Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-04-28

ocracy like ours, it is idle to expect
permanently to thwart the determina-
tion of a great body of our citizens. Ii
may be and often is the highest duty OF
court, legislature or an executive
to resist and defy a gust of popular
passion; and most certainly no public
servant, whatever may be the conse-
quences to himself, should yield to
what he thinks wrong. But in ques-
ton which is emphatically one of pub
lie policy, the policy which the public
demand is sure in the end to be adopt
ed; and persistent refusal to grant
to large portion of our people what
is right is only too apt in the end to
result in causing such irritation that
when the, right is obtained, 1t is OBJ
tanned in a movement SO ill-considered
and violent as to be accompanied by
much that II wrong. The process of
injunction In labor troubles, as we'll as
where state laws are involved, should
be used sparingly and only when there
is the clearest necessity for it: but 1t
is one SO necessary to the efficient per-
Torrance OF the duty OF the court on
behalf of the nation that 1t Is In the
highest degree to be regretted that it
should be liable to reckless use; for
this reckless use tends to make honest
men desire to hamper Its execution as
to destroy its usefulness.
Every far-sighted patriot should
protest first OF all oagainst the growth
in this country Of that evil thing which
is called "class consciousness" The
demagog, the sinister or socialist Wis
ionary. who strives to arouse this feel
ing Of class consciousness In our
working people, does a foul and evil
thing; for he is no true American, he
is no self-respecting citizen of this re-
public. he forfeits his right to stand
with manly self-reliance on a footing
Of entire equality with all other citi-
zens, who bows to envy and greed, who
erects the doctrine of class hatred in
to Q shibboleth. who substitutes 10y
atty to men of q particular status,
whether rich or poor. for loyalty to
those eternal and immutable princi-
pies of righteousness which bid us
treat each man on his worth as a man
without regard to his wealth or pow
erty. But evil tho the influence of
these demagogs and Missionaries is, 1t
il no worse in its consequences than
the influence exercised by the man of
great wealth or the man of power and
position in the Industrial world, who
by his lack of sympathy with and
lack OF understanding OF. still more
hostility to, the millions Of our work.
ing people, tends to unite them against
their fellow-Americans. who are bet
ter off in this worlds goods. 1t is q
bad thing to teach our working people
that men of means, that men who
have the largest proportion of the
substantial comforts Of life, are neces-
sarily greedy, graspipg and cold-heart-
ed, and that they unjustly demand and
more than their share of
the substance OF the many Stern con-
demnation should be visited upon
demagog and visionary who teach this
untruth, and even sterner upon those
capitalists who are in truth grasping
and greedy and brutally disregardful
of the rights of others, and who by
their actions teach the dreadful lesson
far more effectively than any mere
preacher Of unrest. A "class griev-
ance" left too long without remedy
breeds "class consciousness" and
therefore class resentment
"The Strengthening Of the antitrust
law is demanded upon both moral and
economic grounds. Our purpose in
it is to secure more eff
fective control by the national govern
ment over the business use of the vast
Of individual and especially of
corporate wealth, which at the present
time monopolize most Of the interstate
business Of the country; and we be-
lieve the control can best be exercised
by preventing the growth Of abuses;
rather than merely by trying to destroy
them when they have already grown.
In the higher sense Of the word, this
for thorough control Of the
business use of this great wealth is
a safe middle course, which alone can
save us from a plutocratic class gov
on the one hand or a social
istic class government on the other,
either Of which would be fraught with
disaster to our free institutions, state
and national. We are trying to avoid
alike the evils which would flow from
government ownership of the public
utilities by which interstate commerce
is chiefly carried on and the evils
which flow from the riot and chaos and
individualism. There is
grave danger to our free institutions in
the corrupting influence exercised by
great wealth suddenly concentrated in
the hands of the few. We should in
some manner try to remedy this dan
ger, in spite of the sullen opposition of |
these few very powerful men and with
the full purpose to protect them in all
their rights at the very time that we
require them to deal rightfully with
others.
Further Legislation Insisted Upon.
II have submitted this report to the |
department of justice for thorough in
and for action if action
shall prove practicable.
Surely such a state Of affairs as
that set forth above emphasizes the
need of further legislation, not merely
because of the material benefits such
legislation ill secure, but above all,
because this federal action should be
part, and large part, Of the campaign