The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-05-28
MORALS OF NATION
BETTER, SAYS ROOT
Secretary of State Tells Yale Why
the Citizens of United States
Should Be Optimists.

New Haven, Conn.-Elihu Root
Secretary of State, delivered the last
in the series in the William E. Dodge
course of lectures in Yale upon "The
Responsibility Of American Citizen
ship"
Hopefulness. Mr.. Root said. was
one of the plainest duties of citi-
zenship. Pessimism he called a Grim
inal weakness. Then he proceeded
to show by references to the history
of the United States why there was
no cause for any except an opti-
mistic view of public and civic con-
ditions. He found arguments to sup
port his theory in the attitude of the
public toward trusts, and toward the
practice of railroads of giving rebates
and manipulating securities and in
the change in the method of voting
He also gave it as his opinion that
the great mass of the labor classes
of the country were in favor of pres
ent conditions as against socialism.
1T is impossible" said Mr.. Root,
ito read an account of the life of the
people of any civilized country with
out finding an amazing degree Of
cruelty, of oppression, of immortality,
of corruption and of class privilege
regardless of common right, which
has now been substantially done away
with.
''All railroads gave special rates
to shippers thirty years ago That
was the existing form of competi-
ton, and competition not only was
permitted, but it was enjoined by
law, and any attempt to restrain it
was, as it now is, unlawful. In re-
cent years, however, the public has
come to an appreciation of the idea
that these great public agencies,
which have had conferred upon them
the right of eminent domain and per-
petual franchises to enable them to
do public service, cannot give special
rates to some men without doing in
justice to other men. The lesson of
all this is that the prosecutions and
convictions for violation of the Anti
Rebate law-things' which were never
heard of thirty years ago-are not
evidence that we are growing worse,
but evidence that we are growing bet
ter; that our government is applying
a higher standard of justice in the
control of public utilities.
This same thing is true of the
management of corporations and the
manipulation of securities, to which
attention has recently been called
sharply by the testimony before the
Interstate Commerce Commission re-
garding the reorganization of the Chi
cago and Alton Railroad. Thirty or
forty years ago, when the manage
ment of the Erie Railroad and the
Atlantic and Great Western and the
Union Pacific Railroad attracted pub
lie attention, the things done by cor
porate managers were so much worse
that the Chicago and Alton affair
would not have received any notice.
The railroad wrecker was a common
type of railroad manager, and the
rules did not go much beyond the
exclusion of ordinary forgery, larceny
and fraud at common law. Now, I'M
der higher standard, much is prop
erly condemned which before passed
without notice.
ut is perfectly safe to assert that
the standard of probity and fidelity
among the corporation managers of
the country is higher now than it ever
has been, and yet there is more COM
plant now than there ever was be-
cause our citizens demand that
more rigid rule of morality shall be
applied by statute and by the courts
and in administrative supervision
than they formerly considered neces-
sary."
Then he spoke of the formation of
trusts, with consequent crushing of
competitors, restriction of output and
increase of prices and of the laws
to regulate them.
"On the other hand" he added,
labor organizations, designed for the
just purpose of securing fair treat
ment as to employment, wages and
hours and conditions of work, are
on their part endeavoring to put up
prices, restrict production and drive
out competition"