The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??, 1907-08-29

+ nifty to thrust and slash at his r
+ pet aversiOns-the predatory =
+ rich and the apostles Of disor- =
E der. The address was most eff +
+ fective and Is bound to produce +
+ results that will be felt at the =
+ farthest corners OF the country. =
+ Its most strenuous paragraph +
+ was altered twice within twenty r
+ four hours, and as ultimately de- +
I. livcred was about as plain a +
+ gage of battle to criminal +
+ wealth as the President has =
+ ever uttered. +
+**S-%%+++$+*%%
remedies, which were. to large de-
gree, at least as interpreted by the
courts. contradictory. On the one hand,
under the antitrust law. the effort was
made to prohibit all combination.
whether 1t was or was not hurtful or
beneficial to the public. On the other
hand. through the interstate commerce
law, a beginning was made in exercis-
ing such supervision and control over
combinations as to prevent their do
ing anything harmful to the body poll
tic. The first law, the so-called Sher-
man law, has filled useful place. for
it bridges over the transition period
until the American people shall defln
itely make up its mind that 1t will ex-
ercise over the great corporations
that thoroughgoing and radical control
which it is certain ultimately to find
necessary. The principle of the Sher-
man law. 80 far as 1t prohibits COM
binations which, whether because OF
their extent or of their character, are
harmful to the public, must always be
preserved. Ultimately, and hope with
reasonable speed, the national govern
ment must pass laws which, while in
creasing the supervisory and regula-
tory power of the government. also
permit such useful combinations as are
made with absolute openness and as
the representatives of the government
may previously approve. But 1t will
not be possible to permit such combi-
nations save as the second stage in a
course of proceedings of which the
first stage must be the exercise Of a
far more complete control by the ma
tional government.
In dealing with those who offend
against the antitrust and interstate
commerce laws the Department of JUS
tice has to encounter many and great
difficulties. Often men who have been
guilty of violating these laws have re-
ally acted in criminal fashion and il
possible should be proceeded against
criminally, and therefore it is advis-
able that there should be a clause in
these laws providing for such criminal
action and for punishment by impris-
onment as well as by fine. But as Is
well known, in a criminal action the
law is strictly construed in favor of
the defendant, and In our country at
least, both Judge and jury are far more
inclined to consider his rights than
they are the interests of the general
public; while in addition 1t is always
true that a mans general practices
may be 30 bad that a civil action will
lie when 1t may not be possible to con-
vict him of any one criminal act
The Undesirable Citizen.
There Is unfortunately certain
number of our fellow countrymen who
seem to accept the view that unless a
man can be proved guilty OF some par
ucular crime he shall be counted a
good citizen, no matter how Infamous
the life he has led, no matter how per-
nicious his doctrines or his practices.
This Is the view announced from time
to time with clamorous insistence, now
by a group of predatory capitalists,
now by group of sinister anarchistic
leaders and agitators whenever spe-
cial champion OF either class, no mat
ter how evil his general life, is ac-
quilted of some one specific crime.
Such view is wicked whether applied
to capitalist or labor leader, to rich
man or poor man. But we have to take
this feeling into account when we are
debating whether 1t is possible to get
a conviction In criminal proceeding
against some rich trust magnate, many
of whose actions are severely to be
condemned from the moral and social
standpoint, but no one of whose ac-
tons seems clearly to establish such
technical guilt as will insure q convic.
ton. AS matter OF expediency in en-
forcing the law against great corpor-
alton we have continually to weigh the
arguments pro and con as to whether
q prosecution can successfully be en-
tered into, and as to whether we can
be successful in criminal action
against the chief individuals in the
corporation, and II not, whether we
can at least be successful in civil &C
ton against the corporation itself
Any effective action on the part Of the
government is always objected to. as
matter of course, by the wrongdoers
by the beneficiaries OF the wrongdoers
and by their champions; and often one
of the most effective ways Of attack
ing the action of the government is by
Directing to practical action upon the
ground that 1t does not go far enough
One of the favorite devices of those
who are really striving to prevent the
enforcement Of these laws Is to clamor
for action Of such severity that 1t can
not be undertaken, because 1t. will be
certain to fail II tried An instance OF
this is the demand often made for
criminal prosecutions where such
prosecutions would be certain to fail