The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-04

fortunate must or necessity come eNen more to the more able and more fortu- nate. If. therefore the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more for tunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have both, though un- equally, prospered, the result will as- suredly be that while damage may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as whole, we must ali go up or go down together.
 ''Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision, some of the exceptional men use their energies, not in ways that are for the common good, but in ways which tell against this common good, Tine fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and vest such power in those that wield them, as to make 1t a matter of necessity to give to the sovereign-that Is, to the govern ment, which represents the people as l wholesome effective power of supervi- sion over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control it's conduct l am in no sense hostile to corporations This is age of combina- lipht anu any tlloll tO PltNcnl dil toin- bination will be not only useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, more- over, recognize in cordial and ample fash ion the immense good effected by corpor- ate agencies in country such as ours, and the wealth of intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore normally to the service of the tt,,l lip l,u fhnit The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so long as 1t does good. But each should be sharply checked where 1t acts against law and justice.
 "% The makers of our national constitution provided especially that the regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the general government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger today in view of the enormous develop ment of great business agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and super vision of these great corporations by state action. Such regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction Is coexten- sive with the field of work of the cor poratons-that Is, by the national gov ernment. l believe that this regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law by the Congress. Our steady aim should be by legisa- ton, cautiously and carefully undertaken, but resolutely preserved in, to assert the sovereignty of the national government by affirmative action.
 .ssTNhis only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a restoration for from the earliest time such regula- ton of industrial activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; and all that l propose Is to meet the changed conditions In such name. as will prevent the commonwealth abdi- eating the power it has always possessed
 not only in this country, but also in England before and since this country be- came a separate nation.
 Ut has been a misfortune that the na- tional laws on this subject have hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative kind. and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what could not be effectively prohibited and have in part in their prohibitions confounded what should be allowed anc what should not be allowed. It Is gener- ally useless to try to prohibit all re- straint on competition, whether this re- straint be reasonable or unreasonable and where it is not useless it is generally hurtful ' The successful prosecu. tion of one device to evade the law i'm. mediately develops another device to ac. complish the same purpose. What 1: needed is not sweeping prohibition oi every arrangement good or bad, whici may tend to restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and regulation as will prevent any restriction of com
 petition from being 10 the detriment oi the public, as well as such supervision and regulation as will prevent other abuses in no way connected with restric- tion of competition
 l have called your attention in these quotations 10 what l have already sals because l am satisfied that it is the duty of the national government to embody ir action the principles thus expressed.
 Interstate Commerce.
 No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an extreme the national virtue of self-reliance. of in dependence in initiative and action. It Is wise to conserve this virtue and to pro vide for it's fullest exercise, compatible with seeing that liberty does not become a liberty to wrong others. Unfortunately this is the kind of liberty that the lack of all effective regulation inevitably breeds. The founders of the constitu- ton provided that the national govern ment should have complete and sole con- trol of interstate commerce. There was then practically no interstate business save such as was conducted by water and this the national government at once proceeded to regulate in thoroughgoing and effective fashion. Conditions have now so wholly changed that the inter- state commerce by water is insignificant compared with the amount that goes by land, and almost all big business con cerns are now engaged in interstate com merce. As result. it can be but par tially and imperfectly controlled or regu- lated by the action of any one of the several statesis such action inevitably tending to be either too drastic or else too lax, and in either case ineffective foi purposes of justice. Only the nationa goNernpien, can in thoroughgolng fashion exercise the needed control This does not mean that there should be any exten. sion of federal authority, for such au- thority already exists under the consti. tuition in ampest and most far-reachins form: but it does mean that there shoult be an extension Of federal activity This is not advocating standardization. It is merely looking facts in the face. and re. alizing that centralization in business has