The Washington herald., 1907-01-09
Government and the Corporations.

We find in the New York sun some very
suggestive reflections upon recent reve-
latiors OF the methods Of our financial
and industrial magnates. which may be
taken as representative of considerable
body Of sincere, conservative sentiment in
this country:
Who is 1t, If a truth that is bringing the
law into disrepute and discrediting the Consi-
tution-President Roosaelt or the men who ex-
ploit our great corporations:
If Mr.. Roosevelt has no instinct for the law
and no susceptibility TO its spirit and traditions
nevertheless he viii be sustained and approved by
the people so long as such colorado justification
Of his acts IS hurled in the face Of the public
The whole subject Is an object lesson and a study
in the problem Of How % wreck form Of GOV
eminent
We begin by secret debauchery in business
methods We corrupt our common carriers. We
buy, BY corruption infamous advantages over our
competitors in business We ruin thousands: and
thriving, our lust for lawless gain grows by what
II feeds We reJort on the blaczmau q legis-
lators by buying legislatures. that the infection
Of our morals and our methods taints the whole
body polite. Everywhere the destroying cauker
spreads; il invades all ranks. vitiates the moral
and dIsors the national perspective of right
and wrong. Who is really 10 blame If old rene
dies Inadequate and If in the extremity Of the
issue the law and the offender fan together"
But why should the law fall with the
offender What menace TO the Constitu-
tion OF TO our form of government is
there In applying to the offender the
principles of common justice? Why
should any one think that governmental
mastery over the industrial and financial
powers that prey must inevitably carry
with 1t fundamental changes in the struc-
tUTe of our political Institutions amount
ing to subversion Of the Constitution and
exaltation Of the Executive TO a dangerous
and threatening eminence2
We do not believe our government,
either State or National, so powerless. in
capaCitated, and Intellectual that it will
fall before the supreme test now con-
fronting it of establishing justice In the
industrial and financial world. and Of
maintaining equitable relations among
men under the novel and complex con-
ditions Of modern life. Nor do we think
that old remedies are Inadequate and that
new and untried principles of jurispru-
dence must be invoked to meet the ex-
,tremities Of the issue. Rather do we
agree with Secretary Root when he said
in his Utica speech that not a single
principle is invoked in this warfare
against corporate wrongdoing that has
not for centuries been familiar 10 the
common law of England and America; no
control is asserted over business which
was not recognized and approved in the
days Of Mansfield and Eldon. Marshall
and Kent" But" remarks Secretary
Root. in the same connection. TO exer-
else that same measure Of control under
the new conditions Of our day. new agen-
cies and new methods have had to be pro-
vided by law and sanctioned by the
courts. These agencies can be provided
without Straining the constitutions of
either the National or the State govern
ments, by the intelligent application 70
present-day conditions of the very prin-
cipies upon which popular government is
founded. The momentum. pending issue
Is whether our governments will fail In.
their plain duty to promote economic jus-
tice and whether, by the exercise of the
power eonstitutionally committed to
them, they viii be able 10 assert the
supremacy of the law over all men. no
matter how masterful and unscrupulous.
whose activities in the Industrial and
financial world affect the weI-being of
others.
Our real danger lies in the other direc-
ton It proceeds from the insidious con-