The San Francisco call., 1908-12-09

tice to the others. Rates must be
made as low as is compatible with Civ
ing proper returns 10 all the employees
OF the railroad, from the highest to the
lowest and proper returns to share
holders; but they must not. for in
stance, be reduced in such fashion as
To necessitate cut in the wages of the
employees or the abolition of the proper
and legitimate profits Of honest share
holders.
engaged in interstate business should
be put under the jurisdiction of the
interstate commerce commission.
It is very earnestly to be wished that
tives, should act in this matter 1t is
hard to say whether most damage to
the country at large would come from
entire failure on the part of the public
to supervise and control the actions of
the great corporations or from the eX-
ercise of the necessary governmental
power in way which would do injus-
nce and wrong to the corporations.
Both the preachers of an unrestricted
individualism and the preachers of an
oppression which would deny to able
men of business 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 action, no
Must Wage War innitens i,,aitor NOW in the TN.
Against Wrong a4fort - sae,,,.e . =
wherever Found Improper prom t
and to build up
privilege, would be ruinous to the
republic and would mark the
abandonment of the effort to Sc
cure in the industrial world the spirit
of democratic fair dealing. On the
other hand, to attack these wrongs in
that spirit of demagogy 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 cor
ruptly TO defend the wrongdoing of
men of wealth. The war we wage must
be Waged against misconduct, against
we must stand heartily for the rights
of every decent man, whether he be a
man of great wealth or a man who
earns his livelihood as a wage worker
or a tiller of the soil.
1t is to the interest of all of US that
there should be a premium put upon
individual initiative and individual ca
paclty, and an ample reward for the
great directing intelligences alone COM
petent to manage the great business
operations of today. 1t is well to keep
in mind that exactly as the anarchist
is the worst enemy of liberty and the
reactionary the worst enemy OF order,
so the men who defend the rights Of
property have most to fear from the
wrong doers of great wealth, and the
men who are championing popular
rights have most TO fear from the dem
agOgues who, in the name of popular
rights, would do wrong to and oppress
honest businessmen, honest men OF
wealth; for the success of either type
of wrong doer necessarily invites vio-
lent reaction against the cause the
wrong doer nominally upholds.
IN point of danger to the nation
there is nothing to choose between
1aa u n
T1-...1-.- the corruptionist,
GIa Man Freacning H the bribe giver,
Bad as Crater the the man nrIOs wh6 takga. em-
ploys his great
talent to swindle his fellow citizens
on large scale, and, on the other hand,
the preacher of class hatred the man
who whether from ignorance or from
Willingness 10 sacrifice his country to
MS ambition, persuades well meaning
but wrong headed men to try TO destroy
perity mainly rests. Let each group of
men beware of and guard against the
shortcomings to which that group is
itself most liable. Too often we see
the business community in a 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
II
can not 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
effort 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 giant scale in business
operations, must ever keep in mind
that unless they do scrupulous justice
CORPORA ton.
ample profit, and cordially encourage
capable men of business so long as they
act with honesty, they are striking at
the root Of our national well being
for in the long run, under the mere
pressure Of me terial distress, the people
as whole would probably go back TO
the reign Of an unrestricted individual
ism rather than submit to a control by
the state so drastic and so foolish con-
ceived In spirit Of such unreasonable
and narrow hostility to wealth. as to
prevent business operations from being
profitable, and therefore to bring ruin
upon the entire business community
and ultimately upon the entire body of
The opposition to government con-
troll of these great corporations makes
its most effective
old Doctrine of of T an ~ appeai me shaPe Pc
states Rights he o1a SSoat,.,,so
|. Being Urged Ct 9t states tat, rights; ts
are many sincere men who now believe
in unrestricted individualism in busi-
ness. just as there were formerly many
sincere men who believed in slavery
that is, in the unrestricted right of an
individual to own another individual.
These men do not by themselves have
great weight, however The effective
fight against adequate government con-
troll and supervision of individual and
especially of corporate wealth engaged
in interstate business is chiefly done
under cover; and especially under cover
Of an appeal to states rights. 1t is not
at all infrequent to read In the same
speech q denunclation of predatory
wealth fostered by special privilege
and defiant of both the public welfare
and law Of the land, and a denuncia-
ton of Capitalization in the central
government of the power to deal with
this centralized and organized wealth
Of course the policy set forth in such
twin denunciations amounts to abso-
lutely nothing, for the first half is null
lifted by the second half The chief
reason, among the many sound and COM
pelling reasons. that led to the forma-
ton of the national government was
the absolute need that the union, and
not the several states. should deal with
Interstate and foreign commerce.; and
the power to deal with interstate COM
merce was granted absolutely and
plenarilY to the central government
and waB exercised completely as re-
cards the only instruments of inter
state commerce known in those days