The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-24

town speech committed himself to the na- 1 tional incorporation of national enter l prises he took the first official step to- ward the new industrial life that is l bound to be our future. In his determina- l ton to make every interest obey the law | the President has justly earned the con- fidence of the country. But in this later l step he has made for himself a forma- l tive place in the great transformation l that is to eventually restore to the people 1 of America the direct ownership and con- l trol of the property of America. For 1 that ownership they are prepared with l the financial means-it is only because the | eorporation as the necessary owning in- 1 termedary, has not deserved the peo-
 ple's confidence, that the wealth of the country, as MT. Sehiff says, has been pouring like mountain streams into the l great Wall Street reservoir. For that ownership they have an inborn instinct l And to regain that ownership they have 1 through the reconstruction of the cor l poration, a legal means that is at once
 natural, adequate, honest and constitu- tional.
 Speech By Samuel Gompers.
 It is In trust reform that Samuel l Gompers. president of the American Fed
 eration of Labor sees hope of a solution
 of the trust problem. The belief was
 expressed by MT. Gompers during the l course of an address on Labor and It's
 Attitude Towards the Trusts He said | this reform, to be effective, must come from another source than that now gen | orally accepted-that 1t must come
 through the creation of a public opinion which will see to it that the will of the
 people and not the mandate of corporate l influences shall he pararhount He be- l lieves this could be brought about through | organized association of the masses.
 "The problems which confront us are l serious ones. indeed, but they are not l hopeless" said he. Tn intelligent and as
 sociated use of the powers of the many
 will be found the solution. Disorganized l and violent denuncation is more harmful 1 than helpful. Constructive and associated l effort must check and correct the abuses
 which have grown so rapidly in this era of concentrated methods of production and | distribution We cannot, if we would, l turn back to the primative conditions of
 industry which marked the early part of last century It, therefore, is idle chatter to talk of annihilating trusts. The trust l is, economically speaking, the logical and inevitable accompaniment and develop
 ment of our modern commercial and in-
 dustrial system.
 z Trust Is Logical.
 Asserting that the trust is a logical and inevitable feature of our modern system of industry is merely stating that 1 our modern plan of production, which for brevity and convenience we call the trust system, is the most perfect yet attained.
 We do not, however, mean to imply by this that the individuals who form trusts,
 who manipulate them, who profit by them are logically and inevitably right 1 in many of the methods they employ or the lengths to which they go. Neither do we concede the argument that these in- dividuals who form and manage trusts are so superior a class of beings that they are entitled to the enormous largesses
 which many of them claim from the profits of economical production. Quite the contrary is the fact Much of the 1 protest against trust methods is justly and 1egitimately based on the fact that trust promoters, managers and owners seize and keep for themselves far great CT share of the profits of modern produc- tion and distribution than that to which they are entitled.
 Exposure of Wrongdong.
 ''In the past two years so much public ty has been given to trust association with railroads in order to fleece the peo- pie that it is hardly necessary to refer to that phase here, except to say that honest investigation and truthful expos ure of wrong conditions are as invigorat- l ing and healthful to the growth of a correct public opinion as fresh air and
 sunlight let in upon the gloomy den of the sweater of human labor. y What I have just said as to railroad
 manipulation applies equally well to ex- posures of Illegal transactions In stocks and to political grating high and low. "Such information is the first step to-
 ward the building up of healthy, pow
 erful and honest public opinion which 1 will prove a nemesis to those trust ma nipulators who have abused their true civic and economic functions. What we
 want is a more democratic spirit in the
 conduct of our affairs, industrial, com
 mercial, executive, legislative and judi 1 cial.
 1 Our courts must, indeed, adapt them 1 selves to changing conditions, but they
 must do this with the welfare of the peo-
 pie as their guiding star.
 If our constitution must be construed l liberally in order to meet new conditions, l let it be construed to give the masses the
 greater liberty and fredeom and happi-
 ness to which they are entitled under
 the most wonderful industrial develop
 ment the world has ever known.
 People Must Be Trusted.
 "We need not be afraid to trust the people. On the contrary, we must trust
 them more and more. Let the aggrega-
 tions of wealth which seek to control our 1 industries remember that in the last
 analysis they must depend upon the labor
 and the intelligence and the willingness l of the masses.
 Let the trusts remember that they l will be required to give an account of | their stewardship to the people. As as-
 sumption of divine right and trusteeship 1 Is not enough, the accounting must square l with the assumption.
 "The greater scope of trust enterprise
 the heavier its weight of responsibility
 to those who produce and consume its
 products.
 This responsibility to the masses Is a
 very real and vital thing. Upon proper
 appreciation of it rests our hope and na- l tional progress
 l Labor and industry can not be halted
 or turned back to conform to old concep- l tions and old conditions. It deals with l the present and for the future. There
 must be the largest liberty of action. the
 freest possible opportunities for the high | est development and greatest expansion
 of labor industry and commerce to make
 for the common good for the common l progress and for civilization