The San Francisco call., 1908-12-09

Oilc WdS--DY giving adequate power OF
control to the one sovereignty capable
or exercising such power-the national
government. Forty or 90 separate state
governments can not exercise that pow
ef over corporations doing business in
most or all of them; first, because they
absolutely lack the authority to deal
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 inconsistent with
one another and sometimes oppressive
In themselves. Such divided authority
can not regulate commerce with wisdom
and effect The central government is
the only power which, without oppres-
sion, can nevertheless thoroughly and
adequately control and SUPERVISE the
large corporations. To abandon the ef-
fort for national control means to aban-
don the effort for all adequate control
and yet to render likely continual bursts
OF action by state legislatures which
can not achleVe the purpose sought for,
nut which can do a great deal of dam
age tc the corporation without confer
ring any real benefit on the public.
l believe that the more far sighted
corporations are themselves coming
... ;. 10 recognize the
Corporations Are ,iin9 uiwlsdoh OF the
Now RecOgnizing tbeV boya dis
Inelr onNisdom played during the
,.o,r,,,a.,. last few years to
government of combinations engaged
IN interstate business The truth is
tnat we who believe in this movement
OF asserting and exercising a general
control IN the public interest over these
great corporations have to contend
against two sets of enemies, who,
though nominally opposed to one an
other, are really allies in preventing a
proper solution of the problem. There
are, hrst, the big corporation men, and
the extreme lndividualiSts among bus
lnessmen, who genuinely believe in ut
terly unregulated business-that is in
the reign OF plutocracy; and, second
the men who, being blind to the eco
nomic movements of the day. believe
IN movement of repression rather
than OF regulation of corporations, and
who denounce both the power Of the
railroads and the exercise of the fed
erai power which alone can really con-
troll the railroads.
Those who believe in efficient ma
tional control, on the other hand, do
not in the least object to combinations;
do not in the least object to concentra-
ton in business administration. On the
contrary, they favor BOTH with the all
important proviso that there shall be
such publicity about their workings,
and such thorough going control over
them, as 10 insure their being in the
interest and not against the interest
Of the general public. We do not OBJ
administrations; but we do believe in
the distribution of the wealth in
profits to the real owners, and in secur-
ing to the public the full benefit of the
lieve that with concentration in ad-
ministration there can come both the
advantage of larger ownership and of
a more equitable distribution of profits
and at the same time a better service
to the commonwealth. We believe that
the ADMINISTRATION should be for the
benefit of the many; and that greed
and rascality, practiced on a large
scale, should be punished as relent-
lessly as if practiced on small scale.
We do not for a moment believe that
the nrOhlRIl7 will 10 hN bo,
a4o TI eaSy aS. metno9; e,1
far Ea"s = sesution ssss come only by
OF the Problem Concurrent reme9 me-
S. Some
these remedies must lie outside the
domain Of all government. Some must
lie outside the domain of the federal
government But there is legislation
which the federal government alone can
enact and which is absolutely vital in
order to secure the attainment of our
purpose. Many laws are needed. There
should be regulation by the national
government of the great interstate cor
porations, including a simple method
of account keeping, publicity. super
vision OF the issue of securities, abol-
ton OF rebates and of special privi-
leges There should be short time
franchises for all corporations engaged
in public business; including the cor
porations which get power from water
rights. There shoald be national as
We'll as state guardianship of mines and
forests. The labor legislation herein
after referred to should concurrently
be enacted into law
To accomplish this means of course
a certain increase in the use of--not
the creation of-power by the central
government. The power already exists;
1t does not have to be created, the only
question is whether 1t shall be used or
left idle-and meanwhile the corpora
tfons over which the power ought to be
exercised will not remain idle. Let
those who object to this increase in the |
use of the only power available, the
national power, be frank, and admit |
openly that they propose to abandon
any effort to control the great business |
corporations and to exercise supervision
over the accumulation and distribution
of wealth; for such supervision and
control can only come through this par
ticular kind of increase of power We
which demands absolutely unrestrained
indiVidualism that we do in that en- |
piricism which clamors for deadening
socialism which would destroy all in
dividual initiative and would ruin the
country with a completeness that not
even an unrestrained individualism
itself could achieve.
The danger to American democracy
lies not in the least in the concentra-
tlo4 ro IT, OF a aGmihls-
PoISticai Poyer % responsible IN
Not the Danger t lies in having
GENTLY concentrated, so that no one
can be held responsible to the people
for its use. Concentrated power is
palpable, visible, responsible, easily
reached, quickly held to account.
Power scattered through many admin
istrators, many legislators. many men
who work behind and through legis-
lators and administrators, is impalp-
able, is unseen, is irresponsible, can
not be reached, can not be held to
Democracy is in peril wher- |
ever the administration of political
power is scattered among a variety of
men who work in secret, whose very
names are unknown to the common
people. 1t is not in peril from any
man who derives authority from the |
people, who exercises 1t in sight of |
the people, and who is from time to |
time compelled to give an account of |
its exercise to the people.
There are many matters affecting
labor and the status of the wage-
worker to which l should like to draw |
your attention, but an exhaustive dis |
cussion of the problem in all it's aspects /