The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15

the unrest Of mere RIGHTEOUSNESS against
| life, of mere dissatisfaction with the in
| eyitable inequality Of conditions, but the
unrest of a resolute and eager. ambition
to secure the betterment OF the individual
and the nation. So far as this movement
of agitation throughout the country. takes
the form of a fierce discomfort, with evil,
of a determination to punish the authors
OF evil, whether in industry or politics, the
feeling is to be heartily welcomed as q sign
OF healthy life.
If, on the other hand, it turns into a mere
crusade of appetite against appetite. OF, a
contest between the brutal, greed, OF the
"have nots" and the brutal greed ofthe
"haves," then 1t has nc. Significance for
good, but only for evil. If it seeks to estab-
lish a line of cleavage, not along the line
which divides good men from bad, but along
that other line, running at right angles
thereto, which divides those who are well
off from those who are less we'll on, then 1t
will he fraught with lm~rneasuraole harm
to the body polite.
MUST NOT coNDoNE EVIL,
We can no more and no less afford to con-
done evil in the man Of canital than
evil in the man Of no capital. The wealthy
man who eXults because there Is a failure
Of Justice in the effort to bring some trust
maRnate 10 an account for his misdeeds
is a. bad as, and no worse than, the so-called
labor leader who clamorously strives TO
excite a foul class feeling on behalf OF some
other labor leader who is implicated in
murder. One attitude Is "a bad az the
other, and no worse; in each case the accused
il entitled to exact Justice, and in neither
case is there need of action by others which
can be construed into an expression OF
sympathy for crime.
1t is a prime necessity that il 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 in a mere spasm OF
reform. The reform that counts Is that
which comes through steady. continuous
growth; violent emotionalism leads 10 e&-
haustion.
Again. the national Government must
in some form exercise supervision over
corporations enga ged in interstate ousl-
ness-and all large corporations are en-
gagged in interstate business whether by
license or otherwise, so az to permit us TO
deal with the far reaching evils OF over
capitalization. This year we are making
a beginning in the direction OF serious
effort to settle some of these economic
problems by the railway rate legislation
Such legislation, il 80 framed, as am
sure il will be, as to secure definite ana
tangible results. will amount to something
of itself: and it will amount to a great deal
more in so far "a it is taken "a a first step
in the direction of a policy OF s,iperintend-
ence and control over corporate wealth
| engaged in interstate commerce, this super,
i%ntendence and control not TO be eXerclseo
| in a sririt of malevolence toward the men
who have created wealth. but with the
firm purpose both to do justice to them and
to see that they in their turn do justice 10
the public at large.
The first requisite in the public servants
who are to deal in this shape with corpora
tons. whether as legislators or as execu-
tives, is honesty. This honesty can he no
respecter of persons. There can he no such
! thing as unilateral honesty. The danger
is not really from corrupt corporatlons,,-lt
springs from the corruption Itself, whether
exercised for or against corporations.
WARPED MORALITY.
/ The Eighth Commandment reads. Thou
| shalt not steal" 1t does not read. Thou
shalt not steal from the rich man" 1t
does not read, "Thou shalt not steal from
the poor man" 1t reads simply and plainly,
Thou shalt not steal No good what
ever will come from that warped and mock
| morality which denounces the misdeeds
! of men of wealth and forgets the misdeeds
| practised at their expense; which denounces
| bribery. but blinds itself to blackmatl;
which foams with rage il a corporation
secures favors by. improper. methods and
merely leers with hideous mirth il the cor
Doration is itself wronged. The only
hubble servant who can be trusted honestly
TO protect the rights of the public against
the misdeed Of Il corporation IL that ubli
man who will lust "a surely protect the cor
IOIdllCIl llNCH llolA NSo
If a public man il willing to yield to popular
clamior and do wrong to the men OF wealth
| or to rich corporations it may be act down
as certain that if the opportunity comes
he will secretly and furuTeiy DO wrong to
the public in the interest of q corporation.
But, in addition to honesty, we need
| sanity. No honesty will make a public
man useful If that man is timid or foolish,
if he is a hotheaded zealot or an impracti-
| cable visionary. As We strive for reform
we find that it Is not at all merely the case
of a long uphill pdll. On the contrary.
| there is almost as much Of breeding work
as of collar work to depend only on traces
means that there will soon be a runaway
and an upset. The men of wealth who
! to-day are trying to prevent the regulation
| and control Of their business In the interest
of the public by the proper Government
| authorities will not succeed. in my judg-
! ment. But if they did succeed they would
find that they had sown the wind and would
surely reap the whirlwind, for they would
ultimately provoke the violent excuses
which accompany a reform coming by
c~onvulsion instead Of by steady and natural
growth.
WILD PREACHERS OF UNREST
On the other hand, the wild preachers Of
unrest and discomfort, the Wild agitators
against the entire existing. order. the men
who act ~crookedly, whether because of
sinister design or from mere puzzle headed
ness, the men who preach destruction with
out proposing any substitute for what
they intend to destroy, or who propose a
substitute which would be far worse than
the existing evils-all these men are the
most dangerous opponents of real reform.
If they get their way they will lead the
people into a deeper pit than any into which
| they could fall under the present system.
If they fail to get their way they will still
do incalculable harm by provoking the
ki.d of reaction which in it's revolt against
the eenseless evil of their teaching would
| enthrone more securely than ever the very
evils which their Misguided followers be-
lieve they are attacking,
More important than aught else is the de-
velopment Of the broadest sympathy of
man for man. The welfare OF the wage