
But, in addition to honesty, we neei
! ! sanity. No honesty will make publ,
man useful if that man is timid or fool
! ish, it he is a hotheaded zealot or al
. impracticable visionary. AS we striv,
7 for reform we find that IL is not at al
, merely the, case of a long uphill pull
z On the contrary, there is almost al
! much OF breeching work as of cola
Z work; to depend only on traces mean
that there will soon be a runaway ant
I an upset.
The men Of wealth who today ar
trying to prevent the regulation an,
9 control of their business in the interes
0 of the public by the proper governmen
: authorities will not succeed, in m,
Y Judgment, in checking the progress O
the movement. But if they did succee,
g they would find that they had sown tn
q wind and would surely reap the whirl
Q wind, for they would ultimately prc
= woke the violent excuses which accom-
pany reform coming by convulsion in
stead Of by steady and natural growth
Wild Preachers Dangerous.
9 Son the other hand, the wild preach
4 ers of unrest and discomfort, the vii
It agitators against the entire existin
el order, the men who act crookedl,
It'll whether because Of sinister, design Q
d from mere puzzle headedness, the me
l. who preach destruction without propo.
& ing any substitute forTwhat they inten
Q to destroy, or who propose substitute
\ which would be far worse than the e,
} listing evils-al1 these men are the mos
IL dangerous opponents Of real reform.
III they get their way they wi