Semi-weekly herald., 1907-10-07


accepted as permanent. as something
to be persevered in because Of the
interest of the whole people, and with
out regard to any possible political
changes.
Before closing let me say word
upon the subject of the regulation of
the railways by congress under the
interstate commerce clause OF the con-
OF them have become SO habituated to
disregarding everything but their own
wishes and interests that the effort
to establish proper supervision over
them has aroused on their part a Curl
ously unreasonable antagonism. Their
that in what we have been trying to
dc we have not been improperly radi-
cal; using the word in it's right sense
we have been conservative. We have
merely taken the first steps in policy
which must be permanent if our demo
cratic institutions are to endure; while
stS a hid'ttl vi tOuTSt, we uluSl dlSb
keep ever in mind that it is exactly
as injurious to true democracy to in.
flict, as tamely to suffer, wrong. We
can no more tolerate injustice to the
railroads than injustice by them; one
course is as immoral and as funda-
the people as the other.
In ba r,attar Of c,nnr,,;s;np ,g rbo
great railway corporations we are act
ing as all civilized governments have
already acted or are on the point OF
acting. The unrestricted issue of rail
way securities without any supervision
and under circumstances which often
result in the gravest scandal, should
ernmentai action can it be prevented.
1t is already thus prevented in Eng
land and Germany, for instance. In
England the first royal commission OF
railways. of which that great parlia-
mentary and popular leader, William
Ewart Gladstone. was chairman, set
ioi VI aS luiiudineltdl tne very pTlH-
ciples which here have at last been
enacted into law. or which. as / firmly
believe. will speedily be enacted. OF
course. in any movement like this in
which We are now engaged, in any
movement looking to the regulation of
vast corporate wealth engaged in in
terstate business, and to the cutting
out of all abuses connected Herewith,
there will at times be suffering in
people will be involved. But such suf-
fering of the innocent is unavoidable
i'll every great movement of life Able
and INSCRIPTIONS men are sure to
deceive certain innocent outsiders and
persuade them to invest in ventures
under conditions which render loss
certain when the force of the law is
asserted. | am exceedingly sorry for
these innocent people; but it is not
possible. because of them to refuse to
proceed against the men who have
victimized them. 1t is just such
case as would occur If an unscrupu-
lous man with counterfeit money Wis.
tied some remote village, spent his
money. and then disappeared. The To-
cal innkeeper and livery stable keep.
er. the shopkeeper and the neighbor
ing farmer, would all have been vic
tlmized; they would have lodged and
FED the man, have supplied him with
goods from the store and the farm.
have hired horses and wagons to
him. and in return would find them
selves loaded with counterfeit money.
II, under such circumstances, the gov
ernment found out what had happen
ed 1t would have no alternative save
to stop the circulation of the counter
felt money. though those possessing
l. were innocent. 1t would. of course,
try to secure the conviction of the
thief but If he had escaped the juris-
diction of the law, it would neverthe-
less be impossible to let his innocent
victims continue to pass his by no
means innocent counterfeit money
Well, just the same thing is true when
1t comes to enforcing the law against
business men of great wealth who
have violated ii. People are always
beseechlng me not to enforce II
against them, because innocent out
siders may be hurt, or, only to en-
force 1t with gentleness that would
prevent anybody. good or bad. from
being hurt. 1t is not possible to com.
ply with such requests. even when
they are made in good faith. This is
a government of law, a law which
applies to great and small alike. IL
am sorry indeed when it happens that
big men who do wrong have involved
smaller men with no bad intentions
to such an extent that they suffer
when we force the undoing of the
wrong. But we can not hold our
hands for such a consideration. The
responsibility for the suffering of