The Glenwood post., 1907-08-24

loNS
1t is not too much to say that the
event commemorated by the monument
which we have come here to dedicate
was one of those rare events which can
in good faith be called of world i'm
portance. The coming hither of the
PuritanS three centuries ago shaped
the destinies of this continent, and
therefore profoundly affected the des-
tiny of the whole world. Men of other
races, the Frenchman and the Span
lard, the Dutchman the German, the
Scotchman and the Swede made set
Elements within what is now the
United States, during the colonial pc
riOd of our history and before the dec
laration of independence; and since
then there has been an ever-swellins
immigration from Ireland and from the
mainland of Europe. but it was the En-
glishman who first settled in Virginia
and the Englishman who settled in
Massachusetts who did most In shaping
the lines of our national development.
Changes in Laws Necessary.
The utterly changed conditions of
our national life necessitates changes
in certain of our laws, of our govern
mental methods. Our federal system of
government is based upon the theory
of leaving to each community, to each
state the control over those things
which affect only its own members, and
which the people of the locality them
selves can best grapple with, while
providing for national regulation In
those matters which necessarily affect
the nation as a whole. 1t seems to me
that such questions as national sover-
-, hnl
treated not empirically or academic
ally, but from the standpoint of the
interests of the people as whole. Ma
tional sovereignty is to be upheld in so
far as it means the sovereignty of the
people used for the real and ultimate
good of the people as a whole to the
great corporations which are the dis
tinguiShing feature of modern business
conditions.
Experience has shown that it is nee
essary to exercise far more efficient
control than at present over the busi-
ness use of those vast fortunes, chief !
ly corporate, which are used, las under
modern conditions they almost invari-
ably are), in interstate business. When
the constitution was created none OF
the conditions of modern business ex
listed They are wholly new and we
mustNcreate new agencies to deal eff ]
fectively with them. There is no OBJ
lection in the minds of the people to
any mans earning any amount of
money, if he does it honestly and
fairly, if he gets it as the result of spe
cial skill and enterprise, as reward
of ample service actually rendered.
But there is a growing determination
that no man shall amass great for
tune by special privilege, by chicanery
and wrongdoing. so far as it is in his
power of legislation to prevent; and /
the fortune when amassed shall not
have a business use that is antisocial. |
Most large corporations do a business
that is not confined to any one state.
Experience has shown that the effort
to control these corporations by mere
state action cannot produce wholesome
results. In most cases such effort fails
to correct the real abuses of which
the corporation is or may be guilty;
while in other cases the effort is apt
to cause either hardship to the cor
poration itself or else hardship to
neighboring states which have not
tried to grapple with the problem in
the same manner; and, of course. we
must be as scrupulous to safeguard the
rights of the corporations as to exact
lTOIH lneu III return d lull lledsuTe VI
justice to the public. | believe in ma
tional incorporation law for corpora
tions engaged in interstate business
believe furthermore that the need for
action is most pressing as regards
those corporations which, because
they are common carriers, exercise
quasi-public function, and which can
be completely controlled in all respects
by the federal government by the ex-
erCise Of the power conferred under
the interstate commerce clause, and,
If necessary, under the post-road clause
of the constitution. During the last
few years we have taken marked
strides In advance along the road of
proper regulation of these railroad cor
porations, but we must not stop in the
work. The national government should
exercise over them a similar supervis-
ion and control to that which it exer-
cises over national banks. We can do
this only by proceeding farther along
the lines marked out by the recent ma
tional legislation.
In dealing with any totally new set
of conditions there must at the outset
be hesitation and experiment. Such
has been our experience in dealing
with the enormous concentration of
capital employed in interstate bust
ness. Not only the legislatures but
the courts and the people need gradu-
ally to be educated so that they may
see what the real wrongs are and what
the real remedies.
Almost every big business concern
is engaged in interstate commerce, and
such concern must not be allowed, by
dexterous shifting of position, as has
been too often the case in the past to
escape thereby all responsibility either
to state or to nation.
Remedies Not EffectuaI.
The American people became firmly
convinced Of the need Of control over
these great aggregations of capital. es-
pecially where they had a monopolistic
tendency. before they became quite