The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-02-07

Of a system of morality which would
also justify every form of criminality
| on the part OF labor union and every
form of violence, corruption and fraud,
from murder to bribery and ballot box
stuffing in politics.
Equality For All.
We are trying to secure equality OF
opportunity for all; and the struggle
for honesty is the same whether it is
made on behalf of one set Of men or
Of another, In the interest OF the
small settlers and landowners and
against the embittered opposition Of
| wealthy owners or huge wandering
| flocks of sheep, or OF corporations de-
| siring to rob the people Of coal and
| timber, we strive to put an end to the
theft of public land in the west.
| When we do this and protest against
| The action OF all men, whether in pub
lie life or in private life, who either
| take part in or refuse to try to stop
such theft, we are really engaged in
| the same policy as when we endeavor
| to put stop to rebates or to prevent
| the upgrowth of uncontrolled monop-
olies. Our effort is simply to enforce
| the principles OF common honesty and
| common sense. 1t would indeed be
i'll for the country should there be any
| halt in our work.
The laws must in the future be
| administered as they are now Icing
! administered, so that the department
| OF justice may continue to be, what it
now is, in very fact the department
Of justice, where, so far as our ability
| permits, justice is melted out with an
even hand to great and small, rich
and poor, weak and strong.
1t is especially necessary to secure
! to the representatives of the national
| government full power to deal with
the great corporations engaged in in
terstate commerce and, above all, with
| the great interstate common carriers.
| Our people should clearly recognize
that while there are difficulties in any
course of conduct to be followed in
dealing with these great corporations,
these difficulties must be faced and
one Of three courses followed.
Has Faith In People.
The first course is to abandon AL
effort to oversee and control their ac-
lions in the interest of the general
public and to permit a return to the
utter lack of control which would OBJ
tain if they were left to the common
law. I do not, for one moment, be-
lleve that our people would tolerate
| this position. The extraordinary
| growth of modern industrialism has
rendered the common law, which grew
| up under and was adapted to deal
with totally different conditions, in
many respects inadequate to deal with
| the new conditions. These new con-
| ditons make it necessary to shackle
cunning as in the past we have
| shackled force. The vast individual
and corporate fortunes, the vast COM
| binations of capital which have
marked the development of our indus
| trial system, create new conditions
and necessitate a change from the
/ old attitude of the state and the ma
| ton toward the rules regulating the
acquisition and untrammeled business
use of property, in order both that
property may be adequately protected
and that, at the same time, those who
hold it may be prevented from wrong
doing.
State Must Cooperate.
| The second and third courses are
| to have the regulation undertaken
either by the nation or by the states.
OF course. in any event both the ma
tional government and the several
state government must do each its
| part, and each can do certain
amount that the other cannot do,
while the only really satisfactory re-
suits must be obtained by the repre-
sentatives of the national and state
governments working heartily togeth-
er within. their respective spheres
But, in my judgment, thoroughgoing
and satisfactory control can in the
end only be obtained by the action of
the national government, for almost
| all the corporations OF enormous
wealth-that 1t, the corporations
which is is especially desirable to con.
trol-are engaged in interstate com
MERGE and derive their power and
their Importance not from that portion
Of their business which is intrastate,
but from the interstate business. II
is not easy always to decide just
where the line of demarcation be-
| tween the two kinds OF business falls.
This line must ultimately be drawn
by the federal courts. Much OF the
effort to secure adequate control of
the great corporations by state action
has been wise and effective, but much
OF It has been neither, for when the
effort is made to accomplish by the &C.
! ton OF the state what can only be
accomplished by the action Of the ma
ton. the result can only be disappoint-
ment, and in the end the law will
probably be declared unconstitutional
SO. likewise in the national arena,
| I've who believe in the measures here