Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-01

yoilu all human understanding, mark
ing Titanic commercial era. These
figures and dates are chosen deliber-
ately for reason. 1870 is selected
because it was then that we were
convalescent from the prostrations Of
the great Civil War, which fixed for
all time the Hamilton idea Of an in
dissoluble and ali-powerful nation;
because in 1870 we began our unpar-
alleled railway development and the
evolution Of corporations. All our
greater accomplishment dates from
that time and argues beyond all dis
pute that corporate development has
been the great essential to American
commercial triumph Mindful of
these things, 1t is opportune to halt
to sober reflection.
An Appeal.
In all fairness, for fairness sake,
and in all intelligence for intelligence's
sake, | want to appeal to my fellow
Americans to solve every problem and
correct every evil that necessarily at
tend our unparalleled development and
at the same time still the hysteria that
disturbs our happiness and menaces
our future. We may well rejoice at
the wholesome awakening of the
American commercial conscience,
wrought in the honesty and courage
of Theodore Roosevelt, but we must
deplore the petty imitators and shout
ing hypocrites who have tried to
make capital for themselves and at
tain selfish ends by abusing the public
approval of the Roosevelt reforma-
ton. The den1agogue has swung to
the dangerous extreme, and Is spread
ing the seeds OF envy and hatred,
speeding enlistments under the ban
ners of socialism and driving the
needless to the ranks of anarchy
and there is danger of undermining
the very foundations of our govern
ment.
Industrial Slavery.
of industrial slavery, for their is none.
do not feel the CALLING chains of
financial serfdom, for there is none.
do not believe our fair land to be
besmirched by corporate or CONNER.
cial corruption. There is less today,
relatively, than in the days Of the
| stalwart fathers.
am more appalled, by the constant
preaching that we are people OF
transgressors, more alarmed at this
threatening propagation of jealousy
in this age when American education
| American art, and American achieve
ment are higher than ever before
| when the conditions of the less for
tunate people are far better than ever
| before recorded in Christian civiliza
| ton when the light Of American op
portunity illumines the way to re
| ward of every man who merits 1t
| Our people must arise to sober reali
| cation that this Is an age Of corpora
tons cotemporaneous with an age OF
big things They have revealed our
resources, and opened the avenues OF
genius. They have marshalled the
| forces of development and proven the
vehicles Of American accomplish
| ment They the instrumentality
! may unite to attempt the big things
and in transportation and Industrial
development have aided our people to
| distance the world.
Some Corporations Bad.
OF course some corporations are
bad. Two thousand years ago one OF
the chosen Twelve betrayed the Mas
| ter, but the world still reverences
| Christ's chosen disciples. l do not
know your statistics here but in Ohio
we have over twelve thousand corpora
tons, and some day you'll have more
| in Iowa, when you make this state
the very empire in itself that your re
sources inspire. If thousand of our
Ohio corporations defied the law OF
| betrayed a public or private trust at
one time. it would be but one Judas
| to the faithful Eleven. The standards
of business were never higher than
today
| Evils to Correct.
There are evils to correct, and there
always will be, and we are correcting
them. | defend no lawless corpora
ton, no combination, no trust. / de
fend no monopoly save one--the need
ed monopoly of one mans attention
| and affections by the woman whose
| heart and hand he has won. There
| can be no trusts or combinations un
der the law, and no one defends out
| lawry.. Courageous law enforcement
will cure our commercial ills, and we
may have enforcement without the
| needless threatening Of those who dc
obey. Corporations have neither
| heart nor soul, but are instruments OF
| men--just what men make them
They are like churches or societies OF
government itself-good or bad as
men decide. That is why l recon
mend Imprisonment for the human
criminal in a corporate offense as ten
times as efficient as enormous fines
or eloquent political or official threats
| In short our corporations are SO in
| separable from our remarkable com
mercial development that blow aim
ed at the great majority of our cor.
porations is blow at American com
mercial eminence. We must not lei
| the veXatious few narrow our vision
We may reach these few without gen
eral confiscation. There is demand
| for soberness and understanding, and
while we shall take no backward step
| we have today the problem of railway
and industrial restoration as well as
reformation.
Sober Reflection.