The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-04

more fortunate. If. therefore, the loss
 fortunate man is moved by envy If tho conditions under which they have
 both. though unequally, pfospereo. the result will assuredly be that while damage may como to the one struck load the one who strikes the blow Taken as whole, we must all go up or go down together.
 "Iet, while not merely admitting. but insisting upon this, 1t is also true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some of the ex. ceptionaf men use their energies, not an ways that are for the Common sood common good. The fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large. and vest such power m those that wield them. as 70 make " sovereign--that Is, to the Government which represents the people as whole some effective power of supervision insure a healthy social and industrial | life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, and be accountable to, some soverign strong enough 10
 control its conduct I am in no senss of combination. and any effort to pre- vent all combination will be not only useless, but in the end vicious. because | failure to enforce law inevitably pro- duces. We should. moreover. recog- nize in cordial and ample fashion the | immense good effected by corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and I the wealth of intellect, energy, and fi- delity devoted to their service. and I therefore normally to the service of the l public, by their officers and directors: l The corporation has come to stay. Just l 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 | justice. The makers of our Ma I tional Constitution provided especially l that the regulation of interstate coni-
 mercc should come within the @ sphere guments In favor of their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. I But they are far stronger today In great business agencies, usually cor l porate in form. Experience has shpwn | concfusively that 1t is useless to try to I get any adequate regulation and super State action Such regulation and su- pervision can only be effectively cXer- cised by sovereign whose jurts.hcts ! ion is co-extensivc with the neld eI | tho National Government. believe | that this regulation and superVfsion can be obtained by the enactment CT
 law by the Congress, n eau,ioasy | and carefully undertaken hut resoiute- 1 ly perseyered in, to assert the sover- I eighty of the National Government sy
 amgnhhs aThis is not mai only in form an fnnova- | ton. In substance 1t is merely res | toration; for from the earliest time I such regulation of industrial activities has been recognized in the action Of propose is to meet tho changed condi l tions in such manner as will prevent l the Commonwealth abdfcating the only in this country. but also in Eng l land before and since this country Le- came separate nation.
 l "It has been a misfortune. that tho
 hitherto been of a negative or prohih l itiye rathep than an Affirmative kind l and still more that they have In pafi sought to prohibit what could not De
 effectiveIy prohibited, and have ir I part their prohibitions confounded whst should be allowed and what should mol be allowed. 1t is generally useless td l try to prohibit all restraint on compe. l tition, whether this restraint be reas' enable or unreasonagie; and where Il | is not uselessSit is generally 'hurtful
 = The successful prosecution or one
 device to evade the law immediately develops another device to accomplish the same purpose. What Is needed is not sweeping prohibition ct every ar | rangement. good or bad, which may tend
 
 quate supervision and regulation as Il will prevent any restriction of compe. | tition from being to the detrirent ci
 the public. as well as such supefvision l abuses in no way connected With re.
 striction of competition"
 f I have called your attention in these | quotations to what I have already said l because am satisfied that 1t Is the duty of the Nationai Government tO embody in action the principles thus
 expressed.
 I Intcrstate Commerce.
 | No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an ex' tresne the national virtue of self-re- l liance. of independence in initiative | and action. It is wise to conserve this l virtue and to provide for its fullest
 exercise. compatible with seeing thai liberty does not become a liberty tc | wrong others. Unfortunately, this is
 the kind of liberty that the lack of al l effective regulation inevitably breeds I The founders of the Constitution pro yided that the National Government
 should have complete and sole cont, O. of interstate commerce There wal then practically no interstate business save such as was conducted by water and this the National Government al once proceeded to regulate in thor. oughgoing and effective fashion. Con ditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by watel is insignificant compared with ths amount that goes by land, and almost all big business concerns arc now en- gagged in interstate commerce. As result, 1t can be but partially and i'm perfectly controlled or regulated by the action of any one of the severa 1 States; such action inevitably tending
 to be either too drastic or else too lax and in either case ineffective for pur | poses of justice. Only the Nattopa
 Government caR in thorOughgoing fash ion exercise the needed control. Thii
 does not mean that there should b.
 any extension of Federal aU
 ready exists under the Constitution 1T
 amplest and most far reaching form
 but it does mean that there should
 be an extension of Federal activity
 This is not advocating centralfzation
 It is merely looking facts In the face
 and realizing that standardization in bus | mess has already come and cannot b'
 avoided or undone, and that the pnbliI
 ct large can onlY\ protect itself Iron
 certain evil effects of this business cen
 tralization by providing better methodi
 for the exercise of control through m
 authority already centralized in th'
 National Government by the Constitu
 ticn itself. There must be no halt fl the healthy constructive course of ac
 tion which the Nation has, elected tt
 pursue. and has steadily pursued, dur
 the legislation of the Congress and th
 administration of the law by the De | partment of Justice. The most vita
 needs Is in connection with the rail | roads. As to these, in my judgment
 there should now be either nationa
 railway companies to engage in inter \ ! state commerce upon certain condi
 tions The law should be so framed
 as to give to the Interstate Commerc'