Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-21
ENEMIES OF LIBERTY
Greatest Is. Monopoly, Says
Gov. Folk.
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN
"War on Trusts Not an Assault on In
dustry."
OBEDIENCE TO LAW DEMANDED
This Will Not Retard Progress,
Speaker Declares, But Will Put
Business on Firmer Basis.
OBEDIENCE TO LAW DEMANDED

NORFOLK Va. September 21.-'Missouri
day" was celebrated at the jamestown ex-
position today with Gov. Folk of that state
the central figure Of interest. The weather
was ideal. Assembled In the large audience
at the auditorium. where the formal exer-
cises occurred. were several hundred promi
nent men from all parts of the country
who remained over following the adjourn
ment of the League of American Municipal
tiles yesterday to hear Gov Folks address
and participate in the joint celebration at
the exposition today Of Municipal day"
The exercises began in the forenoon, when
Gov. Folk and party, escorted by the Eth
building for the auditorium Henry I. Kent
OF st. Louis, president of the Missouri
jamestown commission, presided.
An address of welcome by Lieut.. Gov
reference to Gov. Folk as a presidential
possibility received tumultous applause. pre-
coded the grafton by Gov. Folk. who took
for his subject Liberty OF the Individual,
q Right. Not q Privilege
Gov Folk held a public reception at the
close Of the speech and after an official
luncheon reviewed a great military parade.
Gov. Folks Speech.
Gov. Folk said. in part:
The magical age in which we live 10 the
result OF the idea that the liberty OF the
individual is a right, not privilege From
this principle has come universal education
and the recognition Of the rights OF the
masses as opposed to the privilege Of the
classes. The nearer We keep to this idea
the more real progress we shall make. and
the further we get from 1t the more re-
moved we shall be from the ideal republic
toward which those who believe In the lib
erty of the individual as q right not as
privilege, are striving.
Our civilization differs from those that
have gone before in that 1t is civilization
OF the Individual. a civilization that de-
mands the education OF all, not OF a rev;
a civilization of equal rights Instead OF
privilege. Our material prosperity and
progress In invention are the outgrowth OF
the principles of liberty and individual
rights. When we depart from these moral
principles our nation will go as others have
gone during the flight Of time through the
ages.
Liberty Of right Of the Individual. not
a privilege. does not mean that each per-
son may do as he pleases without limita-
ton. The liberty that was guaranteed by
the founders of this government Is liberty
under the law.
THE greatest enemy Of the liberty OF the
individual is priviege-the privilege OF law.
lessness, the privilege conferred by law and
the privilege Of monopoly. There has been
a great awakening of the public conscience
during the past few years as to the privi-
lege Of lawlessness. This public conscience
goes marching on day by day correcting
some evil day after day remedying some
wrong.
Battle Against Trusts.
There are some who see danger to our
institutions in the agitation resulting from
the exposures Of wrongdoing in official and
business life. The great combinations Of
capital that have grown up in the past few
years require stricter rules OF regulation
as to their conduct than were needed In
years gone by in relation to individual &C
ton In exposing and prosecuting the
| rong-doing of these aggregations of wealth
| the liberty Of the average individual Is
being protected. The attack on corporate
wrongdoing is not an attack on legitimate
industry. No man or corporation doing an
honest business need fear the arousing of
the conscience of the people against wrong
doing Thoe whose business methods will
not stand the light Of publicity have no right
to complain. When railroads and other
special interests are compelled to obey the
law, it will not retard their development
nor injure their real progress, but will put
them on a more secure and substantial
basis.
I'm the fight against the privilege of law
lessness there have arisen questions be-
tween the federal and state governments
as to the construction OF the powers of
each. II the people Of the states cannot be
expected to enact valid laws with respect
to corporations. by what process of reason
Ing can 1t be assumed that they have the
capacity to legisate for the individual citi-
gen? The states create the corporations.
Shall they be denied the control Of their
creatures?
Rights Of the States
"The regulation Of Interstate commerce
must necessarily be by the federal gov
eminent, but to commerce within the
states. 1t is the right and duty OF the state
to regulate 1t. In ordinary lines Of busi-
ness competition can be trusted to regu-
late prices and protect the people. With a
monopoly, however, the law must supply the
regulation which in the case Of enterprises
open to all is furnished by competition.
Railroads are necessary to the develop
ment OF our vast resources. and are en-
titled to fair treatment the same as indi-
yiduals But unrestrained, their power to
fix rates Is the power to tax, and the power
to tax is the power to destroy.
"The danger to the integrity of the states
can best be checked by the states exercs-
ing their rights Of self-government to the
enactment Of good laws and the enforce
ment of those laws. The states that allow
their self-government to be spread out and
dissipated among many subdivisions until
it becomes SO weak as to mean put nttie
are doing much to aid in the plan OF those
who argue for q more centralized govern
ment at the nations capital.
I'm a sense every governmental question
Is a question Of right or wrong the tarin
is a moral question. A tarln denperateiy
few people the right to prey upon the rest
of the people Is prohibited by the moral
law-the law of conscience. But considered
purely upon an economic basis, the time
has come when a monopoly-oreat1ng tariH
cannot be fairly defended. International
commerce can never be one-sided trans
action Mutually Is the primary law or
trade. Trade restrictions breed trade re-
taliations, and so long we pursue a
policy of hostile exclusiveness we can never