Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-25

duty was hard and often d1SagreeaDle
and not the men who confined them
selves to idle talk Of no matter how
high sounding. nature, who have
done real good to the islands These
are the men who have brought justic,
as between man and man; who ar,
building roads; who have introduced
schools; who, gradually, with patienc.
! and firmness, are really fitting tn,
| islanders for self government
SO it is with the great question:
which group themselves round the con
troll Of corporations in the interest O,
the public. There has been a curious
revival of the doctrine of State rights
IN connection with these questions bv
the people who know that the State
can not with justice to both sides prac-
ideally control the corporations, anC
VINO therefore advocate such control
because they do not venture to express
their real wish. which is that Their.
snail be no control at all. Honest and
lar dealing railway corporations will
gam anu not lose by adequate feder-
al CONTROL mos emphatically, it is
Doth the duty and the interest of our
people to deal fairly with such corpora.
lions and to see that a premium is nut
upon the honest management of them
and that those who invest in them ar,
amply protected. But those who in
woke the doctrine of state rights To
protect state corporate creations in
predatory activities extended through
other states are as shortsighted as
those who once invoked the same doc
| trine to protect the special slave hold.
1 nj h.
| that they have not the ability to curl
the power of syndicated wealth and
| therefore. in the interest of the peo.
pie, it must be done by national ac
| ton.
Our present warfare is against snec.
ial privilege. Tho men-manv of them
IL am sorry to say, college men--who
are prompt to speak against every
practical means which can be devised
Tor achieving the object we have in
Flew-the proper and adequate super
vision by the Federal government of tn
great corporations doing an inter
| state buSinesS-are, nevertheless
| themselves pOWerless to SO much as
outline any plan Of contructive states.
manship which shall give relief.
nave watched for six years these mon
|
Vate life. and though they are prolnnr
10 crltlclse every affirmative step tax
| en-, L have yet to see one of them If.
a niger to remedy the wrongs tha
exist. so 1t is in every field of publ
activity. States rights should be pre-
served when they mean the peoples
rlshts. but not when they mean tn
| peoples wrongs; not, for instance
| Wheh they are invoked to prevent til
abolition of child labor, or to break the
force of the laws which prohibit tn
importation of contract labor to Thu
country: in short, not when they STAN,
| LOT wrong or oppression of any kind
or for national weakness or impotence
at hcme or abroad. 1t is to the men
WHO work in practical fashion with
| thelr fellows, and not to those who
whether because they are impractical,
or incapable. can not thus work. that
we owe what success we have had in
dealing with every problem which we
| nave either solved or started on the
pain of solution during the last de-
| cade.
| The last ten years have been wears Of
great achievement for this nation. Dur
ing that period we have dealt and are
dealing with many different matters of
great moment. We have acquired the
| right to build. and are now building
the Panama Canal. We have given
wise government to the PHILIPPINES.
| We have dealt with exceedingly COM
pick. difficult. and important oues-
| tons in Cuba and Santo Domingo We
nave built up the Navy; our surest
safeguard of rH;.ce and of national
honor. We are making great progress
| Ill dealing with the questions of irriga- =
ton and forestry. of preserving to the
| public the rightful use of the public
lands and of the mineral wealth UNDER
| lying them; and with that group of
vital questions which concern the prom
er supervision of the immense corpora
| lions doing an interstate business. the
| proper control OF the great highways
| OF interstate commerce, the proper
| regulation of industries which. if left
| unrcgulated, threaten disaster to the
| body polite. We have done MANY
other things. such as securing the set
| Element of the Alaska boundary. We
| have made progress in securing better
| relations between capital and labor.
justice as between them and as re-
CARDS the general public: and ade-
| Quate protection for wage-workers. We
lave done much in enforcing the law
alike against great and small; against
crimes of greed and cunning no less
than against crimes of violence and
brutality. We have wrought nightly
! for the peace of righteousness, both
| among the nations and in social and in
dustrial life here at home. Much has
been done, and we are girding up our
| lons to do more.
| In all these matters there have been
| some men in public life and some men
i'm private life whose action has been at
| every point one of barren criticism or
| fruitless obstruction. These men have
had no part or lot in the great record
of achievement and success; the rec
ord of good work worthily done. Some
of these men have been college gradu-
atos; but all of them have been poor
AR*******$