Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-24

done, not by those who merely indulg-
ed in the personal luxury Of advocat-
ing for the islands a doctrinaire lib
erty which would have meant their
immediate and irretrievable ruin, but
by those who have faced facts as they
actually were, remembering the prov
erb that teaches us that in the long
run even the most uncomfortable
truth is safer companion than the,
pleasantest falsehood. 1t is these men,
the men who with shortcomings and
stnmblings vet did the duty of the mo-.
ment, though that duty was hard and
often disagreeable, and not the men
who confined themselves to idle talk
of no matter how high-sounding a ma
ture, who have done real good to the
islands These are the men who have
brought justice as between man and
man; who are building roads; who
have introduced schools; who, gradu-
ally, with patience and firmness, are
really fitting the islanders for self
rights in connection with these ques-
lions, by the people who know that
the states can not with justice to both
sides practically control the corpora
lions, and who therefore advocate
such control because they do not ven
ture to express their real wish, which
is that there shall be no control at all.
Honest and fair dealing railway cor
porations will gain and not lose by
adequate federal control. But those
who invoke the doctrine of state rights
to protect state corporate creations
in predatory activities extended
through othenn Estates are as short
sighted as those who once invoked
the same doctrine to protect the spe-
cial slaveholding interest. The states
have shown that they have not the
ability to curb the power of syndicated
wealth, and, therefore, in the interest
of the people, it must be done by ma
tional action. Our present warfare is
against special privilege. The men
many of them, / am sorry to say, col
lege men--Who are prompt to speak
against every practical means which
can be devised for achieving the OBJ
ject we have in view-the proper and
adequate supervision by the federal
government of the great corporations
doing an interstate business are, new
ertheless, themselves powerless to so
much as outline any plan Of construct
i've craftsmanship which shall give re-
lief. / have watched for six years
these men, both those in public and
those in private life, and though they
are prompt to criticise every affirma-
tive step taken, have yet to see one
of them lift a finger to remedy the
wrongs that exist. So it is in every
field Of public activity. States rights.
should be preserved when they mean
the peoples rights, but not when they
mean the peoples wrongs; not, for In
stance. when they are invoked to pre-.
vent the abolition Of child labor, or to-
break the force Of the laws which pro-
hibit the importation of contract labor
to this country; in short, not when
they stand for wrong or oppression Of
any kind or for national weakness or
impotence at home or abroad. 1t is to-
the men who work in practical fashion
with their fellows, and not to those
who, whether because they are i'm
practical or incapable, can not thus
work, that we owe what success we
have had in dealing with every prob
lem which we have either solved or
started on the path Of solution during
the last decade. #,5
The last ten, years have been years
of great achievement for this nation.
During that period we have dealt and
are dealing with many different mat
tiers Of great moment. We have ac-
CURED the right to build, and are now
building, the Panama canal. We have
given wise government to the Philip
pines. We have dealt with exceed
ingly complex, difficult, and important
questions in Cuba and Santo Domingo.
We have built up the navy; our surest
safeguard Of peace and of national
honor. We are making great progress
in dealing with the questions Of irri-
cation and forestry. Of preserving to
I the public the rightful use OF the pub
lie lands and Of the mineral wealth
underlying them; and with that group
1of vital questions which concern the
proper supervision Of the immense
corporations doing an interstate bust
ness, the proper control Of the great
highways Of interstate commerce, the
proper regulation Of industries which,
lff left unregu1ated, threaten disaster
to the body polite. We have done
many other things, such as securing
the settlement Of the Alaska bound
airy. We have made progress Ia Sc
curing better relations between capital
and labor, Justice as between them
and as regards the general public; and