Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-12-03

TEN the interests of all men are so
closely intertwined that in the i'm
mense majority OF cases a straight
dealing man, who by his efficiency,
by his ingenuity and industry, ben
ehts himself must also benefit 9TH
ers. Normally. the man of great
productive capacity who becomes
rich by guiding the labor of many
other inen does so by enabling them
to produce more than they could
produce without his guidance; and
both he and they share in the ben
eft which comes also to the public
at large. The superficial fact that
the sharing may be unequal must
never blind us to the underlying
fact that there is this sharing. and
that the benefit comes in some de-
gree to each man concerned. Norm
ally, the wagewOrker the man of
small means, and the average con-
sumer, as well as the average pro-
j Queer, are all alike helped by MAX
ing conditions such that the man of
exceptional business ability receives
} an exceptional reward for his abil-
! ity. Something can be done by leg
islation to help the general prosper
| ity; but no such help of a perma-
nently beneficial character can be
given to the less able and less for
tunate save as the results of a policy
which shall inure to the advantage
of a industrious and efficient peo-
! pie who act decently; and this is
! only another way of saying that any
( benefit which comes to the less able
and less fortunate must of necessity
/ come even more to the more able
and more fortunate. If, therefore,
the less fortunate man is moved by
envy of his more fortunate brother
to strike at the conditions under
which they have both. though un-
equally, prOsDered. the result will
assuredly be that while damage may
come to the one struck at it will
visit with an even heavier load the
one who strikes the blow Taken as
whole, we must all go up or go
down together.
! Yet, while not merely admitting,
/ but insisting upon this, il is also
| true that where there is no govern
mental restraint or supervision some
of the exceptional men use their en-
ergies, not in ways that are for the
common good, but in ways which
tell against this common good. The
fortunes amassed through corporate
/ organization are now so large. and
vest such power in those that WELD
them, as to make 1t a matter of ne
/ cessity to give to the sovereign
! that is, to the government, which
repres ents the people as a whole
some effective power of supervision
over their corporate use. In order
! to insure a healthy social and in
| dustrial life, every big corporation
should be held responsible by, and
! be accountable to, some sovereign
strong enough to control its con-
duct | am in no sense hostile to
corporations. This is an age of
combination, and any effort to pre-
vent all combination VIII be not
only useless, but in the end vicious,
because of the contempt for law
which the failure to enforce law in
evitably produces. We should, more
over, recognize in cordial and ans
pie fashion the immense good eff
fected by corporate agencies in a
country such as ours, and the wealth
of intellect, energy and tidefity
devoted to their service, and there
I1Hy ~ Cnrufnn nf tho
public, by their officers and direct
ors The corporation has come to
stay, just as the trade union has
come to stay. Each can do and has
done great good. Each should be
favored so long as it does good. But
each should be sharply checked
where it acts against law and just
fee.
"~ The makers of our
( National Constitution prodived es-
pecially that the regulation of in
terstate commerce should come
within the sphere of the general
government. The arguments In fav-
or of their taking this stand were
even then overwhelming. But they
are far stronger today, in view OF
the enormous development of great
business agencies, usually corporate
in form. Experience has shown
concIusively that it is useless to try
TO get any adequate regulation and
superyision of these great corpora
tions by state action, Such regula-
ton and supervision can only be ef-
fectively exercised by sovereign
lcoBtinued on Page 2.)