The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1908-12-09

! should be crested against its abuse
In substance, provision should be made
that no Injunction or temporary re-
straining order issue otherwise than on
notice, except where irreparable injury
| would otherwise result; and in such case
hearing on the merits of the order
should be had within short fixed pc
Rod, and, if not then continued after
hearing, it should forthwith lapse. De-
cisions should be rendered Immediately.
and the chance of delay minimized In
| every way. Moreover. believe that the
| procedure should be sharply defined and
the judge required infinitely to state the
| particulars both of his action and of his
reasons therefor, so that the congress
can if 1T desires examine and investigate
the same.
For many of the shortcomings of
| justice in our country our people as
whole are themselves to blame, and the
judges and juries merely bear their
| share together with the public as
whole. 1t Is discreditable to us as
people that there should be difficulty in
convicting murderers or in bringing to
| justice men who as public servants
have been guilty of corruption, or who
have profited by the corruption OF
| public servants. The result is equally
unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit-
| ting technicalities in the Interpretation
class consciousness on the part of
| juries, or to hysteria and sensational
| ism In the daily press. For much OF
| this failure of justice no responsibility
whatever lies on rich men as such. We
who make UP the mass of the people
cannot shift the responsibility from our
own shoulders. But there Is an impor-
tant part of the failure which has spe-
cial.y to do with inability to hold
to proper account men of wealth who
behave badly.
The Modern Corporation.
The huge wealth that has been accu-
mulated by few individuals of recent
years. in what has amounted to a So
cial and industrial revolution, has been
as regards some of these individuals
made possible only by the improper use
OF the modern corporation. A certain
| type of modern corporation, with it's
officers and agents, its many issues of
securities. and its constant consolida-
ton with allied undertakings. finally
becomes an instrument so complex as
to contain a greater number OF ele-
ments that, under various judicial de-
cisions. lend themselves to fraud and
| oppression than any device yet evolved
in the human brain. Corporations are
necessary instruments Of modern BUSH
ness. They have been permitted to
become a menace largely because the
governmental representatives Of the
people have worked slowly in provid-
ing for adequate control over them.
Our nrs tr clusters and of
| wealthy multimillionaires. employ the
very best lawyers they can obtain to
pick flaws in statutes after their
! passage; but they also employ a class
| of secret agents who seek. under the
| advice OF experts, to render hostile
legisla lion innocuous by making it un-
| constitutional, often through the inser-
| ton Of what appear on their face to be
| drastic and sweeping provisions against
| the interests of the parties inspiring
| them; while the demagogues, the cor
rupt creatures who introduce black
| mailing schemes to strike" corpora
| tions, and all who demand extreme,
| and undesirably radical, measures,
| show themselves to be the worst enc
mics of the very public whose loud
| mouthed champions they profess to be.
| Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpretations
| OF the interstate commerce law. Con-
| troll over the great corporations doing
| interstate business can be effective only
| if it is vested with full power in an
| administrative department, a branch of
| the federal executive carrying out a
| federal law; 1t can never be effective II
divided responsibility is left in both
the states and the nation; it can never
! be effective if left in the hands of the
| courts to be decided by lawsuits.
Respect for Law Must Be Upheld.
The courts hold a place of peculiar and
deserved sanctity under our form of gov
| eminent. Respect for the law is essen
| tial to the permanence of our institu-
| tons; and respect for the law Is largely
| conditioned upon respect for the courts.
| 1t is an offense against the republic to
| say anything which can weaken this re-
| spect save for the gravest reason and in
the most carefully guarded manner. In no
| other nation in the world do the courts
| WELD such vast and far-reaching power
as in the United States. All that is nee
essary is that the courts as a whole
| should exercise this power with the far
sighted wisdom 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 per-
sons in their rights, and yet break down
| the barriers Of privilege, which is the foe
| of right.
Forest Preservation.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our children
| 70 perfolm at once, it is to save the for
cste of this country, for they constitute
the first and most important element in
the conservation of the natural re-
sources of the country. Just as
| a farmer, after all his life making his
| living from his farm, will, If he Is an ex-
| pert farmer leave it as an asset of in
| creased value to his son, so we should
| leave our national domain to our chill
| dren, increased in value and not worn
| out. There are small sections Of our own
| country, in the east and in the west, in
| the Adirondacks, the White mountains
and the Appalachians, and in the Rocky
| mountains, where we can already see for
ourselves the damage in the shape Of
permanent injury to the soil and the
| river systems which comes from reckless
deforestation. 1t matters not whether
this deforestation is due to the actual
reckless cutting Of timber, to the fires
that inevitably follow such reckless cut
ting Of timber, to reckless and uncon-
! trolled grazing, especially by the great
J migratory bands of sheep, the I'M
checked wandering of which over the
! country means destruction to forests and
disaster to the small home-makers, the
settlers of limited means
! Thanks to our own recklessness
in the use of our splendid forests,
we have already crossed the verge of a
timber famine in this country, and no
| measures that we now take can, at least
for many years, undo the mischief that
has already been done. But we can pre-