The National tribune., 1907-05-02

"osS uicad TIE cNiiS WHICH SpTsHS uD
as attendant upon the very qualities
which give 1t success We of this mighty
western Republic have to graphic with
the dangers that spring frcm popular
seif-govefnment tried on scale inc oTl-
paFaoIy vaster than ever before in the
history of mankind. and from an
Astounding material prosperity greater
also than anything which the world has
hitherto seen.
bchooves US to remember that men can
never escape being governed. Either
they must govern themselves or they
must submit to being governed by 9TH
ers.--If from lawleSSnesS or ficktenesS,
from folly or self-indulgence, they re-
fuse to govern themselves, then most
assuredly in the end they will have to
be governed from the outside. They
can prevent the need of government
from without only by showing that they
possess the power of government from
within. sovereign cannot make eX-
cuses for his failures; a sovereign must
accept the responsibility for the exer-
else of the power that inheres in him:
and where, as is true in our Republic,
the people are sovereign. then the peo-
pie must show a sober understanding
and sane and steadfast purpose II they
are TO preserve that orderly liberty up
on which as foundation every Repub-
lie must rest.
In industrial matters our enormous
prosperity has brought with it certain
grave evils. 1t is our duty to try to
cut out these evils without at the same
time destroying our well-b being itself
This is an era of combination alike in
the world of capital and in the worll
OF labor. Each kind of combination
can do good, and yet each, however
powerful, must be opposed when IL does
ILL., AT the moment the greatest prob
lem before us is how to exercise such
control over the business use Of vast
wealth, individual. but especially cor
porate, as will insure its not being used
against the interest of the public while
yet permitting such ample legitimate
profits as will encourage individual in
ftiGtive. Ii is our business to put a stop
TO abuses and to prevent their recur-
renee. without showing a spirit of mere
vindictiveness for what has been done
In the past. In John Morley's brilliant
sketch of Burke he lays especial stress
upon the fact that Burke more than
almost any other thinker or politician
of his time realized the profound lesson
that in politics we are concerned not
with barren rights. but with duties: not
with abstract truth, but with practical
morality. He especially eulogizes the
way in which in his efforts for economic
reform Burke combined unshakable
resolution in pressing the reform with
profound temperatures of spirit which
made him, while bent on the extirpa-
ton of the evil system, refuse to cherish
an unreasoning and vindictive ill Will
toward the men who had benefited by
it. Said Burke, IF l cannot reform
with equity. l will not reform at all.
There isl state to preserve
as well as a state to REFORM
Abuse Of Corporate Wealth.
This is the exact spirit in which this
country should move to the reform Of
abuses of corporate wealth. The wrong
doer, the man who swindles and cheats,
whether On a big scale or a little one,
shall receive at our hands mercy as
scant as If he committed crimes of vio-
fence or brutality. We are unalterably
determined to prevent wrongdoing in
the future; we have no intention of try
ing to wreak such an indiscriminate
vengeance for wrongs done in the past
as would cOnfound the innocent with
the guilty Our purpose is to build up
rather than to tear down. We show
ourselves the truest friends of property
when we make it evident that we will
rot tolerate the abuses of property. We
are steadily bent on preserving the in
stitution of private property; We combat
every tendency toward reducing the
people to economic servitude; and we
care not whether the tendency IS due to
a sinister agitation directed against all
property, or whether it is due to the
actions of those members of the preda-
tory classes whose anti-social power is
increased because of the
very fact that they possess wealth.
Above all. We insist that while facing
changed conditions and new problems.
we must face them in the spirit which
our forefathers showed when they
founded and preserved this Republic.
The cornerstone of the Republic lies in
our treating each man on his worth as
a man, paying no heed to his creed, his
birthplace or his occupation, asking not
whether he Is rich or poor, whether he
laborS with head OF hand; asking OnIy
he acts decently and honorably
in the various relations of his life,
he behaves we'll to his family,
to his neishbors. to the state. We base
our regard for each man on the essen
tials and not the accidents
Judged by Deeds.
We judge him not by his profession,
but by his deeds: by mis- conduct not by
what he has acquired of this worlds
goods. Other Republics have fallen,
because the citizens gradually grew to
the interests of class before
the interests of the whole; for when
such was the case it mattered little
il was the poor who plundered
the rich Or the rich who exploited the
poor: in either event the end of the
Republic was at hand. We are resolute
in our purpose not to fall into such a
pit. This great Republic of ours shall
never become the Government Of a plrI-
tocracy, and it shall never become the
of mob. God willing, it
shall remain what our fathers who
it meant il to be-a Govern
worth as a man, where each is given
the largest personal liberty consistent
with securing the well-being of the
whole. and where, so far as in us lies,
We strive continually to secure for each
man such equality of opportunity that
in the strife of life ne may have fair
chance to show the stun that is in him.
We are proud of our schools and of the
trained intelligence they give our chill
dren the opportunity to acquire But
what we care for most is the character
Of the average man; for we believe that
4 the average of character in the indi-
1idual citizen is sufficiently high, if he
possesses those qualities which make
him worthy of respect in his family life
and in his work outside, as well as the
qualities which fit him for success in
the hard struggle of actual existence
that II such is the character of our in
dividual citizenship, there is literally no
hight IF triumph unattainable in this
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