The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1908-12-10

tive action, to prevent or put a stop to
every form OF improper favoritism or
other ~wrongdoing.
The railways of the country should be
completely under the interstate COM
merce commission and removed from
the domain Of the antitrust law. The
power OF the commission should be made
t~horoughgoing. 30 that it could exercise
complete supervision n control over
the issue of securities as well as over
the raising n lowering Of rates. AS
regards rates, at least, this power should
be summary. The power to investigate
the financial operations and accounts of
the railways has been one of the most
aluab features in recent legislation.
Power to make combinations and traffic
agreements should be explicitly conferred
upon the railroads, the permission of the
commission being first gained and the
combination or agreement being pub
hshed In all its details. In the interest
OF the public the representatives of the
public should have complete power to
see that the railroads do their duty by
the public. and as a matter of course
this power should also be exercised SO as
to see that no injustice is lone to the
railroads. h shareholders, the en-
ployes and the shippers all have interests
that must be guarded. It is to the in
terest OF all Of them that no swindling
stock speculation should be allowed, and
that there should be no improper issu-
ance of securities. The guiding intelll-
eences necessary for the successful build
Ing n successful management Of rail-
roads should receive ample
ton; but no man should be allowed to
make money in connection with railroads
out of fraudulent DISQUALIFICATION and
kindred Safeguarding performances;
there must be no defrauding OF invest
ors. oppression Of the farmers and bust
ness men who ship freight, or callous
diregard Of the rights and needs of the
employees. In addition to this the inter-
ests Of h shareholders. Of the employees
and Of the shippers should all be
guarded as against one another. To
give n one of them undue and i'm
proper consideration Is to do injustice to
the others. Rates must be made as low
as is compatible with giving proper re-
turns to all the employees of the rail-
road, from the highest to the lowest,
and proper returns to the shareholders,
but they must not. for instance, be re-
duced In such fashion as to necessitate
. cut in the wages Of the employees or
the abolition of the proper and legitimate
profits OF honest shareholders.
Telegraph and telephone companies en-
In interstate business should be
put under the jurisdiction of the inter-
state commission.
People Urged to Act.
1t is very earnestly to be wished that
our people, through their representatives,
should act In this matter. 1t Is hard to
say whether most damage to the coun-
try at large would come from entire
failure on the part of the public to SUI
pervise n control the actions of the
great corporations. or from the exercise
Of the necessary governmental power. In
n w9v which would do {pj,ctjno orH
wrong to the corporations. Both the
preachers Of unrestricted individualism
and the preachers of an oppression
which would deny to able men of bust
ness the just reward Of their initiative
and business sagacity, are advocating
policies that would be fraught with the
gravest harm to the whole country. To
permit every lawless capitalist. every
law-defying corporation, to take any &C.
tion. no matter how iniquitous. in the
effort to secure an improper profit and
to build up privilege, would be ruinous
to the republic and would mark the aban-
donment of the effort to secure in the in
dustrial world the spirit Of democratic
f~air-dealing. On the other hand. to at
agogy which can see wrong only when
committed by the man of wealth.. and is
dumb and blind in the presence of wrong
committed against men of property or by
men OF no property. is exactly as evil
as corruptly to defend the ~wrongdoing
Of men Of wealth. The war we wage
must be waged against misconduct,
against wrongdoing wherever 1t Is found:
and we must stana heiLrtily for the
rights Of every decent man. whether he
be a man of great wealth or q man who
earns his livelihood as a wageworker or
a tiller OF the soil.
It is TO the interest of all of us that
there should be a premium put upon In
divldual initiative and individual ca
pacity, and an ample reward for the
great directing ~intelligences alone com
petent to manage the great business op-
erations Of to-day. 1t is well to keep in
mind that exactly as the anarchist Is the
worst enemy Of liberty and the reaction
airy the worst enemy of order, SO the
men who defend the rights of property
nave most to fear from the ~wrongdoers
of great wealth. and the men who are
championing popular rights have most
to fear from the demagogues who in the
name of popular rights would do wrong
to n Cypress honest business men,
honest men OF wealth; for the success of
either type Of wrongdoer necessarily In
vites a violent reaction against the cause
the ~wrongdoer nominally upholds. In
point of danger to the nation there ID
nothing to choose between on the one
n the corruptionist, the bribe-giver.
the bribe-taker, the man who employs
his great talent to swindle his fellow
citizens on Il large scale, and, on the
other hand. the preacher of class hatred,
the man who, whether from Ignorance
or from willingness to sacrifice his coun-
try to his ambition, persuades we'll
meaning but wrong-headed men to- try
to destroy the instruments upon which
our prosperity mainly rests. Let each
group of men beware of and guard
against the shortcomings to which hat
s-c-p is itself most liable. Too often we
see the business community in q spirit
Of unhealthy class consciousness deplore
the effort to hold to account under the
law the wealthy men who in their man
agement OF great corporations, whether
railroads. street railways, or other in
dustrial enterprises, have behaved in a
way that revolts the conscience Of the
plain, decent people. Such an attitude
cannot be condemned too severely, for
men of property should recognize that
they jeopardize the rights of property
when they fail heartily to join in the eff
fort to do away with the abuses Of
wealth. On the other hand. those who
advocate 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 op-
erations. must ever keep in mind that
unless they do scrupulous Justice to the
corporation, unless they permit ample