The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1908-12-10

| Detent to manage the great business OPP
| 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
| have most to fear from the wrongdoers
! of great wealth, and the men who are
! championng popular rights have most
| TO fear from the demagogues who in the
! name of popular rights would d. wrong
| to and Cypress honest busine IS 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.
Need of Capitalization.
The proposal to make the ma
| tional government supreme over, and
| therefore to give it complete control over.
| the railroads and other instruments of
| interstate commerce is merely pFopos-
| al to carry out to the letter one of the
! prime purposes, If not The prime purpose,
| for which the constitution was founded.
| 1t does not represent ccntraization 1t
! represents merely the acknowledgment
! of the patent fact that Capitalization has
| already come in business. If this ire
| sponsible outside business power is to be
| controlled in the interest Of the general
| public 1t can only be controlled in one
way; by giving adequate power OF con
| troll to the one sovereignty capable OF eX-
| crcising such power-the national govern
| ment. To abandon the effort for national
control means to abandon the effort for
| all adequate control and yet to render like
| ~ continual bursts OF action by state leg
islatures. which cannot achieve the pur-
pose sought for. but which can do
great deal of damage to the corporation
| without comforting any real benefit on
the public.
There should be regulation by the ma
tional government of the great interstate
corporations, including a simple method
of account keeping, publicity, supervision
of the issue of securities abolition of
rebates and of special privileges. There
should be short-time franchises for all
corporations engaged in public business;
including the corporations which get
power from water rights. There should
be national as well as state guardianship
of mines and forests. The labor legisla-
ton hereinafter referred to should con-
currently be enacted into law.
To accomplish this. means a certain in
crease 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 It shall be used or left idle
and meanwhile the corporations over
which the power ought to be exercised
will not remain idle. The danger to Amer
lean democracy lies not in the least in the
concentration OIL duIlllHlSlTdtiNt power III
responsible and accountable hands. 1t
lies in having the power insufficently
concentrated so that no one can be held
responsible to the people for it's use.
Concentrated power is palpable visible
responsible, easily reached. quickly held
to account. Democracy is in peril
wherever the administration of po-
litical power is scattered among
variety of men who work in
secret, whose very names I'M
known to the common people. 1t is not
in peril from any man who derives au-
thorty 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.
Legislation for Waseworker.
There are many matters affecting labor
| and the status of the wageworker to
which l should like to draw your atten-
| ton, but an exhaustive discussion of the
| problem in all its aspects is not now nee
essary. l believe in steady eff
| fort, or perhaps it would be more
accurate to say in steady efforts
| in many different directions. to bring
| about a condition OF affairs under which
| the men who work with hand with
| brain. the laborers. the superintendents.
| the men who produce the market and the
men who find market for the articles
produced, shall own a far greater share
| than al present of the wealth they pro-
| duce, and be enabled to invest 1t in the
tools and instruments by which all work
is carried on AS far as possible | hope
to a frank recognition of the advan-
tages conferred by machinery organiza-
ton and division OF labor. accompanied
by an effort to bring about larger share
in the ownership by wage worker of rail-
way, mill and factory.
Postal Savings banks vii. make it
easy for the poorest to keep their saw
ings in absolute safety. The regulation
of the national highways must be such
that they shall serve all people with
equal justice. Corporate finances must
be supervised so as to make 1t far safer
than at present for the man of small
means to invest his money in stocks.
There must be prohibition Of child la
Dor. ~.minution of women labor. short
ening of hours of all mechanical labor;
stock watering should be prohibited,
and stock gambling so far as is possi-
BILE discouraged. There should be a
progressive inheritance tax on large
fortunes. Industrial education should
be encouraged. As far as possible we
should tighten the burden of taxation
on the small man. We should put
premium upon thrift. hard work. and
business energy; but these qualities
cease to be the main factors in accu-
mulating n fortune long before that
fortune reaches point where il would
be seriously affected by any inherit
lance tax such as ! propose 1t is emf
nently right that the nation should fix
the terms upon which the great for
tunes are inherited. They rarely do
good and they often do harm to those
who inherit them in their entirety.
There should no longer be any palter-
ing with the question Of taking care of
the wageworkers who. under our pres
ent industrial system. become killed.
crippled. or worn out part of the
regular incidents OF given bust
ness. AS far concerns those
who have been worn out. l call your
attention to the fact that definite
steps toward providing old-age PEN
sions have been taken in many OF our
private industries. These may be in
definitely extended through voluntary
association and contributory schemes.
or through the agency of savings
banks. as under the Massachusetts
plan.
Urgent Need of Reform.