The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-12-11

with the new relations that arise
from the mutualism, the irterdepen-
dence of our time Every new social
relation begets new type of wrong
doing - of sin, to use an old-fash-
toned woodland many years always
elapse before society is able to turn
this sin into crime which can be ell
fectively punished at law. During
the lifetime of the older men now
alive the social relations have
changed far more rapidly than in the
preceding two centuries. The i'm
mense growth of corporations, Of
business done by associations, and the
extreme strain and pressure of mod
ernk life, have produced conditions
which render the public confused as
to who it's really dangerous foes are;
and among the public servants who
have not only shared this confusion,
but by some of their acts have in
creased it, are certain judges. Marked
inefficiency has been shown in dealing
with corporations and in re-settling
the proper attitude to be taken by the
public not only toward corporations,
but toward labor. and toward the So
cial questions arising out of the fac
tory system, and the enormous
growth of our great cities.
The huge wealth that has been ac-
cumulated by a few individuals of re-
cent years, in what has amounted to
a social and industrial revolution. has
been as regards some of these indi-
viduals made possible only by the i'm
proper use of the modern corporation.
A certain type of modern corpora
ton, with its officers and agents, its
many issues of securities, and its con-
slant consolidation with allied under
takings, finally becomes an instru-
| ment so complex as to contain a
greater number of elements that, I'M
der various judicial decisions, lend
| themselves to fraud and oppression
than any device yet evolved in the hui
man brain. Corporations are neces-
sary instruments of modern business.
They have been permitted to become
a menace largely because the govern
mental representatives of the people
have worked slowly in providing for
adequate control over them.
The chief offender in any given
case may be an executive, Legislat-
ure or a Judge. Every executive head
who advises violent, instead of grad
ual, action. or who advocates ill-con-
sidered and sweeping measures of re-
form Especially if they are tainted
with vindictiveness. and disregard for
the rights of the minority is particu-
larly blameworthy. The several leg
islatures are responsible for the fact
that our laws are often prepared with
slovenly haste and lack of considera-
ton. Moreover. they are often pre-
pared, and still more frequently
amended during passage, at the sug-
gestion of the very parties against
whom they are afterward enforced.
Our great clusters of corporations,
huge trusts and fabulously wealthy
multimillionaires, employ the very
best lawyers they can obtain to pick
flaws in these statutes after their
passage. but they also employ class
of secret agents who seek, under the
advice of experts, to render hostile
legislation innocuous by making it
unconstitutional. often through the
insertion of what appear on their face
to be drastic and sweeping provisions
against the interests of the parties
inspiring them; while the dema-
gogues, the corrupt creatures who in
troduce Matchmaking schemes to
strike" corporations, and all who de-
mand extreme, and undesirably radi-
cal, measures, show themselves to be
the worst enemies of the very public
whose loud mouthed champions they
profess to be.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpreta-
tions of the interstate commerce law
Control over the great corporations
doing interstate business can he eff
fective only if it is vested with full
power in an administrative depart
ment, branch of the Federal eXecu-
tive, carrying out a Federal law; il
can never be effective if divided re-
sponsibility is left in both the States
! and the Nation: it can never be eff
! fective if left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
In no other nation in the world dc
the courts WELD such vast and far
reaching power as in the United
States. All that is necessary is that
the courts as whole should exercise
this power with the far sighted wis.
dom already shown by those judges
who scan the future while they act in
the present. Let them exercise this
great power not only honestly and
bravely, but with wise insight into
the needs and fixed purposes of the
people, so that they may do justice
and work equity, so that they may
protect all persons in their rights
and vet break down the barriers oil
privilege. which is the foe of right.
The President devotes a long chap.
| ter to the subject of forests. declaring
that if there is one duty which more
than another we owe to our children
and our children's children. it is tc
save the forests of this country. fol
they constitute the first and most i'm
portant element in the conservation
of our natural resources.
| The Message then turns to inland
waterways and maintains that action
| for their Improvement should begir
forthwith. 1t is also urged that al
our National parks adjacent to Ma
tional forests be placed under the con
troll of the forest service of the Agri
cultural Department. I am happy tC
say, continues Mr.. Roosevelt, that
have been able to set aside in variou.
parts of the country small, well.
chosen tracts of ground to serve a.
sanctuaries and nurseries for wild
creatures.
| The Message announces that the
use in the arts and industries of de
natured alcohol is making fail
progress and the law making it pos
sible is entitled to further support
from the Congress. According to the