The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-04

I naval program needs strengthening. Incidentally I think the voyage will have one good effect for, to judge by their comments on the movement, some excellent people in my own sec tion of the country need to be re- minded that the Pacific coast is ev- 1-actly as much part of this nation as the Atlantic coast
 Increased Federal Powers.
 | So much for foreign affairs. Now ! for a matter of domestic policy. Here ! in this country we have founded a great federal democratic republic. It
 is a government by and for the people i end therefore a genuine democracy;
 and the theory of our constitution Is
 that each neighborhood shall be left
 to deal with the things that concern
 only itself and which it can most
 readily deal with so that town, coun-
 ty city and State have their respec- tive spheres of duty while the nation
 deals with those matters which con-
 cern all of us, all of the people, no
 matter where we dwell.
 Our democracy is based upon the
 belief that each individual ought to
 have the largest measure of liberty
 compatible with securing the rights
 of other individuals, that the average
 citizen, the plain man whom we meet
 in daily life, is normally capable of
 taking care of his own affairs, and has
 no desire to wrong any one else; and
 yet that in the interest of all there
 shall be sufficient power lodged some
 where to prevent wicked people from
 trampling the weak under foot for
 their own gain Our constant en-
 deavoris to make a good working com
 promise whereby we shall secure the
 full benefit of individual initiative
 and responsibility, while at the same
 time recognizing that 1t Is the func-
 tion of wise government under mod
 ern conditions not merely to protect
 life and property, but to foster the so-
 cial development of the people so far
 as this may be done by maintaining and promoting justice, honesty, and equal rights. We believe in a real, not a sham, democracy We believe in democracy as regards political
 rights, as regards education, and, , finally, as regards industrial condi-
 tions. By democracy we understand , securing as far as 1t is humanly pos- , sible to secure it, equality of oppor- tunity, equality of the conditions un- i der which each man Is to show the stuff that is in him and to achieve the i measure of success to which his own f force of mind and character entitle 1 him. Rellgiously this means that ' each man is to have the right, un- | hindered by the State, to worship his { Creator as his conscience dictates, , granting freely to others the same $ freedom which he asks for himself. Politically we can be said substan-
 tially to have worked out our demo- cratic ideals, and the same is true,
 thanks to the common schools in ed
 ucational matters. But in industry |, there has not as yet been the govern Q mental growth necessary in order to
 meet the tremendous changes t brought about in industrial conditions 5 by steam and electricity It Is not in , accordance with our principles that . literally despotic power should be put c into the hands of few men in the : affairs of the industrial world. Our = effort must be for just and effective
 plan of action which, while scrupul- Y ously safeguarding the rights of the { men of wealth, shall yet, so far as is , humanly possible, secure under the
 law to all men equality of opportun- Il ty to make living It is to the in-
 terest of all of us that the man of ex-
 ceptional business capacity should be
 amply rewarded; and there is nothnie
 inconsistent with this in our insist. . ence that he shall not be guilty ot
 bribery or extorton, and that the ' rights of the wageworker and of the 5 man of small means, who are them ', selves honest and hard working, shal - be scrupulously safe-guarded. Int . instruments for the exercise of mod ' ern industrial power are the grea a corporations which, though created '. by the individual States, have growr y far beyond the control of those Statei i. and transact their business through ,ss out large sections of the Union u These corporations, like the industria - conditions which have called then ,e into being, did not exist when tn = Constitution was founded; but tn, Y wise forethought of the founders pro = vided, under the interstate commerc
 clause of the Constitution, for tn, |. very emergency which has arisen, i only our people as a whole will real ize what this emergency Is; for = the people thoroughly realize it, thei T. governmental representatives vii <, soon realize it also. The nationa
 government alone has sufficientl ta extensive power and Jurisdiction " to exercise adequate con trol over the great interstate cor :. porations. While this thorough su pervision and control by the natona < government is desirable primarily il 5 the interest of the people, it will also - I firmly believe, be to the benefit o
 those corporations themselves whicl "a desire to be honest and law-abiding IS Control the Railroads.
 c. The first need is to exercise this fed et eral control in thoroughgoing and eff B fcient fashion over the railroads sa which. because of their peculiar posi- li' ton. offer the most immediate and UT H. gent problem. The American people at i- hor a vacuum, and is determined tha lo It this control shall be exercised some u' where; it is most unwise for the rail IL roads not to recognize this and to sub ,i, init to it as the first requisite of tn ll55 situation. When this control is excl