The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-12-06

| erly managed. 1t 1S profoundly tmmor-
al to put or keep on the statute books
law. nominally in the interest Of pub
lie morality puts a premium upon pub
lie immortality, by undertaking to for
bid honest men from doing what must
be done under modern business con-
dftions, 80 that the law itself pro-
vides that its own infraction must be
the condition precedent upon busi-
ness success To aim at the accom-
plishment of too much usually means
|! the accomplishment Of too little, and
often the doing of positive damage. In
my message to congress a year ago,
in speaking of the antitrust laws,
said:
The actual working of our laws has
shown that the effort to prohibit all
combination good or bad, is noxious
where it is not ineffective. Combina-
ton of capital, like combination of ia
Dor, is a necessary element in our
present industrial system. 1t is not
possible completely to prevent it; and
if it were possible, such complete pre-
vention would do damage to the body
polite. What We need is not vainly to
try to prevent all combination, but to
secure such egOrOuS and adequate con
troll and supervision of the combina-
tiOns as to prevent their injuring tie
public, Or existing in such forms as
inevitably to threaten injury. >
It is unfortunate that our present laws
should forbid all combinations in
stead Of sharply discriminating Be
tween those combinations which do
good and those combinations which do
evil Often railroads would
like to combine for the purpose of pre-
venting a big shipper from maintain
ing improper advantages at the experCe
of small shippers and of the general
public. Such a combination, instead
of being forbidden by law, should be
favored 1t is public
evil to have on the statute books q
law incapable of full enforcement, be,
cause both judges and juries realize
that its full enforcement would de-
stroy the business of the country:
riolators Of the law against their will,
and to put a premium on the behav-
ior of the willful wrongdoers. Such
a result in turn tends to throw the
decent man and the Willful wrOngdoer
into close association, and in the end
to drag down the former to the lat
ter's level; for the man who becomes q
lawbreaker in one way unhappily
tends to lose all respect for law and
to be willing to break it in many ways.
No more scathing contamination could
be visited upon a law than is con-
tanned in the words of the interstate
commerce commission, when, in COM
menting upon the fact that the num-
erOus joint traffic associations DO tech
nically violate the law, they say: The
decision of the United States supreme
court in the trans-Missouri case and
the Joint Traffic Association case has
produced no practical effect upon the
railway operations of the country.
Such associations, in fact, exist now
as they did before these decisions, and
with the same general effect. In JUS
tice to all parties, we ought probably
to add that it is difficult to see how
our interstate railways could be oper-
ated with due regard to the interest
of the shipper and the railway with
out concerted action of the kind az
forded through these associations
This means that the law is con-
strued by the supreme court is such
that the business of the country can
not be conducted without breaking it."
AS I have elsewhere said:
"All this is substantially what /
have said over and over again. Surely
it ought not to be necessary to say
that it in no shape or way represents
any hostility to corporations as such.
On the contrary, it means a frank re-
cognition of the fact that combinations
of capital, like combinations of labor,
are natural result of modern cOndi-
tiOns and of our national development
AS far as in my ability lies my en-
deavor is and will be to prevent abuse
of power by either and to favor both
so long as they do we'll. The aim of
the national government is quite as
much to favor and protect honest cor
porations, honest business men Of
wealth, as to bring to justice those in
dividuals and corporations represent
ing dishonest methods. Most certain
ly there will be no relaxation by the
government authorities in the effort
to get at any great railroad wrecker-
any man who by clever swindling de-
vices robs investors, oppresses wage
workers, and does injustice to the
general public but any such mve as
this is in the interest of honest railway
operators, of honest corporations, and
of those who, when they invest their