Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-12-11

shoulders. But there is an important part
of the failure which has specially to do
men of wealth who behave badly.
The chief breakdown is in dealing with
the new relations that arise from the mu-
tualism, the iuterdependence of our time.
Every new social relation begetS Il new
type of wrongdoing-of sin, To- use an Old
fashioned word-and many, years always
elapSe before society is able to turn this
sin into crime which can be effectively pun.
ished at law. During the lifetime of tn.
Older men now alive the social relations
n2Se dThansfd far more rapidly than in the
growth of corporations, of business done by
associations. and the extreme strain ana
pressure of modern life. have produced
conditions which render the public CON
fused as to who its really dangerous foes
are; and among the public servants who
nave not only shared this confusion but
are certain judges. Marked inetfciency
has been shown in dealing with corpora
lions and in re-Settling the proper attt-
tude to I've taken by the public not only
towards corporations, but towards labor,
and towards the social questions arising
out OF the factory system. and the enor
nous growth of our great cities.
The huge wealth that has been accumu-
lated by few individuals of recent years.
in what has amounted to Il social and in
dustrial revolution. has been as regards
some of these individuals made possible
only Ivy the improper use Of the modern
corporation, with its officers and agents,
its many issues of securities. and its CON
slant consolidation with allied undertake
ings. finally becomes an instrument so
complex as to contain a greater number
of elements that, under various judicial de-
cisionS. lend themselves to fraud and op-
the human brain. Corporations are neces
sary instruments of modern bust
ness. They have been permitted to
become a menace largely because the gov
10 fiy-nS Of hn No
have worked slowly in providing for ade
quate control over them.
The chief offender in any given ease may
be an executive Il legislature or Il Judge
Every executive head who advises violent
instead Of gradual, action. or who advocates
illconsidered and sweeping measures of re
vindictiveness, and disregard for the rights
worthy. The several ieeisIatures are re-
sponsible for the fact that our. laws are
often prepared with slovenly haste and
lack Of consideration. Moreover, they are
often prepared, and still more frequently
amended during passage. ut the suggestion
of the very parties against whom they are
enforced, Our great clusters of
corporations, huge trusts and fabuously
wealthy multimilionaires, 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. max
insertion of what appear on their face to De
drastic and sweeping provisions against the
interests of the parties inspiring them
while the dema gOgueS, the corrupt creatures
who introduce Matchmaking schemes to
'strike" corporations and all who demand
extreme, and undcsirably radical, measures
show themselves to be the worst enemies of
the very public whose loud-mouthed cham
pions they profess to be. y very striking
Illustration of the consequences Of careless
ness in the preparation of a statute was the
pmnInTnVS'
cases arising under that law. four out OF
six courts of first instance held it uncon,
StitutiOnaI: six out of nine justices of the
supreme court held that its subjcct-mattcr
was within the province of congrcSSiona
action; and four of the nine justices held it
valid. 1t was, however, adjudged uncon
StitutiOna by a bare majority of the court
five to four. 1t was surely very sloveniy
piece of work to frame the legislation i'll
such shape as to leave the question open
at all
Real damage has been done by the mani
fold and conflicting interpretations of the
interstate commerce law. ContrO! over the
great corporations doing interstate business
can he effective only if 1t is vested with full
power in an administrative department, a
branch of the federal executive. carrying
out a federal law; it can never be efectiye
IL Il divided responsibility is left in both
the ties and the nation; it can never be
effective if left IN the hands of the courts
to be decided by lawsuits.
The courts hold place Of peculiar and
deserved Sanctity under our form. OF gov
eminent. Respect for the law is essential
to the permanence of our institutions; and
respect for the law Is largely conditioned
upon respect for the courts. 1t Is an OF
Tense against the republic to say anything
which can weaken this respect, save for
the gravest reason and In the most care
fully guarded manner Our Judges should
be held in peculiar honor; and the duty of
respectful and truthful comment and criti-
cism. which should be binding when we
speak of anybody, should be especially
binding when we speak OF them; On an
average they stand above any other sery-
ants of the community, and the greatest
Judges have reached the highest level held
by those few greatest patriots whom the
whole country delights to honor. But we
must face the fact that there are wise and
Judges, just as there are wise and
unwisa executives and legislators. When
President or, governor behaves lmProper-
" or unwisely the remedy is easy, for his
term is short; the same is true with the
legislator, although not to the same de-
gree, for he is one of many who belong to
some given legislative body, and it Is
therefore less easy to fix his personal re-
and hold him accountable
therefor. With judge, who, being hu-
man, is also likely to err, but whose tenure
is for life there is no similar way Of hold
ing him to responsibility. Under ordinary
conditions the only forms of pressure to
which he is in any way amenable are pub
lie opinion, and the action of his fellow
judges 1t is the last which is most i'm
mediately effective, and to which we should
look for the reform of abuses. Any rem
edy applied from without is fraught with
risk It is far better, from every stand
point, that the remedy should come from
within. 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 necessary Is that the courts as
a whole should exercise this power with
the farsighted wisdom already shown by
those judges who scan the future while
they act in the present Let them exercise
honestly
bravely but with wise insight into the
needs and fixed purposes Of the people so
that they may protect all persons In their
rights, and yet break down the barriers
of privilege, which is the foe of right.
Postal Savings Banks.
1 again renew my recommendation for
postal savings banks, for depositing saw
behind them. The object is to encourage
thrift and economy in the Wage-earner and
person of moderate means. In fourteen
states the deposits in savings banks as re
amount to $3.50, 245.402, or 9S.4 per cent
of the entire deposits, while in the remain
ing 80 states there are only S7O,30S, 543, or
Is per cent, showing concluSiyely that
there are many localities in the United
States where sufficient opportunity is not
given to the people to deposit their savings.
TIL result is that money is kept in hiding
and unemployed 1t is believed that in the
aggregate vast sums of money would be
brought into circulation through the instru-
mentality of the postal savings bank. While
there are only 1,453 savings banks report
ing to the comptroller there are more than
81 900 postoffces, 10000 of which are
money order offices. Postal savings banks
are now in operation in practically all the
great civilized countries with the exception
Of the United States.
Parcel Post.
In my last annual message I commended
the postmaster generals recommendation