The farmer and mechanic., 1907-02-26

upon YOU Your riches Are corrupted.
and sour garments aT, pnth-eatrn.
\ our gold ana silver Is cankerta. and
the rust 81 them shah be witness
against you. and SHAH eat your flesh
as il were FIRE. Ye have heaped treAs-
uVe together for the last days Behold.
the hire OF the laborers who have reap
ed down your fields. which ls OF you
kept back by fraud crieth. and thc
cries oI them which have reaped are
entered into the ears OF the Lord Of
Ye have lived ln pleasure on
the earth and been Wauton. " have
nourished your hearts. as IA a dAy ~
slaughter. Ye have condemned and
killed the just. ana he doth not resist
YOU"
one Of the sure gains of the present
period OF anxiety and turmoil !s the
focusing OF reSUonsi billy ~ the point
where II belongs. The percentage 81
unfoOldbiiity is rising Very rapidly IN
est III the country. NoDody-or almost
nobody-iS exempt from the great
blanket blame of selfism that covers IN
the situation. but there are degrees Of
vice fixed b. the amount OF oppor-
tunity. The average unfalthfE3ness
gathers its Sodom apples II penalty as
it goes, but riches for a time are able
To postpone the settlement The ordi-
nary gluton sickens with the in1ul-
eence. and more or less is driven To
think and 10 reform; but IN the paimy
days Of Roman luxury, wealth could
and did find ways To cheat the indiges-
ton and. ia measure. antidote the ac-
cumuIating poisons in the blood. SO.
now. the Vagrancies, the petty larce-
nies and the whole brood of smaller
felonles have got what was coming TO
them as they performed themselves.
while the grand thefts were ripening
into organized systematic, skilful, inn
mune and mastery kleptomania. But
the mills of the gods have never ceased
to grind, and day OF reckoning has
arrived in which naturally the high
note of the wailing is carried by the
startled maGnates who thought till now
that they had bought off Nemesis. for
good and all. The effrontery OF
wealth dies hard, however, and in the
proposition of "certaiD influential bust
ness men Of the East" that there
should be secured from President
Roosevelt. in the interest Of public
confidence in the stock market 2
statement TO the effect that he is mot
making war Oh all combinations and
fortunes" the timber line of human
inDudcncc is passed, and the region e I
stark perpetual death to deCcncy and
hOlesiy is reached. Tf there IS any
pa.pabIe and fully demonstrated truth
IN sight in current political history, u
is that tn" present War on corporations
has in no single Instance, purposely or
inadvertently, been directed at wealth.
Of any form or any quantity but ut
stealing and cheating and prOstituting
the law. The acts of the government
in connection with the numerous in
VeSigatiOns ordered show this clearly.
and the Presidents words from time 10
time confirm it. over q year ago in a
message to Congress he expressly con
demned making war on combination,
or on wealth as such Here is a sim
gle paragraph. and in ali the presiden-
tial vOlubility of conversation, public
address and official message since these
words appeared, no sentiment incon-
siStent with it can be found:
THE actual working Of our laws has
shown thar the effort to prohibit all
combination. good or bad. is noxious
Whcer it is not ineffective. Combina-
ton Of capital like combination Of Ia
bOr is u necessary element of our
present industrial system. IT Is not
possible completely 10 prevent it: and
if it were possible such complete pre-
ycntion would DO damage to the body
polite. What We need is not Vainiy
to try TO prevent all combination, but
to secure such rigorous and adequate
control ana supervision o. the combi-
nations IS TO prevent their injuring the
public. or existing in such form as in
eyitably to threaten injury"
1t is the Identical theme taken UP by
the Prohibition party in Pennsylvania
under he leadership Of Silas {. SWal-
low some years ago. in the narpe Of tho
church of Christ and the claims Of
common honesty: Thou shalt not
steal"
Tho fact is that the present attitude
Of the Federal government which the
masnatcs. with great good reason. fear
is spreading mtg all the state gov
ernments also and lining up the peo-
RE everywhere for government con-
troll. or government ownership, is any
thing bat destructive. either in the
temper and conduct Of it. or it's effects
II is destinably and effectively con-
structfve bv befu concretely and ag-
gressivcly instructive. It is no mere
figure Of speech TO say that a great new
trunk line is being made-the Nation
al Safe, Efficient. Polite ana Honest
Railroad II is to be made bS com
bining many lines and operating them
fairly as among the units entering IN
! and the patrons who are to he accom-
modated. II used TO be thought thai
where the lines competed. a railroad
merger was a railroad wreck. but high
er laws than statutes have deere II i
otherwise. The pecuIiarities Of the
business the vastness Of the regions Ia
be served. the capital involved. and the
enormous growth Of traffic have favor
cd and demonstrated. and. in fact
forced combination as the better the
cry not only for the roads but also for
the general good. +. H Hartman
AMI his kind nave on the potJcr's
wheel of divine wealth. been made 10
bring on the lesson and the accom-
plished fact. But they have managed
the properties. merely as property IN
personal interests. The new road is e.
be not personal but national II IL u
be operated. first of all. for all the
people OF the count-: No shipper Is
10 have any advantage over anv other
shipper Of the same class. either as to
classification Of freight or passage. or
the quantity consigned and no state Is
to he favored over another state. II
the states forget that they are sever
ally the agents in their territory for
all the. people Of all the states as re-
CARDS interstate commerce Secretary