Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1908-12-08

they fail heartily to join in the effort |
To do away with the abuses Of wealth. |
On the other hand, those who advo- !
cate proper control on behalf of the !
public. through the state. of these
great corporations, and of the wealth
engaged on a giant scale in business
operations. must ever keep I'm mind !
that unless they do scrupulous jus
tice to the corporations unless they
permit ample profit aud cordially en-
courage capable men Of business so
long as they act with honesty, they
are striking at the root of our ma
tional well being: for in the long run.
under the mere pressure of material
distress, the people "a whole would
probably go back to the reign of an
individualism rather than
submit to control By the state so
drastic and so foolish. conceived in a
spirit of such unreasonable and mar
row hostility to wealth. as to pre-
vent business operations from being
profitable. and therefore to bring
ruin upon the entire business COM
and ultimately upon the en-
tire body of citizens.
The opposition to government con-
troll of these great corporations makes
its most effective effort in the shape
of an appeal to the old doctrine of
states rights. OF course there are
many sincere men who now believe
in unrestricted individualism in busi
ness. just as there were formerly
many sincere men who believed in
slavery--that is, in the unrestricted
right Of an individual to own another
individual. These men do not by
themselves have great weight, how
ever. The effective fight against adj
equate government control and super
vision of individual. and especially of
corporate, wealth engaged in inter-
state business is chiefly done under
cover; and especially under cover of
an appeal to states rights. 1t Is not
at all infrequent to read in the same
speech denunciation OF predatory
wealth fostered by special privilege
and defiant of both the public well
fare and law of the land, and de-
nunciation of Capitalization in the
central government of the power to
deal with this centralized and or
ganized wealth. OF course, the pow
er set forth in such twin denuncia-
tions amounts to absolutely nothing.
for the first nalf is ifuliiiied by the
second half The chief reason, among
the many sound and compelling rea-
sons, that led to the formation of the
national government. was the absolute
need that the Union, and not the
several states, should deal with inter-
state and foreign commerce; and the
power to deal with Interstate com
merce was granted absolutely and
plenarily to the central government
and was exercised completely a s re-
CARDS the only instruments of inter-
state commerce known in those days
the waterways, the high roads, as
well as the partnerships of individuals
who then conducted all of what busi-
ness there was. Interstate commerce
is now chiefly conducted by rail-
roads; and the great corporation has
supplanted the mass of small part
nerships or individuals The pro-
posal 10 make the national govern
ment supreme over. and therefore to
give it complete control over. the
railroads and other instruments of
interstate commerce is merely a pro-
posal to carry out to the letter one
of the prime purposes, If not the
tuition was founded. 1t does not rep
resent Capitalization. 1t represents
merely the acknowledgment of the
patent fact that Capitalization has
already come in business. II this
irresponsible outside business power
is to be controlled in the interest OF
the general public 1t can only be
controlled in one way; by giving ad-
| equate power of control To the one
sovereignty capable of exercising such
power-the national government
Forty or fifty separate state govern
| mentS can not exercise that power
| over corporations doing business in
most all Of them; first, because they
| absolutely lack the authority to deaI
with Interstate business in any form
| and second, because Of the inevitable
| conflict of authority sure to arise IN
| the effort to enforce different kinds
| of state regulation, often inconsist'
ent with one another and sometimes
| oppressive in Themselves. such di-
| vided authority can not regulate com
merce with wisdom and effect Th'
| central government is the only pow
! er which, without oppression, car
nevertheless thoroughly and adequate
! ~ control and supervise the larg'
corporations To abandon the eflor
for national control means to aban
don the effort for all adequate con
troll and yet 70 render likely contnua
bursts Of action by state legislatures
| which can not achieve the purpos'
sought for, but which can do a grea
deal of damage 10 the corporation
without conferring any real beneh
on the public
believe that the more farsiehte'
corporations are themselves comin
10 recognize the unwisdom Of I'M
P violent hostility they have d.spiaye.
= during the last few years 10 regula
tion and control by the national gov
/ crnment OF combinations engaged If
, interstate business. The truth is tina
p we who believe i'm this movement ID
asserting and exercising a gcnun
p control, in the public interest owe
p these great corporations have 10 con
] tend against two sets Of enemies
p ,who, though nominany opposed q
p one another. are really allies in pre-
IL