Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-08-21

combine with others whenever II De-
came necessary to do job winch
could not be as we'll done by any one
man individually.
/ These were the qualities, when en-
abled him to do his work. ana tney
are the very qualities which we must
| show in doing our work today. Ihere
/ is no use in our coming here 10 pay
homage to the men who founded tnls
nation unless we first Of all come IN the
spirit of trying to do our work toda!
las they did their work in the yesterdays
that have vanished. The problems
shift from generation to generation' out
the spirit in which they must be APP
IproacheG, if they are to be sue
[cessively solved, remains ever thcsam".
The Puritan famed the wilderness.
l and built up free government
lon the stump-dotted clearings amid
| tho nrimeval forest. His decen-
,lants must try to shape the life of our
complex Industrial civilization by new
devices, by new methods, so as to
achieve in the end the same results of
Justice and fair dealing toward all. He
| cast aside nothing old merely for the
sake of innovation. yet he did not hest
tate to adopt anything new that would
save his purpose. When he planted his
| commemorative on this rugged coast
| he faced wholly new conditions and he
had to devise new methods of meeting
| them. So we of today face wholly
new conditions in our social and in
dustrial life. We should certainly not
adopt any new scheme for graphing
with them merely because it is new and
untried: but we can not afford to shrink
from graphing with them because they
can be grtppled with by some new
| scheme.
| The Puritan was no LaOdicean, no
| lai,SeZ-1aire theoriSt. When he saw
| conduct which was in violation of his
| rishts-of the rights of man. the rights
| of God, as he understood them-he at
tempted to regulate such conduct with
| instant, understanding promptnesS and
| effectiveness. If there was no other
way to secure conformity with the
rule of right, then he smote down the
| tranSgrcSsor with the iron of his warth
| The spirit of the Puritan was a spirit
which never shrank from regulation OF
| conduct if such regulation was necess-
airy for the public veal: and this is
the spirit which We must show today
| whenever it is necessary.
| The utterly changed conditions of oul
national life necesSitate changes in Ger
tain of our laws, of our government
methods. Our federal system of gov
lernment is based upon the theory OF
leaving To each community. to eacl
State, the control over these things
(which effect only its own members and
which the PEOPLE of the locality them
selves can best grapple with, while
providing for the national regulation
in those matters which necessarily af.
feet the nation as 4 whole. 1t seem.
to me that such questions as nationa
tSovcreiSnty and states rights need t.
be treated not clnpirically or acadcmi
Ically, but from the standpoint of tn,
interests of the people as whole. Ma
tional sovereignty is to be upheld il
so far as it means the sovereignty o
the people used for the real and ulti
Innate good of the people: and state:
rights are tn be upheld in so far as the,
mean the peoples rights. Especially il
this true in dealing with the relations
of the people as Il whole to the grea
corporations which are the distinguish
inc feature of modern bushes:
conditions.
| Experience has shown that it is nee
essary to exercise Il far more cliicien
| control than at present over the bust
ness use Of those vast fortunes, chief
ly corporate, which are used Gas unde
modern conditions they almost in
variably are) in interstate business
| When the Constitution was created
, none of the conditions of modern bust
ness existed. They are wholly new
, and we must create new agencies t.
deal effectively with them. There il
, no objection in the minds of this peo
pie to any mans earning any amour
of money if he does it honestly all'
, fairly. if he gets it as the result o
special skill and enterprise, as re
ward Of ample service actually rem
dered But there is n growing deter
, mination that no man shall amaSs ;
great fortune by special privilege. b.
chicanery and wrong doing. 50 far a
it is in the power of legislation to pre-
vent; and that the fortune whel
amassed shall not have business u.s.
that is antisocial. Most large cor
poratlonS do business that is no
=, | confined to any one state Expert
. rnce has shown that the effort to con
troll these corporations by mere stat
= 1
suits In most cases such effort fan
| to correct the real abuses Of which tn
corporation is or may be guilty
; while IN other cases the effort is hp
to cause either hardship to the cor
| poration itself or else hardship t
neighboring states which have no
tried to grapple with the problem II
the same manner; and of course W.
| must be as scrupulous to safeSuar'
| the rights of the corporations as I
exact from them in return iu
measure of justice to the puDlic.
believe in Il national Incorporation ''>
for corporations engaged in lhter9,a'
business. | believe, furthermore ''.'
the need for action is most press,"s :"
: regards those corporations winch pu
cause they are common carrietH'
: else a ouasi-pnb;c function ar :,
which can be completely controlieu' !.
all respects by the Federal soHern
rnent. by the exercise of the pow.
5 conferred under the intersta'e-o",t'
c MERGE clause, and, if necessary. ui
$ the post-rnad clause, OF the -. -.
~ a few Years W