The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1907-12-12


SiXtieth Congress is'of great length, the
longest ever penned by any President, ami
in full contains over $4,000 words. In
part the President says:
No nation has greater resources than
ours, and think it can be truthfully said
that the citizens of no nation possess
greater energy and Industrial ability. In
no nation are the fundamental business
conditions sOunder than in ours at this
very moment; and it is foolish, when
such is The case, for people to hoard
money instead of keeping it in sound
banks; for i. is such boarding that is the
immediate occasion of money stringency.
Moreover, as a rule, the business of our
people is conducted with honesty ana
probty, and this applies alike to farms
and factories, TO railroads and banks. to
all our legitimate commercial enterprises.
In any large body of men. however
there are certain to be some who are dis
honest, and if the Condit .OnS are such that
these men prosper or commit their mis-
deeds with impunity, their example is a
very evil thing for the community. Where
these men are business men of great sa-
Sacity and of temperament both unscrupu-
lous and reckless, and where the condi-
tions are such that they act without SUI
perviSIon or control and at first without
effective check from public opinion, they
delude many innocent people into making
Investments or embarking in kinds of
business that are really unsound. When
the mlsdecds OF these successfully diShon-
est men are discovered, suffering comes
not only upon them, but upon the inno-
cent men whom they have mised 1t is
q painful awakening whenever it occurs
and, naturally, when it does occur those
who suffer are apt to forget that the long
er lt was deferred the more painful II
would be- In the effort to punish the
guilty it is both wise and proper to en-
deavor so far as possible to minimize the
distress of those who have been mised by
the guilty. Yet it is not possible to re-
frain because Of such distress from striv-
ing to put an end to the misdeedS that are
the ultimate causes of the suffering and
.as means TO this end, where possible to
punish those responsible for them. There
may be honest differences of opinion As to
many governmental policies: but surely
there can be no such differences as to the
need of untlnching perseverance in the
war against successful dishonesty.
Interstate Commerce..
The founders of the constitution provid-
ed that the national government should
have complete and sole control of inter
state commerce. There was then prac-
tically no interstate business save such as
tional government at once proceeded to
regulate in thOroughgoing and effective
fashion. Conditions have now so wholly
changed that the interstate commerce by
water is insignificant compared with the
amount that goes by land, and almost all
big business concerns are now engaged in
interstate commerce. AS result, ii can
beebut partially and imperfectly controli-
ed or regulated by the action of any one
OF the several States: such action inevita-
bly, tending to be either toe drastic or
else too lax, and in either case ineffective
for purposes OF justice. Only the national
government can in thoroughgcing fashion
exercise the needed control. This does not
mean that there should be any extension
of federal authority, for such authority
already exists under the constitution in
amplest and most far reaching form but
il does mean that there should be an ex-
tension of federal activity. The most
vital need is in connection with the rail-
roads. AS to these, in my judgment there
should now be either national incorpo.
ration act or law licensing railway COM
panies to engage in interstate commerce
upon CERTAIN conditions. The railroads
and all other great corpora tions will do
we'll to recognize that this control must
come; the only question Is as to what gov
ernmental body can most wisely exer-
else il.
sherman Antitrust Law.
Moreover. in my Judgment, there should
be additional legislation looking to the
proper control of the great business con-
Germs engaged in interstate business, this
control to be exercised for their own bene-
tit and prosperity no less than for the
protection of investors and of the general
public AS | have repeatedly said IN
messages to the Congress and elsewhere,
experience has definitely shown not mere
ly the unwiSdom but the futility of en-
>"nvorlng to put stop to all business
comb nations. Modern industrial condi-
tons are such that combination is not
only H. ~3sSary but inevitable. 1t is so
in the wo..a of business just as it is SO
in the worit Jf labor. and II is as idle to
desire to put an end to all corporations,
II all big combinations of capital, as to
desire to put an end to combinations of
labor. Corporation and labor union alike
have come TO stay. Each if properly man.
aged is a source of good and not evil.
Whenever in either there is evil. it should
be promptly held TO account; but it should
receive hearty encouragement so long as
1t h properly managed. 1t is profoundly
immoral to put or keep on the statute
books law, nominally in the interest of
public morality, that really puts a pre-
MUM upon public immortality. by under
taking to forbid honest men from doing
what must be done under modern business
conditions so that the law itself provides
that its own infractiou must be the con-
dition precedent upon business success.
To aim at the accomplishment of too
much usually means the accomplishment
of too little, and often the doing of posi-
tive damage.
The antitrust law should not be repeal
ed: but 1t should lie made both more eff
cient and more in harmony with actual con-
ditions. 1t should be so amended as to
forbid only the kind of combination which
does harm to the general public, such
amendment to be accompanied by, or to be
an incident of, grant of supervisory pow
er to the government over these big con-
Germs engaged in interstate business. This
should be accompanied by provision for the
compulsory publication of accounts and the
subsection Of books and papers to the in